let
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- lett (archaic)
- lettest (2nd person singular simple present and simple past; archaic)
- letteth (3rd person singular simple present; archaic)
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English leten, læten, from Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, bequeath, leave, rent”), from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to leave behind, allow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēd- (“to let, leave behind”). Cognate with Scots lat, lete (“to let, leave”), North Frisian lete (“to let”), West Frisian litte (“to let”), Dutch laten (“to let, leave”), German lassen (“to let, leave, allow”), Swedish låta (“to let, allow, leave”), Icelandic láta (“to let”), Albanian lë (“to allow, let, leave”).
VerbEdit
let (third-person singular simple present lets, present participle letting, simple past let or (obsolete) leet, past participle let or (rare) letten)
- (transitive) To allow to, not to prevent (+ infinitive, but usually without to).
-
After he knocked for hours, I decided to let him come in.
- Bible, Exodus viii. 28
- Pharaoh said, I will let you go.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- If your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is […]
- 1971, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan
- He could not be let die of thirst there alone in the dark.
-
2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
- The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
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- (transitive) To leave.
-
Let me alone!
- Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
- Yet neither spins nor cards, ne cares nor frets, / But to her mother Nature all her care she lets.
-
- (transitive) To allow the release of (a fluid).
-
The physicians let about a pint of his blood, but to no avail.
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- (transitive) To allow possession of (a property etc.) in exchange for rent.
-
I decided to let the farmhouse to a couple while I was working abroad.
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- (transitive) To give, grant, or assign, as a work, privilege, or contract; often with out.
-
to let the building of a bridge; to let out the lathing and the plastering
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- (transitive) Used to introduce an imperative in the first or third person.
-
Let's put on a show!
-
Let us have a moment of silence.
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Let me just give you the phone number.
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Let P be the point where AB and OX intersect.
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- (transitive, obsolete except with know) To cause (+ bare infinitive).
-
Can you let me know what time you'll be arriving?
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter iv, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
- Soo within a whyle kynge Pellinore cam with a grete hoost / and salewed the peple and the kyng / and ther was grete ioye made on euery syde / Thenne the kyng lete serche how moche people of his party ther was slayne / And ther were founde but lytel past two honderd men slayne and viij knyȝtes of the table round in their pauelions
- 1818, John Keats, "To—":
- Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb, / Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand […].
-
SynonymsEdit
Usage notesEdit
- The use of “let” to introduce an imperative may sometimes be confused with its use, as its own imperative, in the sense of “to allow”. For example, the sentence “Let me go to the store.” could either be a second-person imperative of “let” (addressing someone who might prevent the speaker from going to the store) or a first-person singular imperative of “go” (not implying any such preventer).
TranslationsEdit
to allow
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to put up for rent
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NounEdit
let (plural lets)
- The allowing of possession of a property etc. in exchange for rent.
- Charles Dickens
- Then he says “You would call it a Good Let, Madam?”
“O certainly a Good Let sir.”
- Then he says “You would call it a Good Let, Madam?”
- Charles Dickens
Etymology 2Edit
Middle English letten (“to hinder, delay”), from Old English lettan (“to hinder, delay"; literally, "to make late”), from Proto-Germanic *latjaną. Akin to Old English latian (“to delay”), Dutch letten, Old English læt (“late”). More at late, delay.
VerbEdit
let (third-person singular simple present lets, present participle letting, simple past letted, past participle let)
- (archaic) To hinder, prevent, impede, hamper, cumber; to obstruct (someone or something).
- Bible, 2. Thessalonians ii. 7
- He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
- Tennyson
- Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, / And lets me from the saddle.
- Bible, 2. Thessalonians ii. 7
- (obsolete) To prevent someone from doing something; also to prevent something from happening.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts VIII:
- And as they went on their waye, they cam unto a certayne water, and the gelded man sayde: Se here is water, what shall lett me to be baptised?
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts VIII:
- (obsolete) To tarry or delay.
- Chaucer
- No longer would he let.
