ease
 ease (ēz)n.
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.
3.
a. Freedom from difficulty, hardship, or effort:
rose through the ranks with apparent ease.
b. Readiness or dexterity in performance; facility:
a pianist who played 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 pond.v. eased, eas·ing, eas·esv. tr.
1. To free from pain, worry, or agitation:
eased his conscience by returning the stolen money.
2.
a. To lessen the discomfort or pain of:
shifted position to ease her back.
b. To alleviate; assuage:
prescribed a drug to ease the pain.
3. To give respite from:
eased the staff's burden by hiring more people.
4. To slacken the strain, pressure, or tension of; loosen:
ease off a cable.
5. To reduce the difficulty or trouble of:
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.v. intr.
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, elbowroom, physical comfort, from Vulgar Latin *asium.]
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