lets

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

let¹

(lĕt)

v. let, let·ting, lets

v.tr.

1. To give permission or opportunity to; allow: I let them borrow the car. The inheritance let us finally buy a house. See Usage Note at leave¹.

2. To cause to; make: Let the news be known.

a. Used as an auxiliary in the imperative to express a command, request, or proposal: Let's finish the job! Let x equal y.

b. Used as an auxiliary in the imperative to express a warning or threat: Just let her try!

4. To permit to enter, proceed, or depart: let the dog in.

5. To release from or as if from confinement: let the air out of the balloon; let out a yelp.

6. To rent or lease: let rooms.

7. To award, especially after bids have been submitted: let the construction job to a new firm.

v.intr.

1. To become rented or leased.

2. To be or become assigned, as to a contractor.

Phrasal Verbs:

let down

1. To cause to come down gradually; lower: let down the sails.

2. To withdraw support from; forsake.

3. To fail to meet the expectations of; disappoint.

let on

1. To allow to be known; admit: Don't let on that you know me.

2. To pretend.

let out

1. To come to a close; end: School let out early. The play let out at 10:30.

2. To make known; reveal: Who let that story out?

3. To increase the size of (a garment, for example): let out a coat.

let up

1. To slow down; diminish: didn't let up in their efforts.

2. To become less severe or intense: The rain let up.

Idioms:

let alone

Not to mention; much less: "Their ancestors had been dirt poor and never saw royalty, let alone hung around with them" (Garrison Keillor).

let go

To cease to employ; dismiss: had to let 20 workers go.

let off on Informal

To cause to diminish, as in pressure; ease up on: Let off on the gas so that we do not exceed the speed limit.

let (one's) hair down

To drop one's reserve or inhibitions.

let (someone) have it Informal

1. To beat, strike, or shoot at someone.

2. To scold or punish.

let (someone) in on

1. To reveal (a secret) to someone: They finally let me in on their plans.

2. To allow someone to participate in (something).

let up on

To be or become more lenient with: Why don't you let up on the poor child?

[Middle English leten, from Old English lǣtan; see lē- in Indo-European roots.]

let²

(lĕt)

1. Something that hinders; an obstacle: free to investigate without let or hindrance.

2. Sports An invalid stroke in tennis and other net games that requires a replay.

tr.v. let·ted or let, let·ting, lets Archaic

To hinder or obstruct.

[Middle English lette, from letten, to hinder, from Old English lettan; see lē- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

LETS

(lɛts)

n acronym for

(Commerce) Local Exchange and Trading System: an economic system in which members of a community exchange goods and services using a cashless local currency

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

let's

(lɛts)

contraction of let us.

usage: See contraction, let¹.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Let your work be a fight, let your peace be a victory!

Let the little girls say: "To be good is what is pretty, and at the same time touching."

View in context

Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas.

let both sides join in creating not a new balance of power.

View in context

'Ah,' she replied, 'if I can't eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.' The man, who loved her, thought: 'Sooner than let your wife die, bring her some of the rampion yourself, let it cost what it will.' At twilight, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife.

View in context

"True," said the curate; "and for that reason let its life be spared for the present.

View in context

She had never been permitted to wear it before, and it had only been by dint of much coaxing that she had induced Aunt Janet to let her wear it to the concert.

View in context

Now that those who practise justice do so involuntarily and because they have not the power to be unjust will best appear if we imagine something of this kind: having given both to the just and the unjust power to do what they will, let us watch and see whither desire will lead them; then we shall discover in the very act the just and unjust man to be proceeding along the same road, following their interest, which all natures deem to be their good, and are only diverted into the path of justice by the force of law.

View in context

"But I didn't let him get away," he said in triumph when he had dropped the clawing insect into the cyanide bottle where death came painlessly.

View in context

Give it me back, and I'll let you--I'll let you have a guinea."

View in context

To prevent the exchequer from being defrauded, let all public money be delivered out openly in the face of the whole city, and let copies of the accounts be deposited in the different wards tribes, and divisions.

View in context

Kitty, dear, let's pretend--' And here I wish I could tell you half the things Alice used to say, beginning with her favourite phrase 'Let's pretend.' She had had quite a long argument with her sister only the day before --all because Alice had begun with 'Let's pretend we're kings and queens;' and her sister, who liked being very exact, had argued that they couldn't, because there were only two of them, and Alice had been reduced at last to say, 'Well, YOU can be one of them then, and I'LL be all the rest.' And once she had really frightened her old nurse by shouting suddenly in her ear, 'Nurse!

lets

let 1

let 2

LETS

let's

let¹

let²