release

   1. to dismiss from employment

   The employee has not hitherto been held against his will:

    ... since released (not surprisingly) to pursue 'other business interests' (the banking euphemism for goodbye). (Private Eye, April 1988)

   Also as a noun:

    The pilot's release from the team is a result of administrative action. (Daily Telegraph, January 1987)

   2. a death

   The soul has left the body for more congenial climes. Much used after a painful terminal illness in the cliché happy release.

   3. obsolete

   to kill

   Again from the separation of the soul from the body, but in days when there was more general belief in life after death:

    Let these serve as a sacrifice for the Innocent spirits so cruelly released at Jhanoi. (Fraser, 1975, writing in archaic style)

   4. sexual activity

   The theory is that unrelieved sexual tension is unhealthy, especially for an adult male:

    ... indulged in this pastime night after night as much to give him some 'release' (she actually used the odious word). (Styron, 1976, writing about masturbation)