let

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See also: Let, -let, lét, lèt, lêt, łęt, Łęt, and лет

English

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Alternative forms

  • lett (archaic)
  • lettest (2nd person singular simple present and simple past; archaic)
  • letteth (3rd person singular simple present; archaic)

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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”) and partially related to French laisser (“to let”).

Verb

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 8:28
      Pharaoh said, I will let you go.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      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!
    • (Can we date this quote by Edmund Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      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 […].
Usage notes
  • 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).
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

let (plural lets)

  1. The allowing of possession of a property etc. in exchange for rent.
    • (Can we date this quote by Charles Dickens and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Then he says “You would call it a Good Let, Madam?”
      “O certainly a Good Let sir.”

Etymology 2

From 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.

Verb

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 2:7
      He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
    • (Can we date this quote by Tennyson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      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 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?
  3. (obsolete) To tarry or delay.
    • (Can we date this quote by Chaucer and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      No longer would he let.
    • 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,

Noun

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.
    • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
    • (Can we date this quote by Latimer and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      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 terms
Translations
References

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From letět.

Noun

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  1. flight (the act of flying)
Declension

Template:cs-decl-noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

Template:cs-noun form

  1. genitive plural of léto

Further reading

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse léttr, from Proto-Germanic *linhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-.

Pronunciation

Adjective

let

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

Inflection

Inflection of let
Positive Comparative Superlative
Indefinte common singular let lettere lettest2
Indefinite 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.

Synonyms

Adverb

let

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

Verb

let

  1. (deprecated template usage) imperative of lette

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

let

  1. (deprecated template usage) first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of letten
  2. (deprecated template usage) imperative of letten

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English let.

Pronunciation

Interjection

let

  1. (tennis) indicates a let on service

Further reading

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin lēctus, perfect passive participle of legō.

Verb

let

  1. past participle of lei- read

Gothic

Romanization

lēt

  1. Romanization of 𐌻𐌴𐍄

Irish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Contraction

let (triggers lenition)

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

Related terms

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.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

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

Noun

let m (definite singular leten, indefinite plural leter, definite plural letene)

  1. colour
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

let

  1. (deprecated template usage) imperative of lete

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

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

Noun

let m (definite singular leten, indefinite plural leter or letar, definite plural letene or letane)

  1. colour
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

let

  1. past of la

Further reading

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From lètjeti.

Pronunciation

Noun

lȇt m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑т)

  1. flight

Declension

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 terms

References

  • “let” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Slovene

Pronunciation

Noun

lȅt m inan

  1. flight

Inflection

 The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. lèt
gen. sing. léta
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		lèt léta léti
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		léta létov létov
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		létu létoma létom
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		lèt léta léte
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		létu létih létih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		létom létoma léti

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English leather.

Noun

let

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

Westrobothnian

Etymology 1

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Noun

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  1. colour
  2. complexion
Synonyms
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Etymology 2

Verb

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  1. Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "gmq-bot" is not valid. See WT:LOL.
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