ease
ease [ēz] noun
1. The condition of being comfortable or relieved.
2. a. Freedom from pain, worry, or agitation: Her mind was at ease knowing that the children were safe. b. Freedom from constraint or embarrassment; naturalness. See synonyms at rest1.
3. a. Freedom from difficulty, hardship, or effort: rose through the ranks with apparent ease. b. Readiness or dexterity in performance; facility: She practiced until she could play the sonata with ease.
4. Freedom from financial difficulty; affluence: a life of luxury and ease.
5. A state of rest, relaxation, or leisure: He took his ease by the swimming pool.
verb
eased, easing, eases
verb, transitive
1. To free from pain, worry, or agitation: He eased his conscience by returning the stolen money.
2. a. To lessen the discomfort or pain of: She shifted position so as to ease her back. b. To alleviate; assuage: prescribed a drug to ease the pain.
3. To give respite from: eased the burden on her staff by hiring temporary help.
4. To slacken the strain, pressure, or tension of; loosen: ease off a cable.
5. To reduce the difficulty or trouble of: ease credit terms; eased the entrance requirements.
6. To move or maneuver slowly and carefully: eased the car into a narrow space; eased the director out of office.
verb, intransitive
1. To lessen, as in discomfort, pressure, or stress: pain that never eased.
2. To move or proceed with little effort: eased through life doing as little as possible.
idiom.
at ease
1. In a relaxed position, especially standing silently at rest with the right foot stationary: put the soldiers at ease while waiting for inspection.
2. Used as a command for troops to assume a relaxed position.
[Middle English ese, from Old French aise, perhaps from Latin adiacēns, lying near. See adjacent.]