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retard; to hinder; to impede; to oppose. [Archaic] He was so strong that no man might him let. Chaucer. He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 2. Thess. ii. 7. Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, And lets me from the saddle. Tennyson.

Letting alone. The let-alone principle, doctrine, or policy. (Polit. Econ.) See Laissez faire.

A device for letting off, releasing, or giving forth, as the warp from the cylinder of a loom.

Abatement; also, cessation; as, it blew a gale for three days without any let-up. [Colloq.]

Strong desire; passion. (Archaic.) Some people have a letch for unmasking impostors, or for avenging the wrongs of others. De Quincey.

See Leachy.

To let; to leave. [Obs.]

of Lete. Chaucer.

Deadly; mortal; fatal. "The lethal blow." W. Richardson. -- Le"thal*ly, adv.

The quality of being lethal; mortality.

Pertaining to, affected with, or resembling, lethargy; morbidly drowsy; dull; heavy. -- Le*thar"gic*al*ly, v. -- Le*thar"gic*al*ness, n. -- Le*thar"gic*ness, n.

To make lethargic. All bitters are poison, and act by stilling, and depressing, and lethargizing the irritability. Coleridge.

A state of inaction or indifference. Europe lay then under a deep lethargy. Atterbury.

Death.[Obs.] Shak.

Of or pertaining to Lethe; resembling in effect the water of Lethe. Milton. Barrow.

Caused by Lethe. " Letheed dullness." [Obs.] Shak.

Sulphuric ether used as an anæsthetic agent. [R.]

To subject to the influence of letheon. [R. or Obs.]

Deadly; bringing death or destruction.

Lethean. [Obs.] Marston.