This Letter describes the search for an enhanced production rate of events with a charged lepton and a neutrino in high-energy pp collisions at the LHC. The analysis uses data collected with the CMS detector, with an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb(-1) at root s = 7 TeV, and a further 3.7 fb(-1) at root s = 8 TeV. No evidence is found for an excess. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on a heavy charged gauge boson (W') in the sequential standard model, a split universal extra dimension model, and contact interactions in the helicity-nonconserving model. For the last, values of the binding energy below 10.5 (8.8) TeV in the electron (muon) channel are excluded at a 95\% confidence level. Interpreting the l(nu) final state in terms of a heavy W' with standard model couplings, masses below 2.90 TeV are excluded. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.072005