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-West Germanic *lātan, from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to leave behind, allow”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to let, leave behind”).
VerbEdit
let (third-person singular simple present lets, present participle letting, simple past let or (obsolete) leet, past participle let or (obsolete) 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.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Exodus 8:28:
- Pharaoh said, I will let you go.
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene vi]:
- 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.
- (transitive) To leave.
- Let me alone!
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto VI, stanza 16:
- Yet neither spinnes nor cardes, 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.
- (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.
- 1965, Roger Miller (lyrics and music), “King Of The Road”:
- Trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let, fifty cents.
- (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
- (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.
- (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
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 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 […].
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).
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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NounEdit
let (plural lets)
- The allowing of possession of a property etc. in exchange for rent.
- 1854, Charles Dickens, Christmas Stories[1], page 317:
- Then he says “You would call it a Good Let, Madam?”
“O certainly a Good Let sir.”
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English letten (“to hinder, delay”), from Old English lettan (“to hinder, delay”; literally, “to make late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lattjan, 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).
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 2 Thessalonians 2:7:
- He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
- a. 1892, Alfred Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine
- Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, / And lets me from the saddle.
- (obsolete) To prevent someone from doing something; also to prevent something from happening.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts 8:
- 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 8:
- (obsolete) To tarry or delay.
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Shypmans Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:
- No longer wold he lette.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 1826, Early Metrical Tales; Including the History of Sir Egeir, Sir Gryme, and Sir Gray-Steill, Edinburgh, The History of Sir Eger, Sir Grahame, And Sir Gray-Steel, page 7:
- And for that strake I would not let, / Another upon him soon I set,
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, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 16, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- 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.
- 1552, Hugh Latimer, the third sermon preached on the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity
- 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
AnagramsEdit
CzechEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
NounEdit
let m
- flight (the act of flying)
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
NounEdit
let
Further readingEdit
- let in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
- let in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
DanishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse léttr, from Proto-Germanic *linhtaz, cognate with Swedish lätt, English light and German leicht.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
let (plural and definite singular attributive lette)
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
ReferencesEdit
- “let,2” in Den Danske Ordbog
AdverbEdit
let
Etymology 2Edit
Abbreviation of letmælk.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
let c (singular definite letten, plural indefinite let)
InflectionEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “let,1” in Den Danske Ordbog
Etymology 3Edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
let
- imperative of lette
Etymology 4Edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
let
- past participle of le
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
let
- first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of letten
- imperative of letten
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
InterjectionEdit
let
- (tennis) indicates a let on service
Further readingEdit
- “let”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
FriulianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin lēctus, perfect passive participle of legō.
VerbEdit
let
- past participle of lei (“read”)
GothicEdit
RomanizationEdit
lēt
- Romanization of 𐌻𐌴𐍄
IrishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
ContractionEdit
let (triggers lenition)
Related termsEdit
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 | |
fara (“along with, beside”) | fairis an | fairis na | fara mo | fara do | farana | faranár | faranar | faranarb | faranarbh | |
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. |
Norwegian BokmålEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse litr (“colour”), related to líta (“to see”)
NounEdit
let m (definite singular leten, indefinite plural leter, definite plural letene)
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
let
- imperative of lete
ReferencesEdit
- “let” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse litr (“colour”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz. Related to Old Norse líta (“to see”)
Alternative formsEdit
NounEdit
let m (definite singular leten, indefinite plural leter or letar, definite plural letene or letane)
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
let
Etymology 3Edit
VerbEdit
let
Further readingEdit
- “let” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
AnagramsEdit
Serbo-CroatianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From lètjeti.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
lȇt m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑т)
DeclensionEdit
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “let” in Hrvatski jezični portal
SloveneEdit
EtymologyEdit
See the verb leteti (“to fly”)
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
lȅt m inan
InflectionEdit
Masculine inan., hard o-stem | |||
---|---|---|---|
nom. sing. | lèt | ||
gen. sing. | léta | ||
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
NounEdit
let
WestrobothnianEdit
Picture dictionary | |
---|---|
|
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse litr, from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz (“appearance, look, aspect”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”).
NounEdit
let m
SynonymsEdit
- leit n
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
let