World Book 1997 4.0

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<HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>DICTIONARY: let - lett</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> <A HREF="a.dic">A</A> <A HREF="b.dic">B</A> <A HREF="c.dic">C</A> <A HREF="d.dic">D</A> <A HREF="e.dic">E</A> <A HREF="f.dic">F</A> <A HREF="g.dic">G</A> <A HREF="h.dic">H</A> <A HREF="i.dic">I</A> <A HREF="j.dic">J</A> <A HREF="k.dic">K</A> <A HREF="l.dic">L</A> <A HREF="m.dic">M</A> <A HREF="n.dic">N</A> <A HREF="o.dic">O</A> <A HREF="p.dic">P</A> <A HREF="q.dic">Q</A> <A HREF="r.dic">R</A> <A HREF="s.dic">S</A> <A HREF="t.dic">T</A> <A HREF="u.dic">U</A> <A HREF="v.dic">V</A> <A HREF="w.dic">W</A> <A HREF="x.dic">X</A> <A HREF="y.dic">Y</A> <A HREF="z.dic">Z</A> <A NAME="let"> let (1), verb, let, letting, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD>v.t. 1. to not stop from doing or having something; allow; permit. Ex. Let the dog have a bone. She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings (Milton). <DD> 2. to allow to pass, go, or come. Ex. They let the visitor on board the ship. <DD> 3. to allow to run out; allow (something) to escape. Ex. Doctors used to let blood from people to lessen a fever. <DD> 4a. to rent; hire out. Ex. to let a boat by the hour. The woman lets rooms to college students. <DD> b. to give out (a job) by contract. Ex. to let work to a builder. In connection with the letting of private contracts for demolition of the Third Avenue Elevated Line ... (New York Times). <DD> 5. Let is used in giving suggestions or giving commands, as an auxiliary verb. Ex. "Let's go home" means "I suggest that we go home." Let every man do his duty. <DD> 6. to suppose; assume. Ex. Let the two lines be parallel. <DD> 7. (Obsolete.) to quit; abandon; forsake. <DD>v.i. to be rented; be hired out. Ex. This room lets for $80 a month. <DD>noun (British.) a letting for hire or rent. Ex. The sign said "House For Let." expr. let alone. See under alone. expr. let be. See under be. expr. let down, <DD> a. to lower. Ex. He let the box down from the roof. <DD> b. to slow up. Ex. As her interest wore off, she began to let down. <DD> c. to disappoint. Ex. Don't let us down today; we're counting on you to win. Losing the job was bad enough, but even worse was the feeling that I had let my family down. <DD> d. to humiliate. Ex. Nothing in the world lets down a character more than that wrong turn (Lord Chesterfield). expr. let go. See under go (1). expr. let in, to permit to enter; admit. Ex. Let in some fresh air. I was let in at the back gate of a lovely house (Sir Richard Steele). expr. let in for, to open the way to; cause (trouble, unpleasantness, or the like). Ex. He let his friends in for a lot of questioning when he left town so suddenly. expr. let in on, to share a confidence or secret with. Ex. Once a strong voice in favor of tightly guarding U.S. scientific secrets, physicist Edward Teller ... now thinks everyone should be let in on most classified information (Time). expr. let know. See under know. expr. let loose, to set free; release; let go. Ex. ... like so many bedlamites and demoniacs let loose (Washington Irving). He was let loose among the woods as soon as he was able to ride on horseback (Joseph Addison). expr. let off, <DD> a. to permit to go free; excuse from punishment, service, or other obligation. Ex. He was let off with a warning to do better in the future. I will let Clavering off from that bargain (Thackeray). <DD> b. to discharge; allow to get off. Ex. This train stops to let off passengers on signal. <DD> c. to fire; explode. Ex. On 1 August the Americans let off a hydrogen bomb (New Scientist). expr. let on, (Informal.) <DD> a. to allow to be known; reveal one's knowledge of. Ex. He didn't let on his surprise at the news. The kids know too, but they never let on (Time). <DD> b. to make believe; pretend. Ex. He let on that he did not see me. expr. let out, <DD> a. to permit to go out or escape; set free; release. Ex. They let me out of the hospital too soon. <DD> b. to make larger or longer. Ex. Let out the hem on this skirt. <DD> c. to rent. Ex. Has the room been let out yet? <DD> d. (Informal.) to dismiss or be dismissed. Ex. When does your class let out? <DD> e. to make known; disclose; divulge. Ex. to let out a secret. expr. let up, (Informal.) to stop or pause. Ex. They refused to let up in the fight. We can go out when the storm lets up. expr. let well enough alone, to be satisfied with existing conditions and not try to make them better or different. Ex. He is the kind of worker who cannot leave well enough alone but must do each job perfectly. </DL> <A NAME="let"> let (2), noun, verb, letted or let, letting.<DL COMPACT><DD>noun 1. an interference with the ball in tennis and similar games, especially a serve that hits the net. The ball or point must be played over again. <DD> 2a. (Archaic.) prevention; hindrance; stoppage; obstruction. <DD> b. something that hinders; an impediment. Ex. That I may know the let, why gentle Peace Should not expel these inconveniences (Shakespeare). <DD>v.t. (Archaic.) to stand in the way of; prevent; hinder; obstruct. Ex. Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, And lets me from the saddle (Tennyson). expr. without let or hindrance, with nothing to prevent, hinder, or obstruct. Ex. He may hunt for his own amusement, without let or hindrance, throughout the year until September (Atlantic). </DL> <A NAME="let"> -let,<DL COMPACT><DD> (suffix added to nouns to form other nouns.) <DD> 1. little ______. Ex. Booklet = a little book. <DD> 2. thing worn as a band on ______. Ex. Anklet = a band worn around the ankle. <DD> 3. other meanings, as in couplet, gauntlet, ringlet. </DL> <A NAME="letat,cestmoi"> l'etat, c'est moi,<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) the state, it is I; I am the state (attributed to Louis XIV of France). </DL> <A NAME="letch"> letch, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a yen; yearning; desire. Ex. He develops a letch for an attractive Circassian lady (New Yorker). </DL> <A NAME="letdown"> letdown, noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD>noun 1. a slowing up. Ex. Middle age often brings a letdown in vitality. The talked about letdown in copper buying has not yet appeared (Wall Street Journal). <DD> 2. a disappointment. Ex. Losing the contest was a big letdown for him. <DD> 3. humiliation. <DD> 4. the approach of an aircraft toward a landing. <DD>adj. characterized by depression or dejection. Ex. a letdown sensation. </DL> <A NAME="letgali"> Letgali, noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> a people who occupied the eastern half of present-day Latvia before A.D. 1200, and of whom the Letts are descendants. </DL> <A NAME="lethal"> lethal, adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD>adj. causing death; deadly; mortal. Ex. lethal weapons, a lethal dose of a drug. (SYN) fatal. <DD>noun a lethal thing, especially a lethal factor or gene. adv. lethally. </DL> <A NAME="lethalchamber"> lethal chamber,<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. a chamber in which animals are put painlessly to death, as with deadly gases. <DD> 2. the death chamber, as used in legal executions of criminals by means of gas. </DL> <A NAME="lethalfactor"> lethal factor or gene,<DL COMPACT><DD> (Biology.) any gene, either dominant or recessive, which results in the premature death of the organism bearing it. </DL> <A NAME="lethalinjection"> lethal injection,<DL COMPACT><DD> injection of a lethal drug into the body of a person condemned to death. Ex. ... to receive a lethal injection in a Texas prison for a 1980 murder (Milton Greenberg). </DL> <A NAME="lethality"> lethality, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality of being lethal; ability to cause death; deadliness. Ex. Means may be found to increase or decrease the lethality of the rays (Science News Letter). </DL> <A NAME="lethargic"> lethargic, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. unnaturally drowsy; sluggish; dull. Ex. A hot, humid day makes most people feel lethargic. (SYN) apathetic. <DD> 2. producing lethargy. adv. lethargically. </DL> <A NAME="lethargicencephalitis"> lethargic encephalitis,<DL COMPACT><DD> a form of inflammation of the brain believed to be caused by a virus, characterized by extreme drowsiness or lethargy, sometimes followed by stupor or paralysis; sleeping sickness; encephalitis lethargica. </DL> <A NAME="lethargy"> lethargy, noun, pl. -gies.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. drowsy dullness; lack of energy; sluggish inactivity. Ex. to rouse the nation from its lethargy, to sink into the lethargy of indifference. (SYN) torpor, apathy, stupor. <DD> 2. (Medicine.) a state of prolonged unconsciousness resembling deep sleep, from which the person can be roused but immediately loses consciousness again. </DL> <A NAME="lethe"> Lethe, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. (Greek Mythology.) a river in Hades. Drinking its water caused forgetfulness of the past. <DD> 2. (Figurative.) forgetfulness; oblivion. Ex. Till that the conquering wine hath steeped our sense In soft and delicate Lethe (Shakespeare). </DL> <A NAME="lethean"> Lethean, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. having to do with Lethe or its water. <DD> 2. causing forgetfulness. Ex. daily labour's dull, Lethaean spring (Matthew Arnold). </DL> <A NAME="lethiferous"> lethiferous, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that causes or results in death; deadly. Ex. lethiferous diseases. </DL> <A NAME="leto"> Leto, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) the mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus. The Romans called her Latona. </DL> <A NAME="letoff"> let-off, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a letting off; release; exemption. Ex. A light let-off that will be for the murderer (Punch). </DL> <A NAME="letoiledunord"> l'etoile du nord,<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) the star of the north (Minnesota state motto). </DL> <A NAME="letout"> let-out, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a means of escape or release; loophole. </DL> <A NAME="letoutensemble"> le tout ensemble,<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) everything considered together. </DL> <A NAME="lets"> let's,<DL COMPACT><DD> let us. </DL> <A NAME="lett"> Lett, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. a member of a group of people living in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Germany, related to the Lithuanians. <DD> 2. their language; Lettish. </DL> <A HREF="lettable.dic">NEXT</A>