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let

See also: Let, -let, lét, lèt, and lêt

Contents

EnglishEdit

 
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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)

  1. (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.
  2. (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.
  3. (transitive) To allow the release of (a fluid).
    The physicians let about a pint of his blood, but to no avail.
  4. (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.
  5. (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
  6. (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.
    Let me just give you the phone number.
    Let P be the point where AB and OX intersect.
  7. (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

NounEdit

let (plural lets)

  1. 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.”

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)

  1. (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.
  2. (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?
  3. (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.

NounEdit

let (plural lets)

  1. 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.
  2. (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

  1. flight (the act of flying)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of let
singular plural
nominative let lety
genitive letu letů
dative letu letům
accusative let lety
vocative lete lety
locative letu letech
instrumental letem lety
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

NounEdit

let

  1. genitive plural of léto

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

  1. light
  2. easy
  3. slight
  4. mild

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.

SynonymsEdit

AdverbEdit

let

  1. lightly
  2. easily
  3. slightly
  4. mildly

VerbEdit

let

  1. imperative of lette

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

let

  1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of letten
  2. imperative of letten

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowing from English let.

InterjectionEdit

let

  1. (tennis) indicates a let on service

Further readingEdit

FriulianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin lēctus, perfect passive participle of legō.

VerbEdit

let

  1. past participle of lei- read

GothicEdit

RomanizationEdit

lēt

  1. Romanization of 𐌻𐌴𐍄

IrishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

ContractionEdit

let (triggers lenition)

  1. (Munster) Contraction of le do (“with your sg”).
    let thoil ― please

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

RafsiEdit

let

  1. rafsi of gletu.

Norwegian BokmålEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse litr (“colour”), related to líta (“to see”)

NounEdit

let m

  1. colour
SynonymsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

let

  1. imperative of lete

Norwegian NynorskEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse litr (“colour”), related to líta (“to see”)

NounEdit

let m

  1. colour

SynonymsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

let

  1. present tense of la

Serbo-CroatianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From lètjeti.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lȇt m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑т)

  1. flight

DeclensionEdit

Declension of let
singular plural
nominative lȇt létovi
genitive leta lètōvā
dative letu letovima
accusative let letove
vocative lete letovi
locative letu letovima
instrumental letom letovima

Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • “let” in Hrvatski jezični portal

SloveneEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lèt m inan (genitive léta, nominative plural léti)

  1. flight

DeclensionEdit

Declension of lèt (masculine inan., hard o-stem)
singular dual plural
nominative lèt léta léti
accusative lèt léta léte
genitive léta létov létov
dative létu létoma létom
locative létu létih létih
instrumental létom létoma léti

Tok PisinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English leather.

NounEdit

let

  1. leather
  2. strap (of leather)
  3. belt
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