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单词 letter
释义

lettern.1

Brit. /ˈlɛtə/, U.S. /ˈlɛdər/
Forms: early Middle English leattre, Middle English lecter, Middle English letere, Middle English lettere, Middle English lettir, Middle English letture, Middle English lettyr, Middle English–1500s lettour, Middle English–1500s lettur, Middle English–1500s litter, Middle English–1600s leter, Middle English–1600s letre, Middle English–1600s lettre, Middle English– letter, late Middle English (in a late copy) 1500s–1600s lettar, 1500s leytter, 1500s–1600s leater, 1800s– lether (English regional (Yorkshire)); Scottish pre-1700 later, pre-1700 leter, pre-1700 letir, pre-1700 letre, pre-1700 lettar, pre-1700 lettere, pre-1700 lettir, pre-1700 lettre, pre-1700 lettyr, pre-1700 lettyre, pre-1700 letyre, pre-1700 liter, pre-1700 litter, pre-1700 1700s– letter.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French lettre.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman lettir, leitre, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French letre, lettre, Anglo-Norman and Middle French lectre (French lettre ) (in plural) knowledge or learning acquired by the study of written texts, erudition (10th cent. in Old French; in Anglo-Norman also in singular (beginning of the 14th cent. or earlier)), any of the symbols of an alphabet (a1140), inscription, text (c1160), precise words of an utterance or document, exact or literal meaning of something (c1170), written communication addressed to a person or group of people, epistle (c1170 in plural lettres ; in Anglo-Norman, Old French, and Middle French frequently in plural; first half of the 14th cent. or earlier in singular), official or legal document (1234; in Anglo-Norman, Old French, and Middle French frequently in plural), writing, lettering (beginning of the 14th cent. or earlier), individual block of type (1486), (in plural) study of grammar, rhetoric, and poetry (1538) < classical Latin littera (also lītera , (in inscriptions) leitera ) letter of the alphabet, letter as pronounced, letter as written, character, style of lettering, script, short piece of writing, (plural litterae ) elements of education, written form or matter, text of a document, letter of the law (as opposed to the spirit), document, record, inscription, epistle, literary works, writings, literary pursuits, scholarship, erudition, in post-classical Latin also sacred literature, scripture (late 2nd cent. in Tertullian), charter, deed (from 8th cent. in British and continental sources), of unknown origin; the hypothesis that it is connected with linere to smear (see oblite v.2) is now generally rejected.Compare Old Occitan letra , Catalan lletra (13th cent. or earlier), Spanish letra (c1200), Portuguese letra (13th cent.), Italian lettera (a1294). The Latin and French nouns were also borrowed into other Germanic languages; compare Old Frisian lettere , litter any of the symbols of an alphabet (West Frisian letter ), Middle Dutch letter , lettere , litere , littere any of the symbols of an alphabet, epistle, official or legal document, (in plural letteren ) literature, texts collectively (Dutch letter any of the symbols of an alphabet, block of type, official or legal document, (in plural letteren ) literature, literary criticism, humanities), Middle Low German letter any of the symbols of an alphabet, liter , litter , littere also ‘literal sense of a text or utterance’, Middle High German (in late sources) litter any of the symbols of an alphabet ( < Latin; German Letter block of type (17th cent.) was independently reborrowed < French, and is itself the source of Swedish letter and Danish letter , both 18th cent.). In forms in li- after the ulterior classical Latin etymon. With the (rare) form lecter compare the Anglo-Norman and Middle French variant lectre (second quarter of the 13th cent. or earlier), apparently showing alteration by folk-etymological association with classical Latin lect-, past participial stem of legere to read (see lection n.). Many senses of classical Latin littera are after corresponding senses of ancient Greek γράμμα (see grammar n.). In sense 6 immediately after classical Latin littera in this sense, but compare also ancient Greek γράμμα , used in Hellenistic Greek in this sense (New Testament). With liberal letters (see quot. a1398 at sense 5a) compare classical Latin līberālēs litterae , plural noun. With letter of the law (see quotations a1640 at sense 6, 1700 at sense 6) compare classical Latin litterae legis , plural noun, literally ‘letters of the law’, post-classical Latin littera legum , literally ‘letter of the laws’ (14th cent. in a British source). In sense 9 shortened < French letter n. at French adj. and n. Compounds 1b. Compare the following early use of the classical Latin word (in sense 1a) in an English context:OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 4 littera is stæf on englisc and is se læsta dæl on bocum and untodæledlic.
