# let

Pronunciation: US say "LET" /lɛt/; UK

## Verb

1. To allow someone or something to do something, or not prevent it; used with a bare infinitive.
   - Simple: To allow someone or something to do something and not stop it.
   - _Let the children play outside._
   - _She never lets anyone drive her car._
2. Used to introduce a first- or third-person imperative.
   - Simple: Used to suggest or order something for us or for someone else.
   - _Let the record show that the committee voted against the plan._
   - _Let him try and see what happens._
3. To cause, with a bare infinitive; now only with know or be.
   - Simple: To make something happen, now used only with 'know' or 'be'.
   - _Please let her know we've landed._
   - _If your flight is delayed, let us know and we'll arrange a later pickup._
4. To permit someone or something to come in, go out, or get through somewhere, with a word such as "in", "out", "into", or "through".
   - Simple: To allow someone or something to go into, out of, or through a place, used with words like "in", "out", or "through".
   - _Open the windows and let some fresh air in while you paint._
   - _My neighbor has a spare key, so she let herself into the apartment to water the plants._
5. To allow to be or do without interference, or to leave alone.
   - Simple: To leave someone alone and not bother them.
   - _Let it alone and it will heal._
   - _Let them be, they're only talking._
7. To allow someone to use a property in exchange for rent. *(British)*
   - Simple: To rent out a house or room to someone.
   - _They let the flat to students._
   - _He lets two cottages in the summer._
9. To award or assign work, a privilege, or a contract to someone, often followed by out.
   - Simple: To give a job or contract to someone, often used with 'out'.
   - _Contracts are let in the spring._
   - _The county lets out its snow-plowing work to private companies each winter._
10. To allow the release of a fluid, such as blood.
   - Simple: To allow blood or another liquid to flow out.
   - _Barbers used to let blood as well as cut hair._
   - _Barber-surgeons in past centuries let blood from patients to treat almost any illness._

## Noun

6. In tennis and similar games, a call that a serve or point must be played again, most often because a serve that is otherwise good has touched the net.
   - Simple: In tennis, a call to play a serve or point again, usually when the serve touches the net but lands in.
   - _Her serve clipped the top of the net and still landed in, so the umpire called a let._
   - _The sensor beeped for a let on the first serve._
8. An arrangement by which someone is allowed to occupy a property, such as a house, in return for rent.
   - Simple: The renting out of a house or other property.
   - _The cottage is on a six-month let._
   - _Holiday lets fill the village in August._

## Noun

11. An obstacle or hindrance. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Something that gets in the way.
   - _The treaty promised that merchants from either kingdom could cross the border without let or hindrance._
   - _Her British passport asks foreign officials to allow her to travel without let or hindrance._

## Verb

12. To obstruct or hold back someone or something, making movement or progress difficult. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To get in the way of someone or something, or stop them.
13. To tarry or delay. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To wait, or be slow to act.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–10** — The Old English verb lǣtan could mean to allow, to release, to bequeath, to leave or to rent out, and Middle English made it leten. Reconstructed ancestors are Proto-West Germanic *lātan and Proto-Germanic *lētaną, glossed "to leave behind, allow", with a Proto-Indo-European root *leh₁d- meaning to be tired or to leave. Dutch laten, German lassen, Swedish låta and Gothic lētan are relatives.
**Meanings 6, 11–13** — From Middle English letten ("to hinder, delay"), from Old English lettan, literally "to make late," from Proto-West Germanic *lattjan and Proto-Germanic *latjaną. It is connected to Old English læt ("late").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/let (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).