LET ALONE, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Much less; not mentioning.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Misadventures at Margate.’
| I have not had, this live-long day, one drop to cheer my heart, | |
| Nor ‘brown’ to buy a bit of bread with,—LET ALONE a tart. |
1851. F. E. SMEDLEY, Lewis Arundel, i. ‘You have brought a wild beast with you, which has eaten up all the tea-cakes.’ ‘LET ALONE fright’ning the blessed cat so that she’s flowed up the chimley.’
1856. C. READE, It Is Never Too Late to Mend, xxxvi. The wind emptied a glass of the very moisture, LET ALONE the liquid in a moment.
TO LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To reveal a secret; to put one’s foot in it. See CAT, and add following quots.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xxiv. ‘I’m most afraid of your father, though, LETTING THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG; he’s such an old duffer to blow.’
1892. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 27 Feb., p. 67, col. 3. Cats, however, possess an exceptional faculty FOR LETTING THINGS OUT OF THE BAG, and Guy’s and Violet’s feline made its appearance.
TO LET DAYLIGHT INTO, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To stab or shoot; to kill. See SECOND-HAND DAYLIGHT and DAYLIGHT.
TO LET DOWN GENTLY (or EASY), verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To be lenient.
1836. M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge [Ry. ed. 1840, p. 140]. I did not know it, nor did I believe it, but, by way of LETTING HIM DOWN GENTLY, I said nothing.
1888. New York Sunday Despatch. If the royal parents wish to see their offsprings LET DOWN EASY from their high estate, they will adopt this course.
2. (common).—To disappoint; to rebuff. Cf. LET-DOWN.
TO LET DRIVE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To aim a blow; to attack.
1598. NASHE, Strange Newes, in Works [GROSART], ii. 224. If hee … LET DRIVE at him with a volley of verses.
1753. FOOTE, The Englishman in Paris, i. But I LET DRIVE at the Mark, made the Soup-Maigre rumble in his Bread-basket, and laid him sprawling.
1838. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2nd S. ch. xiv. ‘Now,’ says I, ‘my hearties, up and LET DRIVE at ’em, right over the wall!’
TO LET FLY, verb. phr. (common).—To aim at; also to strike.
1647. FLETCHER, The Sea-Voyage, ii. 2. Speak, or … I’ll LET FLY at you all.
1671. BUCKINGHAM, The Rehearsal.
| And at that word, at t’others head LET FLY | |
| A greasy Plate. |
1678. BUNYAN, Pilgrim’s Progress, 156. They, therefore, in angry manner, LET FLY at them again.
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, iii. 14.
| By cock, quote he, | |
| Say you so, do you see, | |
| And then at him LET FLIE. |
1817. LAMB, Letters, 17 May. ‘To Wm. Ayton Esq.’ There’d be many a damme LET FLY at my presumption.
1860. Morning Post, 30 Jan. ‘The Wit of Extravaganza.’
| He has been assaulted by another indewiddle, who | |
| ‘At his physiognimy LET FLY, | |
| Gave him in fact a oner in the eye!’ |
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 115, s.v.
1889. The Sporting Times, 29 June. ‘Another Turf Dispute.’ Now, Maud was quite the ‘lidy’, but she LET the language FLY.
1891. W. C. RUSSELL, An Ocean Tragedy, 42. Sir Wilfrid really means to LET FLY at the shark.
TO LET GO, verb. phr. (venery).—To achieve emission. See COME.
TO LET GO THE PAINTER. See PAINTER.
TO LET IN, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To deceive; to victimize; to cheat.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, lxxii. Affairs had been going ill with that gentleman: he had been LET IN terribly, he informed me, by Lord Levant’s insolvency.
1887. Nineteenth Century, xxii. 262. The farmer … persists in trying to convince himself that he was LET IN when he made himself liable for the tithes.
1887. The Field, 25 June. An owner may be LET IN for a fine.
2. (university).—See quot.
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, i. He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen … but, with the highest respect for friend Perkins (my scout) and his obliging friends, I shall make some inquiries before LETTING IN with any of them.
TO LET INTO, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To attack; to beat; to abuse.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. iii. p. 148. ‘They got from six to nine months’ imprisonment; and those that LET INTO the police, eighteen months.’