I. An alphabetic character, and related senses.
1.
a. A character representing one or more of the elementary sounds used in speech and language; any of the symbols of an alphabet used in written language.capital, double, initial, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > letter
staffc888
bookstaffOE
Kc1000
Yc1000
Zc1000
AOE
EOE
GOE
MOE
ROE
letterc1225
print1340
tawc1400
Wc1465
J1591
stave1866
alphabet1972
X-
c1225 (?c1200) Sawles Warde (Bodl.) (1938) 10 A gret boc..iwriten wið swarte smeale leattres.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 35 Þe fif letteres [c1230 Corpus Cambr. leattres] of vre lauedi nome.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 2481 And þare be writen þise leteres: ‘Þis is þe swike’.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 993 His name ðo wurð a lettre mor..For ðo wurd abram abraham.
c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) ii. §3. 16 A capital lettre that is cleped an X.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 9 Þai wrate letters with þaire fingers.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. l. 1905 (MED) Cadmus fond first lettres for to write.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. lxxiij Ouer whose hedde was written in letters of Romayn in gold, faicte bonne chere quy vouldra.
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xi. iv. 145 He added and published new letters and characters.
c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) i. vi. §15 Thus have I breeflie handled the letteres and their soundes.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxvi. 141 In antient time, before letters were in common use.
1709 G. Berkeley Ess. New Theory of Vision §140. 163 The Monosyllable consisting of Six Letters.
1768 P. Thicknesse Useful Hints Tour of France xxxi. 265 In front of the cap, in rustic letters, was G. R. and over it Zulestein.
1840 D. Lardner Treat. Geom. 116 The letters a, b, c express respectively the sides of the triangle.
1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 332/2 Beneath the cupola is an inscription in huge gilt Slavonic letters.
1920 S. Leacock Nonsense Novels viii. 164 At one side of the map was a letter N, and against it on the other side a letter S.
1961 W. R. Brain Speech Disorders i. 10 The letters of an alphabet transcribe with more or less precision the phonemes of speech.
2005 W. Wallace Oranges & Lemons v. 70 Helen draws joined-up letters in the air and the children copy her.
b. In singular. A group of such characters. Now only in proof before the letter (see proof n. 15c).
ΚΠ
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 93 (MED) Þe cankre haþ a propre sauour, þe which mai not be write wiþ lettre.
1642 C. Vernon Considerations Excheqver 43 His Clerk..writeth upon every Tally the whole letter of the Tellers Bill, that when the Tally is cloven both the foile and the stocke thereof, may have like letter upon them.
1789 J. Edwards Catal. Select Coll. Anc. & Mod. Bks. 14 Monte Parnasso, from Raphael, proof before the letter.
1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xix. 175 Your Stranges, and Rembrandt etchings, and Wilkies before the letter.
1985 R. Terdiman Discourse/Counter-discourse ii. 183 Production was for some reason arrested at the stage of proofs ‘before the letter’.
c. In plural. A parlour game in which players form words out of letters written on separate pieces of card, ivory, or other material. Now rare.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun] > other party or parlour games
drawing of glovesc1540
drawing gloves1599
substantives and adjectives1601
draw gloves1648
grinning-match1711
Move All1782
consequences1811
stagecoach1831
letters1845
Russian scandal1861
buzz1864
snap1865
slappy1868
apple-ducking1886
up Jenkins1889
piladex1895
telephone1910
hot potato1915
sardines1924
murder in the dark1930
pass the parcel1953
seven minutes in (also of) heaven1953
Chinese whispers1964
1845 W. S. Landor Let. Mar. in Lett. Private & Public (1899) iv. 141 The Miss Bathursts, serious good girls, propending a little to the heavy, played at letters.
1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Coventry xxi We sat round a large table and played at ‘letters’, sedulously ‘shuffling’ the handsome capitals as we gave each other long jaw-breaking words.
