release

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To set free from confinement, restraint, or bondage: released the prisoners.
2. v. To free from something that binds, fastens, or holds back; let go: released the balloons; released a flood of questions.
3. v. To dismiss, as from a job.
4. v. To relieve of debt or obligation.
5. v. To relieve of care and suffering.
6. v. To issue for performance, sale, publication, or distribution.
7. v. To make known or available.
8. v. To relinquish (a right or claim).
9. n. A deliverance or liberation, as from confinement, restraint, or suffering.
10. n. An authoritative discharge, as from an obligation or from prison.
11. n. An unfastening or letting go of something caught or held fast.
12. n. A device or catch for locking or releasing a mechanism.
13. n. The act or an instance of issuing something for publication, use, or distribution.
14. n. Something thus released: a new release of a software program.
15. n. The condition of being available, in use, or in publication: a movie in wide release.
16. n. Law Relinquishment to another of a right, title, or claim.
17. n. Law The document authorizing such relinquishment.
18. n. Linguistics The movement of a vocal organ or organs so as to end the closure of a stop consonant.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To let loose; set free from restraint or confmement; liberate, as from prison, confinement, or servitude.
2. To free from pain, care, trouble, grief, or any other evil.
3. To free from obligation or penalty: as, to release one from debt, or from a promise or covenant.
4. To forgive.
5. To quit; let go, as a legal claim; remit; surrender or relinquish: as, to release a debt, or to release a right to lands or tenements by conveying to another already having some right or estate in possession. Thus, a remainder-man releases his right to the tenant in possession; one coparcener releases his right to the other; or the mortgagee releases to the mortgager or owner of the equity of redemption.
6. To relax.
7. To let slip; let go; give up.
8. To take out of pawn. Nabbes, The Bride (4 to, 1640), sig. F. iv. Synonyms To loose, deliver.
9. n. Liberation or discharge from restraint of any kind, as from confinement or bondage.
10. n. Liberation from care, pain, or any burden.
11. n. Discharge from obligation or responsibility, as from debt, tax, penalty, or claim of any kind; acquittance.
12. n. In law, a surrender of a right; a remission of a claim in such form as to estop the grantor from asserting it. again. More specifically— An instrument by which a creditor or lienor discharges the debt or lien, or frees a particular person or property therefrom, irrespective of whether payment or satisfaction has actually been made. Hence usually it implies a sealed instrument. See receipt.
13. n. In a steam-engine, the opening of the exhaust-port before the stroke is finished, to lessen the back-pressure.
14. n. In archery, the act of letting go the bowstring in shooting; the mode of performing this act, which differs among different peoples.
15. n. =Syn. 1–3. Deliverance, excuse, exemption, exoneration, absolution, clearance. See the verb.
16. To lease again or anew.
17. n. See combination button.

Wiktionary

1. n. the event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms)
2. n. software The distribution of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product; the distribution can be both public or private.
3. n. Anything recently released or made available (as for sale).
4. n. That which is released, untied or let go.
5. v. To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back.
6. v. To let go (of); to cease to hold or contain.
7. v. To make available to the public.
8. v. To free or liberate; to set free.
9. v. To discharge.
10. v. telephony (of a call) To hang up.
11. v. soccer To set up; to provide with a goal-scoring opportunity

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back.
2. v. To let loose again; to set free from restraint, confinement, or servitude; to give liberty to, or to set at liberty; to let go.
3. v. To relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses, as from pain, trouble, obligation, penalty.
4. v. (Law) To let go, as a legal claim; to discharge or relinquish a right to, as lands or tenements, by conveying to another who has some right or estate in possession, as when the person in remainder releases his right to the tenant in possession; to quit.
5. v. obsolete To loosen; to relax; to remove the obligation of.
6. n. The act of letting loose or freeing, or the state of being let loose or freed; liberation or discharge from restraint of any kind, as from confinement or bondage.
7. n. Relief from care, pain, or any burden.
8. n. Discharge from obligation or responsibility, as from debt, penalty, or claim of any kind; acquittance.
9. n. (Law) A giving up or relinquishment of some right or claim; a conveyance of a man's right in lands or tenements to another who has some estate in possession; a quitclaim.
10. n. (Steam Engine) The act of opening the exhaust port to allow the steam to escape.
11. n. (Mach.), (Elec.) A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required A catch on a motor-starting rheostat, which automatically releases the rheostat arm and so stops the motor in case of a break in the field circuit; also, the catch on an electromagnetic circuit breaker for a motor, which acts in case of an overload.
12. n. (Phon.) The act or manner of ending a sound.
13. n. (Railroads) In the block-signaling system, a printed card conveying information and instructions to be used at intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make (assets) available
2. n. a process that liberates or discharges something
3. v. grant freedom to; free from confinement
4. n. the act of liberating someone or something
5. n. the act of allowing a fluid to escape
6. n. activity that frees or expresses creative energy or emotion
7. n. merchandise issued for sale or public showing (especially a record or film)
8. v. eliminate (a substance)
9. v. part with a possession or right
10. v. make (information) available for publication
11. n. euphemistic expressions for death
12. n. a formal written statement of relinquishment
13. n. a legal document evidencing the discharge of a debt or obligation
14. v. prepare and issue for public distribution or sale
15. n. an announcement distributed to members of the press in order to supplement or replace an oral presentation
16. n. the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)
17. v. generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids
18. v. release (gas or energy) as a result of a chemical reaction or physical decomposition
19. n. (music) the act or manner of terminating a musical phrase or tone
20. v. release, as from one's grip
21. n. a device that when pressed will release part of a mechanism
22. v. let (something) fall or spill from a container