LETTER

Meaning of LETTER in English

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a correspondence/letters column (= that prints some of the letters a newspaper receives )

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Thousands of letters poured in to the correspondence column.

a letter bomb ( also a parcel bomb British English ) (= sent in a letter or parcel )

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A second letter bomb was found among the unopened mail.

a letter of apology

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We agreed to write a letter of apology.

a letter of application

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The purpose of your letter of application is to get an interview.

a letter of complaint

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I wrote a letter of complaint to the hospital manager.

a letter of resignation

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He immediately wrote a letter of resignation.

a love letter

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She found a love letter from another woman in his wallet.

a message/letter of sympathy

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We are grateful for all the messages of sympathy we have received.

anonymous phone call/letter etc (= one that is often unpleasant or contains threats )

begging letter (= a letter asking for money )

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a begging letter

block letters

call letters

chain letter

compromising letter/photograph/picture etc

cover letter

covering letter

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Send your CV and a covering letter to the address below.

dead letter

form letter

French letter

letter bomb

letter of acceptance (= a letter in which you agree to accept a job, university place etc )

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He wrote a letter of acceptance to the university.

letter of condolence

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a letter of condolence

letter of credit

love letter

man of letters

open letter

owe sb a drink/letter etc

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I owe Shaun a letter; I must write soon.

poison-pen letter

post...letter

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She’s just gone to post a letter .

wrote...letters

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I wrote her several letters , but she didn’t reply.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

anonymous

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Probably a group of students who amuse themselves by writing anonymous letters to the papers.

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That's the best cure for people who write anonymous letters .

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An anonymous letter , and, when that didn't work, Jem and Eric doing her flat over.

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She had an anonymous letter last night, and tried to burn it before I could see it.

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We do not publish anonymous letters , although we may withhold a writer's identify if it is justified.

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They had found the man who had written the anonymous letter .

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Starting in the summer of 1989, several gendarmes publicized their grievances in anonymous letters to the press.

capital

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She labelled them neatly, writing the addresses in ball point pen and capital letters .

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Some one wrote in all capital letters that unqualified disabled workers were slacking off and getting special privileges.

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The teacher had helped them with the capital letter to begin the sentence and the full stop at the end.

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Physicians Resource said it will use proceeds for acquisitions, working capital , capital expenditures and letters of credit.

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Sequences in capital letters are exons, while lower case letters indicate intron sequences.

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A text for students devoted seven pages to the use of a capital letter to indicate a proper noun.

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Baseline the line on which the bases of capital letters sit.

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Another thing Nisodemus was good at was giving words capital letters .

■ NOUN

bomb

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Hunt alert: Huntsmen in Northern Ireland have been alerted by police after letter bombs were sent to two hunt members.

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Two letter bombs , in 1961 and 1980, cost Brunner the use of an eye and the fingers of one hand.

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He says the letter bombs could have injured any of the people who handled them on their way to their targets.

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In a search of the offices, police found a second letter bomb among the unopened mail.

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At least two people were injured by the letter bombs .

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The letter bombs were described as more sophisticated and more powerful than the ones mailed from Istanbul.

box

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In another, children put a lighted firework through the letter box of a house.

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All of it divvied up, who you talked to, where you walked, which letter box you posted your mail.

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Frankie was a nice little thing actually, when there were no screams coming from that amazing letter box mouth.

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I shudder to think what I should do when her next social invitation arrives in the letter box !

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I glued up the cat flap. 1 sprayed the letter box with insect repellent.

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He was pressed against the wood face, his hips hard on to the letter box , and he cursed the slow reaction.

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Get a special cover for the letter box .

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When she got home she found an assignment pushed through her letter box .

love

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In the glove compartment of his car was another love letter , this time written by her husband.

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She read her love letters alone in the woods.

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You wrote him all those love letters , and then I suppose you got tired of it, and stopped!

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I must have been about fifteen when I received my first love letter .

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Leonardo forges a love letter from Emilia, and bribes a servant to deliver it to Eustathius along with Emilia's stolen glove.

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I read his crowded arms and think of tattooed gravestones - love letters lost in all the long grass.

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It was a love letter , it was what she wanted and would she have the nerve to deliver it?

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The bundles of love letters testify to that.

■ VERB

post

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He sadly posted this letter on a wet Sunday afternoon in Leeds.

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I sleep easily, rising before ten the following morning, to post my letter .

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Roseau, the capital, had primitive street lighting, no smart shops, and nowhere to post a letter .

