Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LET, v.t. [pret. and pp. let. Letted is obsolete. Sax. lætan, letan, Goth. letan, to permit, to hinder, to dismiss or send away, to let go, to leave, to admit, to think or suppose, to dissemble, to retard, to be late or slow, to dally or trifle, to lease or let out; letan aweg, to let away, to throw; W. lluz, hinderance; lluziaw, to hinder; D. laaten, to permit, to suffer, to give, to leave, to loose, to put, to stow; G. lassen, to let, to permit, grant, allow, suffer; verlassen, to forsake; unterlassen, to cease, to forbear; Sw. läta, to permit; Dan. lader, to let, permit, allow, grant, suffer, give leave. But in the four latter dialects, there is another verb, which corresponds with let in some of its significations; D. lyden, G. leiden, Sw. lida, Dan. lider, to suffer, endure, undergo, to permit. With this verb corresponds the English late, D. laat, Sw. lat, Dan. lad, slothful, lazy; and the G. lass, feeble, lazy, coincides with lassen, supra, and this may be the Eng. lazy. To let out, like L. elocare, is to lease, Fr. laisser. Let is the Fr. laisser, in a different dialect. By the German and Welsh it appears that the last radical may have originally been th, ts or tz, or other compound. See Class Ld, No. 2, 15, 19, 23, 32, and Class Ls, No. 30.]

1. To permit; to allow; to suffer; to give leave or power by a positive act, or negatively, to withhold restraint; not to prevent. A leaky ship lets water enter into the hold. Let is followed by the infinitive without the sign to. Pharaoh said, I will let you go. – Ex. viii. When the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. – Acts xxvii.
2. To lease; to grant possession and use for a compensation; as, to let to farm; to let an estate for a year; to let a room to lodgers; often followed by out, as, to let out a farm; but the use of out is unnecessary.
3. To suffer; to permit; with the usual sign of the infinitive. There's a letter for you, Sir, if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is. [Not used.] – Shak.
4. In the imperative mode, let has the following uses. Followed by the first and third persons, it expresses desire or wish; hence it is used in prayer and entreaty to superiors, and to those who have us in their power; as, let me not wander from thy commandments. Ps. cxix. Followed by the first person plural, let expresses exhortation or entreaty; as, rise, let us go. Followed by the third person, it implies permission or command addressed to an inferior. Let him go, let them remain, are commands addressed to the second person. Let thou, or let ye, that is, do thou or you permit him to go. Sometimes let is used to express a command or injunction to a third person: When the signal is given to engage, let every man do his duty. When applied to things not rational, it implies allowance or concession. O'er golden sands let rich Pactolus flow. – Pope.
5. To retard; to hinder; to impede; to interpose obstructions. – 2 Thess. ii. [This sense is now obsolete, or nearly so.] To let alone, to leave; to suffer to remain without intermeddling; as, let alone this idle project; let me alone. To let down, to permit to sink or fall; to lower. She let them down by a cord through the window. – Josh. ii. To let loose, to free from restraint; to permit to wander at large. To let in or into, to permit or suffer to enter; to admit. Open the door, let in my friend. We are not let into the secrets of the cabinet. To let blood, to open a vein and suffer the blood to flow out. To let out, to suffer to escape; also, to lease or let to hire. To let off, to discharge, to let fly, as an arrow; or cause to explode, as a gun.