1937 V. Sheean tr. E. Curie Madame Curie iii. xxii. 319 They were playing ‘letters’ around the big table. Marie, one of the cleverest at forming complicated words with paper letters drawn from a sack, was rated as a champion.
d. Any of the individual nucleotides which make up DNA or RNA (which can be represented by the single letter abbreviations A, G, C, and T (in DNA) or U (in RNA), specifying the nucleotides adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine or uracil respectively).
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society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > other methods of identification > smallest unit of genetic code
letter1964
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > nucleic acid > section of
triplet code1957
transcript1961
replicator1963
letter1964
1962 New Scientist 4 Jan. 33/3 Thus the two most important questions have been answered. The code is made up of three-letter words and has to be read consecutively from one end.]
1964 Bull. Atomic Scientists Mar. 14/1 In the nucleus of the egg cell from which we started development there are five billion of these letters.
1992 U.S. News & World Rep. 4 Nov. 69/1 Sickle cell anemia..is the tragic result of a single incorrect letter in the 60,000-letter gene for hemoglobin.
2008 Daily Tel. 27 June 5/7 The study..looked at 32,000 letters of DNA from 19 locations on the overall genetic code of 169 bird species.
2. Printing.
a. An individual block of type; = type n. 9a. Chiefly in plural.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > [noun] > a type
letter1563
type1713
printing type1728
Della Robbia1917
1563 Edinb. City Rec. in Ann. Scott. Print. (1890) xv. 157 [He] desyrit thair lordschippes to deliuer him the saidis irnis and letteris.
1588 ‘M. Marprelate’ Oh read ouer D. Iohn Bridges: Epist. 23 Walde-graues printing presse and Letters were takken away.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 14 Wee can no more ascribe these things to chance, than a Printers Case of letters could by chance fall into the right composition of the Bible which he printeth.
1683 S. Sewall Diary I. 50 The last half-sheet was printed with my letters at Boston.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Printing The Printing Letters, Characters, or Types as they are sometimes call'd.
1779 B. Franklin Let. 9 June in Wks. (1888) VI. 427 Did they take all the letters, flowers, etc., etc.?
1839 W. Nichol in T. C. Hansard Print. & Type-founding 231 The letters are then set up in a long stick, and again dressed.
1876 J. Gould Letter-press Printer 156 Hell receptacle, the receptacle for broken or battered letters.
1955 P. Chayefsky Printer's Meas. in Television Plays 44 (stage direct.) The deft fingers flick in and out of the cabinet, plucking the letters from their compartments.
1972 Jrnl. Printing Hist. Soc. 1971 7 38 Most printers both in America and in Britain were forced to add more and more of the new letters to their stores of type in order to remain competitive in the jobbing printing business.
2007 K. Todd Chrysalis i. 19 Trays of metal letters of different fonts and sizes lay jumbled on the shelves.
b. In singular. Such blocks of type collectively. Also: a set of these; a typeface, a font.black, broken letter, etc.: see the first element.
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society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > [noun] > type
letter1576
type1778
stamp1875
society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > style of type > [noun] > type face or font
letter1576
alphabet1658
font1664
fond1678
fount of type1683
face1876
typeface1887
1576 in R. Dickson & J. P. Edmond Ann. Sc. Printing (1890) 283 That nane..cause [the Bible] be imprentit in ony carecture or lettir translatioun or volume quhatsumevir.
1588 ‘M. Marprelate’ Oh read ouer D. Iohn Bridges: Epist. 24 Another printer, that had presse and letter in a place called Charterhouse.
1599 F. Thynne Animaduersions (1875) 71 Caxtone..first printed Chaucers tales in one colume in a ragged letter, and after in one colume in a better order.
1619 E. M. Bolton in tr. Florus Rom. Hist. To Rdr. 2 The words..inserted in a different letter through the text of Florus.
1663 R. L'Estrange Considerations & Proposals Regulation of Press sig. a3v Many [printers]..would be well enough Content to Quit the Trade.., upon Condition to be Re-imburst for their Presses, Letter, and Printing-Materials.
1709 London Gaz. No. 4617/4 Printed upon Extraordinary Paper, and with a New Brevier Letter.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. 2 Roman, is at present the general, and almost only Letter used for printing.
1815 J. Scott Visit to Paris xiv. 276 Lying pretensions..in all the varieties of a large and small letter.
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 656/1 In Printing..it is usual to say ‘there is plenty of letter;’ and, on the contrary, ‘there is a scarcity of letter.’
