letter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlɛtə/
ipa: /ˈlɛtɚ/
ipa: [-ɾɚ]
ipa: /ˈletə/
ipa: [-ɾə]
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈlɛʈ(ː)əʳ/
rhymes: -ɛtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: letters
form: lettre
Etymology: From Middle English letter, lettre, from Old French letre, from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet"; in plural, "epistle”). Displaced Old English bōcstæf (literally “book staff”) in sense 1 and ǣrendġewrit (literally “message writing”) in sense 2.
Senses: examples: text: There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.
text: And a superscription also was written ouer him in letters of Greeke, and Latin, & Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE IEWES.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 23:38:
glosses: A symbol in an alphabet.
examples: text: I wrote a letter to my sister about my life.
text: The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural.
ref: 1692, William Walsh, “Preface”, in Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant:
text: The magician gave this to the young man and said to him,“ Go at such an hour of the night and stand before a pagan tomb and call the demons, and throw the letter into the air, and immediately they will come to you.” And the young man called the devils and threw the letter into the air, and the prince of darkness came,[…]
ref: 1892, P.A.C., edited by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke, Poet Lore: A Magazine of Letters, volume 4, New York, N.Y.: AMS Reprint Company, →OCLC, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s ‘Golden Legend’ and its Analogues, page 94:
text: He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
text: An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
ref: 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:
glosses: A written or printed communication, generally longer and more formal than a note.
examples: text: In obedience to humane laws, we muſt obſerve the letter of the Law, where we can without doing violence to the reaſon of the Law and the intention of the Law-giver: but where they croſſe each other, the charity of the Law is to be preferred before its diſcipline, and the reaſon of it before the letter.
ref: 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Obedience”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, section I (Of Obedience to our Superiours), page 183:
text: I broke the letter of it to keep the sense.
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part IV”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 81:
text: Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing the letter but not the spirit of the rules.
ref: 2009 February 23, Laurence Peter, quoting Chris Davies, “Euro MP expenses 'can reach £1m'”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2012:
glosses: The literal meaning of something, as distinguished from its intended and remoter meaning (the spirit).
examples: text: Benjamin Franklin was multiskilled – a scientist, politician and a man of letters.
glosses: Literature.
examples: text: Letter (b) constitutes an exception to this provision.
topics: law
glosses: A division unit of a piece of law marked by a letter of the alphabet.
glosses: A size of paper, 8½ in × 11 in (215.9 mm × 279.4 mm).
glosses: A size of paper, 215 mm × 280 mm.
qualifier: scholastic
glosses: Clipping of varsity letter.
examples: text: Under these, thro’ a garden in which is an ample fountaine, was the King's printing-house, and that famous letter so much esteem’d.
ref: 1644 February 18 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 8 February 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 41:
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.
Synonyms: sense: written character/alphabetic symbol
word: bookstaff
sense: written character/alphabetic symbol
word: bookstave
Hyponyms: epistle
missive
Derived terms: accountant's letter
advisory letter
air letter
airletter
apostolic letter
begging letter
beletter
big letter
black letter
black-letter
black letter day
black-letter day
black-letter law
black letter law
block letter
bread-and-butter letter
bubble letter
bye-letter
call letters
canine letter
capital letter
chain letter
circular letter
Claudian letters
comfort letter
commercial letter of credit
covering letter
cover letter
crank letter
day letter
dead letter
dead letter office
Dear Colleague letter
Dear Jane letter
Dear John letter
deficiency letter
demand letter
dog's letter
dominical letter
double letter
drive letter
drop letter
empty letter
encyclical letter
fan letter
form letter
four-letter
four-letter word
French letter
Greek letter
Greek-letter
green-ink letter
guarantee letter
in capital letters
investment letter
irrevocable letter of credit
letter agreement
letteral
letter art
letter au
letter balance
letter bank
letter blindness
letterboard
letter bomb
letter bond
letterbook
letterboxing
letterbox
letter-box
letter box
letter by letter
lettercard
letter card
letter-carrier
letter carrier
letter case
lettercol
letter column
letter corporal
lettered
letteree
letterer
letterform
letterfounder
letter grade
lettergram
letterhack
letterhead
letterheading
letter-high
lettering
letter jacket
letterleaf
letterless
letterlike
letterlocking
letterly
letter magic
letterman
lettermark
letter missive
letter of administration
letter of advice
letter of attorney
letter of comfort
letter of comment
letter of composition
letter of conduct
letter of countermarque
letter of countermart
letter of counter-mart
letter of credence
letter of credit
letter of good conduct
letter of guarantee
letter of indemnity
letter of intent
letter of introduction
Letter of Jeremiah
letter of last resort
letter of marque
letter of marque and reprisal
letter of mart
letter of motivation
letter of recall
letter of recommendation
letter of reference
letter of regret
letter of relaxation
letter of safe conduct
letter of testamentary
letter of the law
letter of wishes
letter opener
letter paper
letter patent
letter-perfect
letter perfect
letterplace
letterpress
letter-quality
letter-quality printing
letter ruling
letters
letters after one's name
letters close
letters credential
letter security
letterset
letter sheet
letter-size
letters of administration
letters of credence
letters of horning
letters of marque
letters of marque and reprisal
letters of peace
letters of request
letterspace
letters pacifical
letter-spacing
letterspacing
letters patent
letters patents
letters requisitory
letters rogatory
letter-stamp
letters testamentary
letter stock
letter telegram
letter to the editor
letter warrant
letterweight
letterwinner
letterwise
letterwood
letter writer
letter-writer
letterzine
love letter
lunar letter
market letter
moon letter
name-letter effect
near letter-quality
newsletter
news letter
news-letter
night letter
no-action letter
nonletter
nundinal letter
open letter
pacifical letters
pastoral letter
poison pen letter
poison-pen letter
post-nominal letters
pre-approval letter
presidential letter
proffer letter
pseudoletter
query letter
red-letter
red letter
Red-Letter Christian
red letter date
red letter day
red-letter day
red-letter edition
red letter law
reference letter
regret letter
reletter
rhyme letter
royal letter
scarlet letter
sea letter
ship letter
side letter
Sloan letter
small letter
solar letter
Stephanus letter
stick letter
Sunday letter
sun letter
superior letter
swash letter
target letter
teleletter
three-letter agency
time letter of credit
to the letter
transmittal letter
varsity letter
white-letter hairstreak
Related terms: literacy
literal
literary
literate
literature