rent out or rent.

[lapot]

Hello. I've got a question. It's about the meaning or difference between rent and rent out, but in a specific context. I've come across the following examples which have broken my understanding of the verb 'rent out'. Here, two examples:

1) Beyonce and her hip-hop hubby, Jay-Z, rented out the hospital’s entire fourth floor for $1.3 million, the employee said.
2) Kanye West has been living in the Lanesborough Hotel, where he rented out the entire top floor, the last few months.

In every dictionary I've looked in, it says that rent out means: to allow someone to use something that you own such as a house or some land in exchange for regular payments. This can be expressed with some other words but this is the definiton provided by the dictionaries.

But in my examples (and I'm sure in many more) rent out means that this people are paying for something that other person owns. Just the opposite.
So I think using 'rent out' in those examples could be incorrect, but used. But I think rented would be better.

Any thoughts on that? MaybeI'm missing something and I'm totally wrong... Thanks in advance!

 

[Beryl from Northallerton]

I agree with your analysis - the hip hop examples are flawed.

 

[PaulQ]

Yes both examples are examples of misuse of to rent out - the definition is as you, and the dictionaries, say.

 

[Messquito]

I'd like to add some of my thoughts here.

I think the writer in both sentences were confusing "buy out" with "rent out" (as in a restaurant buyout), hence the "out's" here indicate that they were having the entire space to themselves, not the direction of the action. That sounds plausible to me, but still, it would require a native speaker's confirmation.

 

[suzi br]

Strange revival of an ancient thread.

I still think it’s just an error.

 

[kentix]

I agree that from my perspective it is an error. It's possible the person who wrote that sentence thinks that's a normal way to use it.

 

[dojibear]

In AE, the verb rent works in both directions:

- A person rents an apartment from a landlord.
- A landlord rents an apartment to a person.

I assume that rent out also works in both directions. Why not?

- A person rents out an apartment from a landlord.
- A landlord rents out an apartment to a person.

If that is the case, then the example sentences in post #1 are correct. I'm not sure why people consider them incorrect.

Yes both examples are examples of misuse of to rent out - the definition is as you, and the dictionaries, say.

I didn't find "rent out" in the WR dictionary. What dictionaries define it, and how do they define it?

 

[kentix]

Modifying my earlier answer a bit, I think the key in the uses above is that "out" coordinates with "entire". It's the same idea as filling "out" a form. It signals completion or fullness.

 

[Arimeyao]

Modifying my earlier answer a bit, I think the key in the uses above is that "out" coordinates with "entire". It's the same idea as filling "out" a form. It signals completion or fullness.

I agree. I would have said rent out, though i couldnt say why. I think @kentix figured it out.

 

[natkretep]

I'm not sure out has the meaning of completeness for me here. (And I say 'fill in a form' rather than 'fill out a form'. Up certainly has the meaning of completeness in 'fill up'.)

Collins says there is no difference in meaning between 'rent' and 'rent out': Rent definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

Rent out means the same as rent.

Similarly also Longman: rent | meaning of rent in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE

2 (also rent out) [transitive] to let someone live in a house, room etc that you own, or use your land, in return for money SYN let British English
rent something (out) to somebody
She rents out two rooms to students.

Both say rent out is what a landlord/lady does (confirming what is mentioned in the opening post). And in BrE, we also say let out and lease out. So, doji's third example doesn't work for me.