-let
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-let
suff.
1. Small one: craterlet.
2. Something worn on: armlet.
[Middle English, from Old French -elet, diminutive suff. : -el (from Latin -ellus) + -et, -et.]
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.
-let
suffix forming nouns
1. small or lesser: booklet; starlet.
2. (Clothing & Fashion) an article worn on a specified part of the body: anklet.
[from Old French -elet, from Latin -āle, neuter of adj suffix -ālis or from Latin -ellus, diminutive suffix]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
let1
(lɛt)v. let, let•ting. v.t.
1. to allow or permit: to let one's hair grow.
2. to allow to pass, go, or come: He let us into the house.
3. to cause to; make: to let her know the truth.
4. (used in the imperative as an auxiliary expressive of a request, command, warning, suggestion, etc.): Let me see. Let's go. Just let them try it!
5. to grant the occupancy or use of for rent or hire: to let rooms.
6. to contract or assign for performance: to let work to a carpenter.
v.i. 7. to admit of being leased: an apartment to let for $200 a week.
8. let down,
a. to disappoint or betray; fail.
b. to lower.
c. to make (a garment) longer.
d. (of an airplane) to descend to a lower altitude for landing.
9. let in on, to allow to share in: I'll let you in on a secret.
10. let off,
a. to release explosively: to let off steam.
b. to excuse from work or responsibility.
c. to release with little or no punishment.
11. let on,
a. to reveal, as information or one's true feelings.
b. to pretend.
12. let out,
a. to make known.
b. to release from confinement, restraint, etc.
c. to alter (a garment) so as to make larger or looser.
d. to be finished or dismissed: School lets out in May.
13. let up,
a. to abate; diminish.
b. to cease; stop.
14. let up on, to become more lenient with.
Idioms: let be, to refrain from interfering with or bothering.
15. let someone have it, Informal. to attack or assault.
[before 900; Middle English; Old English lǣtan, c. Old Saxon lātan, Old High German lāzan, Old Norse lāta, Gothic letan; akin to late]
syn: See allow.
usage: 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 often occurs in informal speech and writing with redundant or appositional pronouns: Let's us plan a picnic. Let's you and I (or me) get together tomorrow. Usage guides suggest avoiding these constructions.
let2
(lɛt)n.
1. (in tennis, badminton, etc.) any shot or action that must be replayed, esp. an otherwise valid serve that has hit the top of the net.
2. Chiefly Law. an impediment or obstacle: to act without let or hindrance.
[before 900; Middle English letten (v.), lette (n.; derivative of the v.), Old English lettan]
-let
a diminutive suffix attached to nouns (booklet; piglet; ringlet), and, by extraction from bracelet, a suffix denoting a band, ornament, or article of clothing worn on the part of the body specified by the noun (anklet; wristlet).
[Middle English -let, -lette < Middle French -elet,=-el (< Latin -āle, neuter of -ālis -al1 (compare bracelet) or < Latin -ellus diminutive suffix; compare -elle, chaplet) + -et -et]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.