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That between the Wars you could post a letter on a tram?

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I had an engagement in town that morning so I didn't post the letter .

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Picture yourself posting the letter , and feeling that it was a simple matter after all!

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This afternoon I wanted to ask Caliban to post a letter to G.P. from me.

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Detectives found envelopes identical to those used to post the letters .

read

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You see, on the day you read this letter another 14,000 infant lives will be lost.

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A young woman wearing glasses with thick lenses sat on a huge sack, reading a letter .

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He was reading once again a letter he had received three days ago.

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You could write happily in that window, or draw, or read a letter .

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Is he oppressed by the same obscure shame that I felt when I read the letter ?

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As I read the letter inside, a little shiver of panic shot through me.

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I felt very proud of her and read her the letter .

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I had the jury read the now-infamous letter of the chairman of the board, Dean McGee.

receive

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The Northern has received telephone calls and letters from people who have contributed and want to know what is happening.

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Instead, you will receive another letter .

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But within a week, Norman received a letter from the council.

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She later received a form letter advising her that she had been selected for this position.

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If you leave as soon as you receive this letter , you should be back home before midnight.

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At the end of the play, Derikson receives a letter from Frederica, whom he had thought dead, begging forgiveness.

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Just before Easter, I received a letter about a series of television advertisements.

send

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Patients who've complained about the long wait have been sent letters of apology.

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Horgan said she had just sent out temporary layoff letters to three of her 40 employees.

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Doctors have been sent a letter by Sandoz pointing out that 4 people have suffered liver failure after taking Lamisil.

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If he refused to send a letter , he would have to explain himself to Krauss.

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Mr Fordy said all local hauliers were sent letters before the restriction came into being.

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She did not send her letter .

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Do not fail, Mr Browning had said, to send on any letters from Somerset with all speed.

sign

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Aerospatiale has signed a letter of intent to buy which will be implemented, one way or another, on January 15.

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What kind of justice do we have in this country when a signed and dated letter offering a job means nothing?

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Within six weeks, it was Ford who conceded, after seventy-six senators signed a letter demanding that he back off.

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By signing this letter , you confirm that this is the case.

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Prospects may begin signing letters of intent Wednesday.

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They announced yesterday that they have signed a letter of intent to merge under the name Comarco International Inc.

write

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After two hours, he went back to the Treasury and wrote his resignation letter .

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She sent her packages for Christmas, Easter and birthdays, and wrote her regular letters .

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He had written her several letters , and had had two prim replies.

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Lychner also wrote letters to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles when a criminal was due to be released.

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Who knows, in 40 years time some present five-year-old may be writing a similar letter !

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They held press conferences and wrote letters to the editor.

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But Cleo wrote letters though it wasn't humanly possible that she should.

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To want to write letters in strange-colored inks on unusual paper.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

be besieged with letters/demands/requests etc

compose a letter/poem/speech etc

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His movements were slow, his gaze abstracted, as if he were composing a poem in his head.

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Me and my sore back composed a letter to Martina.

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Presumably Mira is composing a poem, counting the syllables as she walks.

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She began to compose a letter in her head, then rejected the idea.

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The trainee is expected to compose a letter and a memo from short notes provided.

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Then he turned over the piece of paper and composed a letter to his wife, Olga.

crank call/letter

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Anyone who dares defend this breakthrough speaks in hushed tones, fearing crank calls and canceled grants.

stinging attack/report/letter etc

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Mr Smith launched a stinging attack on John Major, ridiculing him as a man who has lost control of events.

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The company which used to give £40,000 a year to Tory funds, launched a stinging attack on Government policies.

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What upsets her much more than the two columns is a stinging letter to the editor published in the sports pages.

stinking letter

thank-you letter/note/card

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

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David, who won first prize in the lottery, has received more than 100 letters from charities asking for money.

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Hamlin wrote a letter to the council, complaining about the incident.

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I got a letter from Anna today.

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In a letter dated May 10th, the US government protested about the use of force in the republics.

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Write me a letter and tell me all your news!

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

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Blackwell said in a letter last week sent to the Union-Tribune.

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By his second year, he said, nearly 30 schools were sending him letters.

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Impassioned letters to Onegin: 1.

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Two other letters of Anselm during Osbern's disciplinary exile at Bec complete the story of their first meeting.

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When Shevardnadze produced the letter and handed it to the President, Reagan placed it unopened on the table beside his chair.

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Which is the one that has been informed of the letter ?

II. verb