Defn: A device for letting off, releasing, or giving forth, as the warp from the cylinder of a loom.
LETTE
Let"te, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Letted.]
Defn: To let; to hinder. See Let, to hinder. [Obs.] Chaucer.
LETTER
Let"ter, n. Etym: [From Let to permit.]
Defn: One who lets or permits; one who lets anything for hire.
LETTER
Let"ter, n. Etym: [From Let to hinder.]
Defn: One who retards or hinders. [Archaic.]
LETTER Let"ter, n. Etym: [OE. lettre, F. lettre, OF. letre, fr. L.littera, litera, a letter; pl., an epistle, a writing, literature, fr. linere, litum, to besmear, to spread or rub over; because one of the earliest modes of writing was by graving the characters upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. Pliny, xiii. 11. See Leniment, and cf. Literal.]
1. A mark or character used as the representative of a sound, or of an articulation of the human organs of speech; a first element of written language. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew. Luke xxiii. 38.
2. A written or printed communication; a message expressed in intelligible characters on something adapted to conveyance, as paper, parchment, etc.; an epistle. The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural. Walsh.