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let1

[let]
verb (used with object), let, let·ting.
  1. to allow or permit: to let him escape.
  2. to allow to pass, go, or come: to let us through.
  3. to grant the occupancy or use of (land, buildings, rooms, space, etc., or movable property) for rent or hire (sometimes followed by out).
  4. to contract or assign for performance, usually under a contract: to let work to a carpenter.
  5. to cause to; make: to let one know the truth.
  6. (used in the imperative as an auxiliary expressive of a request, command, warning, suggestion, etc.): Let me see. Let us go. Just let them try it!
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verb (used without object), let, let·ting.
  1. to admit of being rented or leased: The apartment lets for $100 per week.
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noun
  1. British. a lease.
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Verb Phrases
  1. let down,
    1. to disappoint; fail.
    2. to betray; desert.
    3. to slacken; abate: We were too near success to let down in our efforts.
    4. to allow to descend slowly; lower.
    5. Aeronautics.(of an airplane) to descend from a higher to a lower altitude preparatory to making an approach and landing or a similar maneuver.
  2. let in,
    1. to admit.
    2. to involve (a person) in without his or her knowledge or permission: to let someone in for a loss.
    3. Also let into.to insert into the surface of (a wall or the like) as a permanent addition: to let a plaque into a wall.
    4. Also let in on.to share a secret with; permit to participate in.
  3. let off,
    1. to release by exploding.
    2. to free from duty or responsibility; excuse.
    3. to allow to go with little or no punishment; pardon: The judge let off the youthful offender with a reprimand.
  4. let on,
    1. to reveal one's true feelings: She was terrified at the prospect, but didn't let on.
    2. to pretend: They let on that they didn't care about not being invited, but I could tell that they were hurt.
  5. let out,
    1. to divulge; make known.
    2. to release from confinement, restraint, etc.
    3. to enlarge (a garment).
    4. to terminate; be finished; end: When does the university let out for the summer?
    5. to make (a let-out fur or pelt).
  6. let up,
    1. to slacken; diminish; abate: This heat wave should let up by the end of the week.
    2. to cease; stop: The rain let up for a few hours.
  7. let up on, to treat less severely; be more lenient with: He refused to let up on the boy until his grades improved.
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Idioms
  1. let alone. alone(def 8).
  2. let be,
    1. to refrain from interference.
    2. to refrain from interfering with.
  3. let go. go1(def 93).
  4. let someone have it, Informal. to attack or assault, as by striking, shooting, or rebuking: The gunman threatened to let the teller have it if he didn't move fast.
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Origin of let1

before 900; Middle English leten, Old English lǣtan; cognate with Dutch laten, German lassen, Old Norse lāta, Gothic lētan; akin to Greek lēdeîn to be weary, Latin lassus tired. See late

Synonyms

1. suffer, grant. 3. lease, rent, sublet, hire.

Synonym study

1. See allow.

Antonyms

1. prevent.

Usage note

Let us is used in all varieties of speech and writing to introduce a suggestion or a request: Let us consider all the facts before deciding. The contracted form let's occurs mostly in informal speech and writing: Let's go. Let's not think about that right now. Perhaps because let's has come to be felt as a word in its own right rather than as the contraction of let us, it is often followed in informal speech and writing by redundant or appositional pronouns: Let's us plan a picnic. Let's you and I (or me ) get together tomorrow. Both Let's you and me and Let's you and I occur in the relaxed speech of educated speakers. The former conforms to the traditional rules of grammar; the latter, nonetheless, occurs more frequently. See also leave1.

let2

[let]
noun
  1. (in tennis, badminton, etc.) any play that is voided and must be replayed, especially a service that hits the net and drops into the proper part of the opponent's court.
  2. Chiefly Law. an impediment or obstacle: to act without let or hindrance.
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verb (used with object), let·ted or let, let·ting.
  1. Archaic. to hinder, prevent, or obstruct.
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Origin of let2

before 900; Middle English letten (v.), lette (noun; derivative of the v.), Old English lettan (v.), derivative of læt slow, tardy, late; cognate with Old Norse letja to hinder

let's

[lets]
  1. contraction of let us.
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Can be confusedleast lest let's

Usage note

See contraction, let1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

authorize, certify, grant, license, give, warrant, make, sanction, tolerate, concede, leave, commission, enable, have, permit, suffer, approve, endorse, cause, accredit

Examples from the Web for lets

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • How can you say God takes care of you if he lets you die of the small-pox!

    Weighed and Wanting

    George MacDonald

  • Hamlet lets out inadvertently that he was fat, but he will not say so openly.

