Obs. Forms: see LET v.1 Also pa. pple. 7 erron. forlitt. [OE. forlǽtan, f. FOR- pref.1 + lǽtan LET v.1; = OS. forlátan (Du. verlaten), OHG. firlâȝȝan (MHG. verlâȝen, Ger. verlassen), ON. fyrirláta (Sw. förlåta, Da. forlade).]
1. trans. To allow, permit.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xxvii. Sum eorþlic æ … forlæteþ, þætte [etc.].
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter, cxxv. 3.
| For noght fore-lete sal he | |
| Yherde of sinful for to be | |
| Over lote of rightwis. |
2. To leave, go away from (a person or place), forsake; to abandon (possessions).
971. Blickl. Hom., 27. Hine þa forlet se costiȝend.
a. 1175. Cott. Hom., 219. To chiesen ȝief [h]y wolden hare sceappinde lufie oðer hine ferleten.
c. 1205. Lay., 30598.
| Þe king hin gon to sweten, | |
| þat ufel hine gon for-leten. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13294 (Cott.).
| Iesus crist first wit him ete, | |
| And he for iesu al for-lete. |
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2310.
| & alle þe breme bestes · þat a-boute vs were, | |
| for-lete vs & folwed him forþ · for þe ȝong lyouns sake. |
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 381. I him forleit as a lad.
b. To leave (a person) helpless or destitute.
a. 1000. Andreas, 459 (Gr.).
| Þat næfre forlæteð lifȝende god | |
| eorl on eorðan, ȝif his ellen deah! |
a. 1225. St. Marher., 8.
| Ne forlet tu me nawt | |
| luuende lauerd. |
1340–70. Alisaunder, 679.
| Whan Philip in his foule will · hathe þee for-lete, | |
| Maugre his malice · or his menne sterne, | |
| Him tides to take þee aȝain · trowe þou no nooder. |
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xx.
| Gooth nere and seeth how he is forlete, | |
| And al forpercid sore and pytously. | |
| See how ther rennen fyue stremes grete, | |
| That yeldeth oute the Iuse haboundauntly. |
a. 1553. Philpot, Exam. & Writ. (1842), 345. Who may say that God forletteth his church right, so that he may permit those things to be defouled or decay, without the which it may not consist?
c. To leave (land) desolate or uncultivated; to leave (a building, etc.) to decay.
a. 1300. Legends of the Holy Rood (1871), 34.
| So þat þulke stude was vor-lete mony aday | |
| Þat no cristenmon ne paynym nuste war þe rode lay. |
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 104.
| But yet there ben of londes fele | |
| In occident as for the chele, | |
| In oriente as for the hete, | |
| Which of the people be forlete | |
| As londe deserte. |
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., b 7 b. He yaf hem a contre that was forleten where in they myght duelle.
1528. Will, in W. Molyneux, Burton-on-Trent (1869), 58. The seyd brygge ys lyke utterly to be decayed and forlett.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 513. The three chanels or draines … have a long time beene forlet and neglected.
d. To leave off, renounce (a custom, habit, sin).
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 19. Nu sculle we forlete þes licome lust.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 103. Hwi luuest þu þine fule sunnes, forlet hem.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3779. Wraþþe and oþer synne forlate [printed foolate].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 45. In þe drede of god man forleteth his synne.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 64.
| Thairfoir he thoucht he wald mak peice agane | |
| With Scot and Pecht, and all weiris forleit, | |
| Or he micht nocht his purpois than compleit. |
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 84. Soone after, this custome was for-let and cleane giuen ouer.
e. To forsake, cease to regard (a law, etc.).
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 4067.
| And for luue of ðis hore-plaȝe | |
| Manie for-leten godes laȝe. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9448 (Cott.).
| Sua sun als he þat apel ete, | |
| þe laghes bath he þan for-lete. |
1340. Ayenb., 184. Roboam … uorlet þane red of þe yealden guode men uor þane red of yonge.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), I. 60.
| Lautie wes lost, forleit wes all the lawes, | |
| The waik estait that tyme ȝeid to the wawes. |
¶ f. Used as a term of Sc. constitutional law.
