let in

See also: letin

English

Verb

let in (third-person singular simple present lets in, present participle letting in, simple past and past participle let in)

1. (transitive) To let someone or something come in; to admit someone or something in.

   Antonyms: keep out, lock out

   He opened the window to let in the air.

   1. To divulge one's inner thoughts to (someone), making oneself emotionally vulnerable to them; to open up to (someone).
      • 2004, “Somewhere Only We Know”, in Hopes and Fears, performed by Keane:

        So tell me when you're gonna let me in / I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

2. (transitive, Oxford University slang) To associate with.
   • 1859, Thomas Hughes, chapter 1, in Tom Brown at Oxford:

     He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; but, with the highest respect for friend Perkins (my scout) and his obliging friends, I shall make some enquiries before "letting in" with any of them.

3. (UK, slang, obsolete) To cheat or victimize.

   He let me in heavily.

Related terms

• let in on

Translations

to let someone or something come in

• Bulgarian: въвеждам (bg) (vǎveždam), пускам да влезе (puskam da vleze)
• Dutch: binnenlaten (nl)
• Ido: enirigar (io)
• Latin: admittō, intrōmittō
• Lithuanian: įleisti
• Polish: wpuszczać (pl) impf, wpuścić (pl) pf
• Slovene: spustiti noter
• Spanish: dejar entrar, abrir (es)
• Swedish: släppa in (sv)

References

• (to cheat): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

• ELINT, Intel, enlit, inlet, intel, leint