1905 E. G. Duff Cent. Eng. Bk. Trade 105 The book is beautifully printed in Roman letter with good woodcut illustrations.
1990 A. Lawson Anat. Typeface xxvi. 298 Franklin Gothic is an excellent example of a traditional early-nineteenth-century sans-serif letter.
3.
a. In plural. Initials denoting a university degree, qualification, or similar honour. Chiefly in letters after (also following) a person's name.
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society > education > educational administration > university administration > taking degree or graduation > [noun] > a degree
degreec1380
degree of (also in) school (also schools)c1449
greec1449
letters1741
1741 C. Lucas Pharmacomastix 47 Salmon,..being called to account for putting these letters after his name,..declared that he did not mean them for Medicinæ Doctor, but for Medicamentorum Donator.
1815 Analectic Mag. Jan. 43 A worthy set of philosophers, who..are willing to submit to the drudgery of dragging a long string of unwieldy capital letters after their names.
1888 R. Kipling Cupid's Arrows in Plain Tales from Hills 54 It was pleasant to be singled out by a Commissioner with letters after his name.
1904 A. A. Gard Hub & Spokes 7 Wm. Saunders, L.L.D., F.R.S.C., F.L.S., F.C.S...was so delightful that I don't believe that all those many letters following his name would have scared us, even had we known of them at the time.
1976 New Society 17 June 635/3 A young social worker, fresh out of college and with all the right letters after his name may well not be nearly as good as an older, unqualified worker with no such qualifications.
2005 ‘L. Child’ One Shot (2006) 171 It's usually about which of us has a lot of letters after her name. That's what juries respond to.
b. North American. An initial letter made of cloth, usually the first letter of the name of a school or university, awarded for achievement in sport and sewn on to the recipient's coat or sweater. Cf. varsity letter n. at varsity n. Additions.
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society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > [noun] > winning or win > awards and prizes
garland?a1513
plate1639
cupc1640
dog plate1686
gold medal1694
gold cup1718
sweepstake1773
trophy1822
bronze medal1852
shield1868
statuette1875
pot1885
team honours1895
letter1897
silver medal1908
school colour1913
gold1945
bronze1960
silver1960
Fed Cup1965
1897 Harvard Grad. Mag. Dec. 258/2 No student shall be allowed to use the letter ‘H’ in such a way as to appear to be a player on a Harvard team, except in accordance with the following rules: [etc.]
1915 Chicago Daily Maroon 10 June 1/4 The Board of Athletic Control will meet today to award letters to this year's members of the track, baseball, tennis and gymnastic teams.
1970 New Yorker 23 May 54/1 He had earned his high-school letter in four sports.
2005 Richmond (Virginia) Times Disp. (Nexis) 16 Jan. (Sports section) c9 Taylor..won letters in four sports each of his three varsity seasons.
II. A written text on paper, parchment, etc., and related senses.
4.
a. A written communication addressed to a person, organization, or other body, esp. one sent by post or messenger; an epistle.In early use frequently applied to warrants or similar official documents; also in extended use, esp. in letter and seal: authority, power.begging, chain, dead, fan, love letter, etc.: see the first element.For more established noun phrases, as letter of advice, attorney, credit, introduction, receipt, etc.: see the final element.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun]
epistleeOE
pistleOE
writOE
letter?c1225
brief1330
writingc1384
missive letter1519
scroll1534
missive?1553
scrieve1581
favour1645
chitty1698
chit1757
mail letter1799
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 309 Ȝe ne schule sende lettres [c1230 Corpus Cambr. leattres]. Ne underfo lettres bute lealle [read leaue].
c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) l. 2244 One deorne lettre [c1275 Calig. boc-runen] ȝeo sende him to reade.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. viii. l. 25 Vndur his secre seal, Treuþe sende a lettre.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. l. 268 I wole a lettre unto mi brother..With al my wofull herte endite.
1415 in E. F. Jacob & H. C. Johnson Reg. Henry Chichele (1937) II. 45 (MED) I, Edward Cheyne..have..ygraunded ȝow by my lettre under my seal writen..al my good and catell specified.
a1450 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (Caius) (1810) l. 1173 Kyng Rychard dede a lettre wryte, (A noble clerk it gan adyte).
c1475 Antichrist & Disciples in J. H. Todd Three Treat. J. Wycklyffe (1851) p. cxlviii (MED) Antecrist makeþ men to drede more his letter & his seel..þenne þe kynges letter, or þe brekyng of þe hestis of God.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xxx. 149 I shall a letter make Unto your lady, and send it by my sonne.
