let

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

• IPA^(key): /lɛt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt
• Homophone: Lett

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").

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.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     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?) Edmund Spenser

     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 […].

• 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).

• (to allow): allow, permit

let (plural lets)

1. The allowing of possession of a property etc. in exchange for rent.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Charles Dickens

     Then he says “You would call it a Good Let, Madam?”
     “O certainly a Good Let sir.”

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.

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.

   • (Can we date this quote?) 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.

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, chapter 16, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By 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.

   • 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.

• without let or hindrance

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

• ELT, ETL, LTE, TEL, TLE, Tel., elt, tel

• IPA^(key): /lɛt/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: led

From letět.

let m

1. flight (the act of flying)

• letový

let

1. genitive plural of léto

• let in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• let in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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

• IPA^(key): /lɛt/, [lɛd̥]

let

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

• (easy): nem, enkel

let

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

let

1. imperative of lette

• “let,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

let

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

• tel

Borrowed from English let.

• IPA^(key): /lɛt/

let

1. (tennis) indicates a let on service

• “let” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

From Latin lēctus, perfect passive participle of legō.

let

1. past participle of lei- read

lēt

1. Romanization of 𐌻𐌴𐍄

• led

• IPA^(key): /lʲɛt̪ˠ/

let (triggers lenition)

1. (Munster) Contraction of le do (“with your sg”).

   let thoil ― please

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

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

1. colour

• farge

• hamlet

let

1. imperative of lete

• “let” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

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

1. colour

• farge

• hamlet

let

1. past tense of la

• “let” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From lètjeti.

• IPA^(key): /lêːt/

lȇt m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑т)

1. flight

• lètjeti / lèteti

• “let” in Hrvatski jezični portal

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ́t/
• Tonal orthography: lȅt

lèt m inan (genitive léta, nominative plural léti)

1. flight

From English leather.

let

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

From Old Norse litr, from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz (“appearance, look, aspect”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”).

let m

1. colour
2. complexion

• leit n

let

1. preterite singular of låt