Let Definition

lĕt
lets, letted, letting
verb
lets, letting
To leave; forsake; abandon.
Webster's New World
Used as an auxiliary in the imperative to express a command, request, or proposal.
Let's finish the job! Let x equal y.
American Heritage
To give out (work), assign (a contract), etc.
Webster's New World
To allow; permit.
Webster's New World
To allow or cause to escape; cause to flow or come out, as by shedding, emitting, etc.
To let blood.
Webster's New World
noun
An obstacle or impediment.
Webster's New World
A serve which does not count, specif. one that lands in the correct segment of the opposing player's side of the court after hitting the net.
Webster's New World
An invalid stroke in tennis and other net games that requires a replay.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
  • Army of the Righteous
  • Army of the Pure
  • Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
  • Lashkar-e-Toiba
  • Lashkar-e-Taiba
  • net ball
suffix
Small one.
Craterlet.
American Heritage
Something worn on.
Armlet.
American Heritage
affix
Small.
Piglet, starlet.
Webster's New World
A small object worn as a band on (a specified part of the body)
Armlet.
Webster's New World
idiom
let alone
  • Not to mention; much less:
American Heritage
let go
  • To cease to employ; dismiss:

    had to let 20 workers go.

American Heritage
let off on
  • To cause to diminish, as in pressure; ease up on:

    Let off on the gas so that we do not exceed the speed limit.

American Heritage
let (one's) hair down
  • To drop one's reserve or inhibitions.
American Heritage
let (someone) have it
  • To beat, strike, or shoot at someone.
  • To scold or punish.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Let

Noun

Singular:
let
Plural:
lets

Origin of Let

  • From Middle English leten, læten, from Old English lÇ£tan (“to allow, let go, bequeath, leave, rent"), from Proto-Germanic *lÄ“tanÄ… (“to leave behind, allow"), from Proto-Indo-European *lÄ“d- (“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 lÃ¥ta (“to let, allow, leave"), Icelandic láta (“to let"), Albanian lë (“to allow, let, leave").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English letten (“to hinder, delay"), from Old English lettan (“to hinder, delay"; literally, "to make late"), from Proto-Germanic *latjanÄ…. Akin to Old English latian (“to delay"), Dutch letten, Old English læt (“late"). More at late, delay.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English lette from letten to hinder from Old English lettan lē- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English from Old French -elet diminutive suff. -el (from Latin -ellus) -et -et

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English leten from Old English lǣtan lē- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • ME < MFr -el (< L -ellus) + -et, both dim. suffixes

    From Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition

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