I. ˈlet, usu -ed.+V transitive verb
( letted ; letted or let ; letting ; lets )
Etymology: Middle English letten, from Old English lettan to delay, hinder; akin to Old Saxon lettian to hinder, Middle Dutch letten to hinder, Old High German lezzen to delay, hurt, Old Norse letja to hold back, Gothic latjan; causative-denominatives from the stem of English late
archaic : hinder , impede , prevent
by Heaven! I'll make a ghost of him that lets me — Shakespeare
mine ancient wound is hardly whole and lets me from the saddle — Alfred Tennyson
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English lette, lett, let, from letten to let (hinder)
1. : something that prevents or impedes : obstruction
free to inquire without let or hindrance — B.G.Gallagher
the task of a socialist movement to challenge without let the moral values of society — Lloyd Harrington
perennials reseeding themselves without outside meddling help or let — William Faulkner
2. : a stroke, point, or service especially in racket and net games that does not count and must be replayed
III. “; in rapid speech the t may be lost before “me” & “ʸs” verb
( let ; let ; letting ; lets )
Etymology: Middle English leten, lǣten, from Old English lǣtan; akin to Old Frisian lēta to let, permit, Old Saxon lātan, Middle Dutch laten, Old High German lāzzan, Old Norse lāta, Gothic letan to let, permit, Greek lēdein to be tired, Latin lassus weary, tired, lenis soft, mild, Lithuanian leisti to let; basic meaning: to let go
transitive verb
1. : make , cause
the king … let me know that when and if that story was told he would do the telling himself — John Barkham
doctor, let me know the worst
he let it be known that he might consider parting with his Stradivarius
2.
a. chiefly Britain : rent , lease
she let him the rooms at once — Margaret Kennedy
let the premises
the island is now let as grazings — A.A.MacGregor
— often used with off or out
working part of their land themselves and letting off the rest — Alfons Dopsch
small holdings which were let out on long leases by the crown — Alan Edwards
b. : to award or assign especially after asking for bids or proposals
bids are opened before the contract is let — T.W.Arnold
another contract for some 300 miles will be let — Wall Street Journal
let one's timber rights
— often used with out
work was let out to be done in the homes — American Guide Series: New Hampshire
3.
a. chiefly dialect : to allow to remain : leave behind
I'll give him my commission, to let him there a month — Shakespeare
b. obsolete : to surrender completely : relinquish
to her mother Nature all her care she lets — Edmund Spenser
4.
a. : to give opportunity to or fail to prevent
jagged holes … let him see the mountains — Paul Bartlett
throw them together … and let dialogue and incident evolve — Richard Garnett †1906
live and let live
very particular not to let his beasts stray — F.D.Smith & Barbara Wilcox
lets himself be pushed around — Margaret Mead
b.
(1) — used in the imperative to introduce a request or proposal
let us pray
let not the reader be frightened away by a first impression — William Barrett
at the outset, let it be acknowledged — D.C.Buchanan
let sleeping dogs lie
(2) — used especially in Ireland as an intensive auxiliary to form the second person imperative
let you go along with her, stranger — J.M.Synge
c. — used imperatively as an auxiliary to express a warning
let one drama hit the air waves with this dialogue … and the wires will be clogged by protests — Jessamyn West
let him set foot on my property and I'll have him arrested
just let him try
5. : to free from confinement : release , spill
consult you about letting the water from the great pond — E.G.Bulwer-Lytton
received no American aid … so he must attempt to prolong the emotion letting — New Republic
fight until their blood is all let — Winston Churchill
— used with off or out
got mad and let off steam by kicking the dog
let out a scream
6. : to facilitate the passage of by eliminating a restraint : allow to go : permit to enter, pass, or leave
he let the lid back down slowly — W.F.Davis
the pickets would not let them through
who let the cat in
the warden lets the prisoner out
lets the car into high gear — F.L.Allen
lets the slack out
let himself quietly out the bedroom window
let herself down light and easy, for that chair … was frail — Dorothy C. Fisher
7. : to deliver on attestation : admit
let to bail
8. obsolete : to refrain or abstain from
did not let to praise the clear unmatched red and white — Shakespeare
intransitive verb
1. chiefly Britain : to become rented or leased
the flat lets for £35 a month
2. : to become awarded to a contractor
blueprints of … projects advertised for letting — U.S. Code
Synonyms:
let , allow , permit , suffer , leave mean to refrain from preventing. let is less formal than permit or allow
let him go
wanted to go but his parents would not let him
and besides signifying, at one extreme, a positive giving of permission can, at the other, signify failure to prevent because of neglect, inability, or inaction
to let the cold in by forgetting to close a door
tremble so that he let the plate fall from his hands
countries that let themselves become dependent on the labor of other countries — G.B.Shaw
allow and permit both imply more strongly than the comparable use of let the power or authority to prohibit or prevent or to refrain from prohibiting or preventing. allow usually implies a forbearing to prohibit; permit implies a more express willing or acquiescing
nothing is permitted, everything is allowed
under absentee ownership the machinery was allowed to become obsolescent — American Guide Series: New Hampshire
allow a child to go out without his overcoat
would have liked to have begun the study of art, but family finances did not permit this — Current Biography
permits his cattle to graze on the new pasture in such numbers that the feed is quickly used up — P.E.James
suffer is often but rather bookishly interchangeable with allow in its narrowest sense
suffer little children to come unto me — Lk 18: 16 (Authorized Version)
but more usually implies indifference or reluctance
would the state suffer its foundation to be destroyed — Henry Adams
suffered herself to be led to the tiny enclosure — S.E.White
leave when used in this sense implies strongly a noninterference
leave them to determine their own fates
the parents left the children free to come and go as they pleased
his principle was to choose competent lieutenants, and then to leave them to work without hampering interference — Irish Digest
•
- let alone
- let be
- let fly
- let go
- let into
- let loose
- let one have it
- let slide
- let slip
- let the cat out of the bag
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: let (III)
Britain
1.
a. : an act of leasing or renting
b. : lease
2. : a rented house or apartment
V. verb
•
- let it all hang out
- let rip
- let the chips fall where they may