  • With that he ups with a lump of a two year old, and lets drive at me.

  • You have the wisdom that grasps the substance and lets the shadows flit.

    Fair Margaret

    H. Rider Haggard

  • "Girls must play the very deuce with a man if he ever lets them get on his mind," he mused.

    Good Indian

    B. M. Bower

British Dictionary definitions for lets

LETS

n acronym for
  1. Local Exchange and Trading System: an economic system in which members of a community exchange goods and services using a cashless local currency
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let's

contraction of
  1. let us: used to express a suggestion, command, etc, by the speaker to himself and his hearers
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let1

verb lets, letting or let (tr; usually takes an infinitive without to or an implied infinitive)
  1. to permit; allowshe lets him roam around
  2. (imperative or dependent imperative)
    1. used as an auxiliary to express a request, proposal, or command, or to convey a warning or threatlet's get on; just let me catch you here again!
    2. (in mathematical or philosophical discourse) used as an auxiliary to express an assumption or hypothesislet "a" equal "b"
    3. used as an auxiliary to express resigned acceptance of the inevitablelet the worst happen
    1. to allow the occupation of (accommodation) in return for rent
    2. to assign (a contract for work)
  4. to allow or cause the movement of (something) in a specified directionto let air out of a tyre
  5. Irish informal to utterto let a cry
  6. let alone
    1. (conjunction)much less; not to mentionI can't afford wine, let alone champagne
    2. let be, leave alone or leave beto refrain from annoying or interfering withlet the poor cat alone
  7. let go See go 1 (def. 59)
  8. let loose
    1. to set free
    2. informalto make (a sound or remark) suddenlyhe let loose a hollow laugh
    3. informalto discharge (rounds) from a gun or gunsthey let loose a couple of rounds of ammunition
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noun
  1. British the act of letting property or accommodationthe majority of new lets are covered by the rent regulations
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See also let down, let in, let into, let off, let on, let out, let through, let up

Word Origin

Old English lǣtan to permit; related to Gothic lētan, German lassen

let2

noun
  1. an impediment or obstruction (esp in the phrase without let or hindrance)
  2. tennis squash
    1. a minor infringement or obstruction of the ball, requiring a point to be replayed
    2. the point so replayed
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verb lets, letting, letted or let
  1. (tr) archaic to hinder; impede
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Word Origin

Old English lettan to hinder, from læt late; related to Old Norse letja
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lets

let

v.

Old English lætan "to allow to remain; let go, leave, depart from; leave undone; to allow; bequeath," also "to rent" (class VII strong verb; past tense let, past participle læten), from Proto-Germanic *letan (cf. Old Saxon latan, Old Frisian leta, Dutch laten, German lassen, Gothic letan "to leave, let"), from PIE *le- "to let go, slacken" (cf. Latin lassus "faint, weary," Lithuanian leisti "to let, to let loose;" see lenient). If that derivation is correct, the primary sense would be "let go through weariness, neglect."

Of blood, from late Old English. To let (something) slip originally (1520s) was a reference to hounds on a leash; figurative use from 1540s. To let (someone) off "allow to go unpunished" is from 1814. To let on "reveal, divulge" is from 1725; to let up "cease, stop" is from 1787. Let alone "not to mention" is from 1812.

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let

n.

"stoppage, obstruction" (obsolete unless in legal contracts), late 12c., from archaic verb letten "to hinder," from Old English lettan "hinder, delay," from Proto-Germanic *latjanan (cf. Old Saxon lettian "to hinder," Old Norse letja "to hold back," Old High German lezzen "to stop, check," Gothic latjan "to hinder, make late," Old English læt "sluggish, slow, late"); see late.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with lets

let

In addition to the idioms beginning with let

  • let alone
  • let be
  • let bygones be bygones
  • let daylight through or into
  • let down
  • let down easy
  • let down one's hair
  • let drop
  • let fly
  • let go
  • let grass grow
  • let in on
  • let it all hang out
  • let it lay
  • let it rip
  • let me see
  • let off
  • let off steam
  • let on
  • let oneself go
  • let one's hair down
  • let out
  • let ride
  • let sleeping dogs lie
  • let slide
  • let slip
  • let someone
  • let someone down
  • let someone have it
  • let the cat out of the bag
  • let the chips fall where they may
  • let the grass grow under one's feet
  • let the side down
  • let up
  • let well enough alone

also see:

  • blow (let) off steam
  • give (let) someone have his or her head
  • (let someone) have it
  • live and let live

Also see underleave.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.