?1596 in Lett. & State Papers Reign James VI (1838) 13 That thair is som lettir interseptit, wrettin be Scotts Jessowitts.
1645 J. Milton On University Carrier ii, in Poems 30 His Letters are deliver'd all and gon.
1676 J. Ray Corr. (1848) 123 I have been lately solicited..by an unknown person who sent me a letter.
1715 R. Nelson Addr. Persons of Quality 120 The Queen's Letter for making a Collection in several Parishes, in and about London and in several Cities.
1799 W. Wennington tr. A. H. J. Lafontaine Man of Nature xxvii. 239 Mary then wrote a letter to Fanny's uncle.
1848 in J. W. Gilbart Pract. Treat. Banking (1849) I. 150 Government were obliged to interpose by a letter, in order to protect the public from the restrictive effects of the Act.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxii. 69 I'd teach them to..write their own letters, and read letters that are written to them.
1915 A. Seeger Let. 4 Oct. in Lett. & Diary (1917) x. 164 Am sending..as souvenir some German letters picked up in the trenches.
1959 Times 9 Nov. 8/6 The Mwami (Paramount Chief) of Ruanda sent a letter..expressing regret that he is unable to come to Brussels.
2003 M. Ali Brick Lane ii. 37 Nazneen had written three more times, but nothing came back. ‘It's the postal system,’ Chanu told her. ‘Maybe she doesn't get your letters either.’
b. In plural. An official or legal document or set of documents addressed to a person.Now chiefly historical except in established compounds and noun phrases.letters dimissory, patent, rogatory, etc.: see the second element.letters of administration, caption, ejection, fraternity, horning, marque, etc.: see the final element.
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society > law > legal document > types of legal or official document > [noun] > letter or letters patent
lettersc1300
brevet1362
letters patenta1387
patentc1387
missive letter1444
missive bill1522
charter-patent1589
letters overt1717
missive letter1798
society > communication > record > written record > [noun] > official record
libel1297
lettersc1300
rolla1325
billc1374
sealc1380
Parliament Roll1444
enrolment1603
c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) l. 1219 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 141 (MED) To þe kinge of Fraunce heo comen and lettres with heom bere fram þe king of engelond.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 4842 Loo here hire owne letteres to leue it þe beter.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 41 I had lettres of þe sowdan with his grete seele.
1429–30 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Sept. 1429 §30. m. 9 Sende your letters of prive seal.
1501 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 126 Ormund pursewant, to pas to summond the lard of Fivee and his folkis with lettrez in the secund forme.
1587 in L. B. Taylor Aberdeen Council Lett. (1942) I. 32 Rais the saids letters aganes the persones committaris of the saids attempis.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iv. i. 277 Did the letters worke vpon his blood. View more context for this quotation
1629 W. Laud Let. in R. Parr Life J. Usher (1686) Coll. cxliii. 410 I..prevailed with his Majesty that I might write these Letters to you, which are to let your Grace understand that [etc.].
1651 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 274 I had letters of the death of Mrs. Newton, my grandmother-in-law.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 258 These letters are grantable by the law of nations.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. xvi. 216 The letters announcing the marriage, were accompanied by a splendid black lace mantilla.
1878 Luzerne Legal Reg. 13 Sept. 180 The register revoked his grant, and issued letters to the widows.
1920 R. R. Foulke Treat. Internat. Law I. iv. 274 His official status does not begin until he has presented his letters to the head of the state.
1996 L. Q. Zediric & M. F. Dilley Elite Warriors i. 44 Hopkins' senior commander received letters ordering the Queen's Rangers to be disbanded.
c. An article or report describing the social, political, or cultural aspects of a particular situation or place, esp. one by a journalist or correspondent in another country. Chiefly with from, and in titles and headings.In early use not clearly distinguished from sense 4a.
ΚΠ
1588 J. Udall State Church of Eng. sig. F2v We receiued letters from England, that there were verie hard lawes made this last Parliament against the Catholiks.