- a1500, Sir Eger, Eger and Grimeː
- For that strake I would not let, Another upon him soon I set.
- Chaucer
NounEdit
let (plural lets)
- An obstacle or hindrance.
- 1567 Arthur Golding; Ovid's Metamorphoses Bk. 3 Lines 60-1
- And Cadmus saw his campanie make tarience in that sort
- He marveld what should be their let, and went to seeke them out.
-
1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821:, II.16:
- Paulus Emilius going to the glorious expedition of Macedon, advertised the people of Rome during his absence not to speake of his actions: For the licence of judgements is an especiall let in great affaires.
- Latimer
- Consider whether your doings be to the let of your salvation or not.
- 1567 Arthur Golding; Ovid's Metamorphoses Bk. 3 Lines 60-1
- (tennis) The hindrance caused by the net during serve, only if the ball falls legally.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
ReferencesEdit
StatisticsEdit
Most common English words before 1923 in Project Gutenberg: whole · find · got · #192: let · world · thing · set
AnagramsEdit
CzechEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From letět.
NounEdit
let m
- flight (the act of flying)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of let
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
let
Further readingEdit
- let in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
- let in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse léttr, from Proto-Germanic *linhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
let
InflectionEdit
| Inflection of let | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative | |
| Common singular | let | lettere | lettest2 |
| Neuter singular | let | lettere | lettest2 |
| Plural | lette | lettere | lettest2 |
| Definite attributive1 | lette | lettere | letteste |
| 1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively. |
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SynonymsEdit
AdverbEdit
let
VerbEdit
let
- imperative of lette
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
let
- first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of letten
- imperative of letten
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
InterjectionEdit
let
- (tennis) indicates a let on service
Further readingEdit
- “let” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
FriulianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin lēctus, perfect passive participle of legō.
VerbEdit
let
- past participle of lei- read
GothicEdit
IrishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
ContractionEdit
let (triggers lenition)
Related termsEdit
Irish preposition contractions
| Basic form | Contracted with | Copular forms | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| an (“the sg”) | na (“the pl”) | mo (“my”) | do (“your”) | a (“his, her, their; which (present)”) | ár (“our”) | ar (“which (past)”) | (before consonant) | (present/future before vowel) | (past/conditional before vowel) | |
| de (“from”) | den | de na desna* |
de mo dem* |
de do ded*, det* |
dá | dár | dar | darb | darbh | |
| do (“to, for”) | don | do na dosna* |
do mo dom* |
do do dod*, dot* |
dá | dár | dar | darb | darbh | |
| faoi (“under, about”) | faoin | faoi na | faoi mo | faoi do | faoina | faoinár | faoinar | faoinarb | faoinarbh | |
| i (“in”) | sa, san | sna | i mo im* |
i do id*, it* |
ina | inár | inar | inarb | inarbh | |
| le (“with”) | leis an | leis na | le mo lem* |
le do led*, let* |
lena | lenár | lenar | lenarb | lenarbh | |
| ó (“from, since”) | ón | ó na ósna* |
ó mo óm* |
ó do ód*, ót* |
óna | ónár | ónar | ónarb | ónarbh | |
| trí (“through”) | tríd an | trí na | trí mo | trí do | trína | trínár | trínar | trínarb | trínarbh | |
| *Dialectal. | ||||||||||
LojbanEdit
Norwegian BokmålEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse litr (“colour”), related to líta (“to see”)
NounEdit
let m
SynonymsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
let
- imperative of lete
Norwegian NynorskEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse litr (“colour”), related to líta (“to see”)
NounEdit
let m
SynonymsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
let
- past tense of la
Further readingEdit
- “let” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Serbo-CroatianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From lètjeti.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
lȇt m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑т)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of let
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “let” in Hrvatski jezični portal
SloveneEdit
PronunciationEdit
- IPA(key): /ˈlɛ́t/
- Tonal orthography: lȅt
NounEdit
lèt m inan (genitive léta, nominative plural léti)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of lèt (masculine inan., hard o-stem)