1689. Earl of Balcarras, Let. Jas. II. on St. Scot., 61 (MS.). The Committee … found great difficulty how to declare the Crown vacant. Some were for abdications … Others were for using an old obsolete word (fforleiting) used for a Birds forsaking her nest.
1689. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 518. The throne of Scotland is vacant, the late King James the 7th haveing forlitt or forfeited the crown.
3. To leave out, omit; to let alone, abandon.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 71. We shule … no þing seien þere þat les beo, and no þing of þe soðe forlete.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 230.
| Oc finde ȝe ðe wete, | |
| corn ðal hire qwemeð, | |
| al ȝe for-leteð ðis oðer seð. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21777 (Gött.).
| [E]line ȝeit wald noght for-lett | |
| þe nailes in his hend and fete | |
| þat driuen war, ful gern scho soght | |
| Till scho þaim fand ne fined noght. |
c. 1300. Beket, 1998. All that he i handled hadde the houndes hit forlete.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 101. Be þay fers, be þay feble for-loteȝ none.
b. To cease from; to cease to do something;.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 35. Ne forlete ȝe for nane scame þet ȝe ne seggen þam preoste alle eower sunne.
c. 1200. Ormin, 18875.
| Swa þatt all follc wel neh forrlet | |
| To þennkenn ohht off heffne. |
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 36.
| I-wis for þine fule lete | |
| Wel oft ich mine song forlete. |
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., III. pr. xi. 75. (Camb. MS.). Whan it forletiþ to ben oone it mot nedis dien and corrumpe togidre.
4. To let go, release or lose from one’s hold or keeping.
c. 1150. Departing Soul’s Addr. Body, 19.
| Thine godfæderes ihaten | |
| ær heo the forleten | |
| that thu me scoldest holden. |
c. 1200. Ormin, 3768.
| Swa þatt he wollde hiss aȝhenn lif | |
| Forr hise shep forrlætenn. |
a. 1225. Juliana, 47. Forlet me mi leafdi & ich chulle al bileaue þe.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 6. Weila wummon hwuch wlite þu leosest ant forletest for þin misbeleaue.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4005 (Cott.).
| He suer if he might wit him mete | |
| Formast his lijf he suld for-lete. |
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. metr. ii. 3 (Camb. MS.). Allas how the thowt of man dreynt in ouerthrowynge depnesse, dulleth and forletith his propre cleernesse.
b. To remit (a debt); to forgive.
1340. Ayenb., 262. And uorlet ous oure yeldinges: ase and we uorleteþ oure yelderes.
c. To dismiss from attention. Sc.
1813. Picken, Poems, I. 121.
| Sae, let’s forleet it—gie’s a sang, | |
| To brood on ill unken’d is wrang. |
Hence Forlet(en ppl. a.; Forleting vbl. sb. Also Forletness, the state of being let alone.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cxxii[i]. 3.
| Milþe of us, Laverd, milþe of us þare; | |
| For of for-letenesse mikel filled we are. | |
| Ibid., 4. | |
| For mikel filled es our saule; up-braiding | |
| To mightand, and to proude for-leting. |
13[?]. K. Alis., 2889.
| Bote, as a stude for-let, | |
| Is now Thebes, that men of spak. |
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. i. 2 (Camb. MS.). The whiche clothes a dirknesse of a forletyn and a despised Elde hadde dusked and derked.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well (E.E.T.S.), x. 11. He myȝte fynde non herberwe but in an old forlatyn cote.
1506. Guylforde, Pilgr. (Camden), 33. An olde, for leten, ruynous churche, somtyme of seynt Marke, where the appostles, after the ascencion of our Lorde, made the Credo of our fayth, &c.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 188. The language of our ancestours the Saxons, which through disuse lay forlet and buried in oblivion.