1666 London Gaz. No. 27/1 Letters from Amsterdam of the fourth of this month, inform us that the Bishops forces have taken a Castle.
1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur (title) Letters from an American farmer; describing certain provincial situations, manners, and customs, not generally known; and conveying some idea of the late and present interior circumstances of the British colonies in North America.
1808 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) II. 131 I am in want of the ‘Annual Letters from Paraguay’.
1874 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 7 Jan. (1955) VI. 4 The Parisian letter is nicely done... The single paragraph on the pressure of radiation is worth more than the price of the paper.
1913 W. J. Locke Stella Maris v. 52 He was..the contributor..of a weekly London Letter to an American syndicate.
1955 Radio Times 25 Apr. 16/3 Letter from America, by Alistair Cooke.
1966 K. Martin Father Figures ix. 173 Dore was an excellent lobby correspondent, who for many years had written paragraphs about Parliament, mainly for the London Letter.
2007 D. M. Seekins Burma & Japan since 1940 (2008) 110 After Daw Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in July 1995, the Mainichi Shimbun published her weekly ‘Letter from Burma’ in Japanese translation.
5.
a. In plural. Originally: the reading and study of written texts; knowledge or learning acquired through this; scholarship. Later: the academic or literary world; literary culture; literature.In early use also occasionally in † good letters: scholarship (obsolete).lady, man, republic, woman of letters, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [noun] > book-learning, letters
craftOE
book loreOE
lettersa1250
letter1340
lettrurec1400
literaturec1450
reading?1548
book learning1553
book skill1553
book knowledge1613
bookcrafta1637
scholarship1644
clerkship1648
letter-learning1668
bookhood1772
clerk-learning1865
literacy1880
society > leisure > the arts > literature > art or occupation of writer or author > [noun]
bookcraftOE
fayingc1200
pena1387
composition1577
penwork1596
book writing1600
pencraft1600
composure1601
authoragea1628
literature1663
authorism1702
authorship1710
letters?1710
authoring1742
authorcraft1746
penwomanship1776
penmanship1793
authorhood1832
creative writing1837
pen-and-inkeryc1909
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [noun]
writing1340
scripturea1382
scripturea1382
scrowsa1513
stuff1542
the republic of letters1677
belles-lettres1710
literature1711
the Muses1838
lit.1850
letters1916
a1250 (?c1200) Prov. Alfred (Galba) (transcript of damaged MS) (1955) 77 Ne mai no riht cinȝ ben..bute he be boc-lered..& he cunne lettres.
a1382 Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) v. l. 23 The boke in þe apocalips is schewid seeld, with vii seelez, whiche ȝif þou ȝeue to aman cunnyng lettrez þat he rede, he schall answere þe I may not; it is forsoþ selid.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xv. viii. 729 Attica..was þe oolde Grecia..and was sometyme norysshe of philisophres and modir of liberal lettres.
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 31 Gramatica, craft, conny[n]ge of lettres.
?1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton i. sig. bjv By letters and by science is the man made semblable or lyke to god.
?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Aii v Well lerned in good lettres.
?1577 J. Northbrooke Spiritus est Vicarius Christi: Treat. Dicing 32 Learning and good letters, to yong men bringeth sobrietie.
1611 Bible (King James) John vii. 15 How knoweth this man letters, hauing neuer learned? View more context for this quotation
1693 A. Wood Life (1895) IV. 50 I..have from my youth laboured in good letters.
?1710 Squire Bickerstaff Detected 2 He was bred to Letters, and is Master of a Pen.
1751 J. Harris Hermes Pref. p. vi He has always been a lover of Letters.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. x. 41 That life of exile and privacy, which religion and letters would have rendered tolerable to the king.
1880 Athenæum 10 Jan. 56 Several guests well known in letters were present.
1916 E. A. Boyd Ireland's Literary Renaissance xiii. 330 The unfinished Deirdre of the Sorrows..brought home fully the great loss imposed upon Anglo-Irish letters by the death of Synge.
1976 E. S. Dodge Islands & Empires xviii. 247 Philosophy, arts, and letters were all imported and admired.
2009 Guardian (Nexis) 20 Feb. 39 Salih..played an active role in the world of letters, presiding over literary prizes and speaking at conferences.
