In old English law. To let or demise at a fixed rent. Particularly used with reference to the public domain or crown lands; as where a license was granted to inclose land in a forest with a low hedge and a ditch, under a yearly rent, or where an encroachment, originally a purpresture, was allowed to remain on the fixing and payment of a suitable compensation to the public for its maintenance
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
