Ease.

(Anglo-Saxon, eath; Latin, oti-um.)

At ease. Without pain or anxiety.

Ill at ease. Uneasy, not comfortable, anxious.

Stand at ease! A command given to soldiers to rest for a time. The “gentlemen stood at ease” means in an informal manner.

To ease one of his money or purse. To steal it. (See Little Ease.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.