TO LET OFF STEAM. See STEAM.
TO LET ON, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To betray; to admit; to seem.
1725. RAMSAY [Poems (1800), ii. 100]. Let na ON what’s past.
d. 1796. BURNS, Last May a Braw Wooer.
| ‘I never LOOT ON that I ken’d it or car’d, | |
| But thought I might hae waur offers.’ |
1835. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 1st S. ch. x. ‘I’ll tell you the secret, but you needn’t LET ON to no one about it.’
1838. J. C. NEAL, Charcoal Sketches, 74, ‘A Pair of Slippers.’ But a man can’t rise, after a royal hyst, without LETTING ON he feels flat.
1843. W. T. THOMPSON, Major Jones’s Courtship, p. 84. The tears were runnin’ out of my eyes; but I didn’t want to LET ON, for fear it would make her feel bad.
1858. DEAN RAMSAY, Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character. I saw Mr. —— at the meeting, but I never LET ON that I knew he was present.
1860. BOUCICAULT, Colleen Bawn, i. 3. Don’t LET ON to mortal that we’re married.
1864. YATES, Broken to Harness, ch. iv. p. 38 (1873). ‘Never LET ON that he didn’t know what it was; never changed a muscle of his face.’
1871. Binghamton Journal, April [quoted by DE VERE]. ‘Although the visitors, the gentlemanly keeper, and the prison-chaplain, all tried in every conceivable way to induce him to make a confession, he would never LET ON how the murder was committed, and all agree that Ruloff is the greatest mystery of the age.’
1879. JUSTIN MCCARTHY, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxiii. ‘I knew it, though she wouldn’t LET ON even to me.’
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xi. He LET ON once to me—that he was awfully cut up about my changing.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 52. ’Arry never LET ON to them Swiss as he felt on the swivel,—no fear!
TO LET ONESELF LOOSE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To speak, or launch out, without restraint.
TO LET OUT, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To disclose.
1871. DE VERE, Americanisms, 614. ‘You bile the pot, and when I have had a smoke I’ll LET OUT, but not afore.’
2. (colloquial).—To speak strongly.
1840. H. COCKTON, Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist, xxxix. ‘Does he marry her because he believes her to be engaging, and sweet tempered.’ A month alter marriage she begins to LET OUT in a style of which he cannot approve, by any means.’
1847. ROBB, Streaks of Squatter Life, p. 80. After dilating at some length on the imported candidate, who was his antagonist, he LET himself OUT, on some of the measures he advocated.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, ix. Jim was just going to LET OUT when he looked up and saw Mist Falkland looking at him.
3. (colloquial).—To strike out.
1869. H. J. BYRON, Not Such a Fool as He Looks [French’s acting edition], p. 8. Mur. What did he do? Mou. Well, he LET OUT. Mur. What! his language? Mou. No, his left. His aim was straight at the tip of my nose.
4. (common).—A general verb of action; to do.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, ix. Jim’s horse was far and away the fastest, and he LET OUT to head the mare off from a creek that was just in front and at the end of the plain.
TO LET OUT A REEF, verb. phr. (common).—To loosen one’s clothes after a meal. Fr. lâcher un cran.
SHE LIES BACKWARDS AND LETS OUT HER FORE-ROOMS, phr. (old).—Said of a whore.—RAY (1767).
TO LET RIP. See RIP.
TO LET SLIDE. See SLIDE.
TO LET UP, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To stop. Also (as subs.) LET UP (q.v.).
1888. San Francisco Weekly Examiner, 22 March. When every rabbit is killed, the coyotes sit down on their haunches to a very comfortable banquet, and never LET UP until they have taken aboard so much rabbit-meat that they can hardly stir.
1892. A. K. GREEN, Cynthia Wakeham’s Money, 141. ‘We have talked well into the night,’ he remarked; ‘supposing we LET UP now, and continue our conversation to-morrow.’
TO LET THE FINGER RIDE THE THUMB TOO OFTEN, verb. phr. (American).—To get drunk. For synonyms, see DRINKS and SCREWED.
[For other combination see DISINFECT, FLICKER, IN, MARKS, MONKEY, PLAY, POCKETS, SLIDE, STIMULATE, TUCKS, UP, etc.]
