Lĕt1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. LET (LETTED is obsolete); p. pr. & vb. n. LETTING.] [A-S. lætan, O. Sax. lâtan, Goth. lêtan, leitan, O. Fries. leta, D. laten, Icel. láta, Sw. låta, Dan. lade, O. H. Ger. lâzan, N. H. Ger. lassen, allied to Lith. léidmi.]
Sense 1. To give leave or power by a positive act; or, negatively, to withhold restraint; not to prevent; to permit; to allow; to suffer.
Pharaoh said, I will let you go. Ex. viii. 28.
There's a letter for you, sir, if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is. Shak.
☞ In the imperative mode, let is used as an auxiliary to express, (a.) Desire or wish. “Let me not wander from thy commandments.” Ps. cxix. 10. (b.) Command, or permission. “Rise; let us be going.” Matt. xxvi. 46. (c.) Exhortation. “Let us seek out some desolate shade.” Shak. (d.) Allowance or concession.
O'er golden sands let rich Pactolus flow. Pope.
Let-alone principle, or laissez-faire principle [Fr. laissez-faire, let alone]. (Polit. Econ.), the doctrine that the government should not seek to control or interfere with the economical interests of society. — To let alone, to leave; to suffer to remain without interference: as, let alone this idle project; let me alone. — To let blood, to cause blood to flow, as from a vein; to bleed. — To let down. (a.) To permit to sink or fall; to lower. “She let them down by a cord through the window.” Josh. ii. 15. (b.) To soften in tempering: as, to let down tools, cutlery, and the like, in the process of manufacture. — To let drive or fly, to send forth or discharge with violence, as an arrow or stone. — To let in or into. (a.) To permit or suffer to enter; to admit. (b.) To insert, as a piece of wood, into a space formed for the purpose. — To let loose, to suffer to go free; to remove restraint from; to permit to wander at large. — To let out. (a.) To suffer to escape, as an animal. (b.) To extend or loosen, as a rope, or the folds of a garment; to enlarge. (c.) To lease, or let to hire. — To let off. (a.) To discharge; to let fly, as an arrow; or fire the charge of, as a gun. (b.) To release, as from an engagement; to suffer to escape or go free, as from some penalty. [Colloq.] 2. To grant possession and use for a compensation; to lease; as, to let an estate for a year; to let a room to lodgers; — often followed by out.