†b. In singular in same sense. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [noun] > book-learning, letters
craftOE
book loreOE
lettersa1250
letter1340
lettrurec1400
literaturec1450
reading?1548
book learning1553
book skill1553
book knowledge1613
bookcrafta1637
scholarship1644
clerkship1648
letter-learning1668
bookhood1772
clerk-learning1865
literacy1880
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 98 (MED) Hvanne me zet a child to lettre [c1450 Bk. Vices & Virtues lettrure], ate begynnynge me him tekþ his pater noster.
c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 25 (MED) Þou art leud and vnlerd and letter canste þou non.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 624 Arystotill..one of þe coronest clerkis þat euer knew letter.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 57 (MED) At this day their remainnith a folische langage in courte seying the grette estates shult nat lerne lettur, and taketh it for a shame that the nobles shulde othir write or rede.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxxix. f. ciii Lower than his Fader in letter and Connynge.
1579 T. Lodge Protogenes 3 You are (homo literatus) a man of the letter little sauoring of learning.
6. In singular (chiefly with the). The precise words, terms, or strict verbal interpretation of an utterance, statement, or document; the exact or literal meaning of something. Frequently in the letter of the law (cf. also the black letter of the law at black letter n. Phrases).Sometimes contrasted with spirit (see spirit n. 18c).See also after the letter, to the letter at Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > interpretation of the law > strict interpretation
letter1340
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > literal meaning > [noun]
letter1340
propertya1387
lecturec1475
propriety1648
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 99 (MED) Zuyche weneþ hit wel conne and onderstonde, þet neuerte ne couþe bote þe rynde wyþoute, þet is þe lettre, þet is guod.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. iii. 6 The lettre [L. littera] sleith, forsoth the spirit quykeneth.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Si Whiche..yet to this present daye, kepe the letter of the lawe of Moyses in many thynges precisely.
1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) i. 49 An other [wyse] is to take hede to the letter only, after the lytterall vnderstondynge.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 6 Cleauing as fast as we can to the letter..let vs draw as neare as we may to the sense of Moses work.
a1640 P. Massinger Bashful Lover v. i. 24 in 3 New Playes (1655) To tread on My Soveraigns territories with forbidden feet, The severe letter of the Law calls death.
1700 J. Astry tr. D. de Saavedra Fajardo Royal Politician I. 160 A Prince is not oblig'd by the strict Letter of the Law.
1724 S. Clarke XVII Serm. xii. 278 All great Corruptions of Religion in all Ages, have arisen by separating the Letter thus from the Spirit.
1776 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. i. §41 54 A King may..impair the happiness of his people without violating the letter of any single Law.
1837 T. Carlyle in London & Westm. Rev. Jan. 210/1 Immaculate Pharisees and Respectabilities, with their eye ever set on ‘character’, and the letter of the law.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. liii. 326 Jefferson..without venturing to propose alterations in the text of the Constitution, protested against all extensions of its letter.
1920 E. S. Sampson Miss Minerva's Baby ix. 145 He was determined to stick to the letter of Judge Turpin's ruling.
1981 W. Boyd Good Man in Afr. 82 He was more worried about his rule book, observing the letter of the law.
2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 29 Apr. 14/2 Literalists..have sought a return to the letter of Islam's founding texts.
†7.
a. In plural. Writings, written records. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > [noun]
bookeOE
writlOE
rolla1325
conscriptiona1382
lettersa1382
scripturea1382
monument1405
write1483
pancart1577
panchart1587
anagraphy1606
notitia1738
a1382 Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) v. l. 35 Þat in a chare wolde reden holy lettrez.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) xx. 44 Monymentis and lettrys ser..In-till that tretys wp thai gaff.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. B.v For except the diuyne letters, there is nothyng so well written, but that there maie bee founde necessitie of correction.
1557 F. Seager Schoole of Vertue in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 340 If letters had not then brought them to lyght The truth of suche thynges who could nowe resyght?
b. In singular. Anything written; a document, text, or inscription; a warrant. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written text > [noun] > piece or quantity of
i-writeOE
writlOE
hand-writc1175
scritec1325
scripta1350
writingc1384
letterc1390
write1428
briefa1450
titlec1450
scroll1534
escript1550
passagec1550
hand write1567
side1579
scrieve1581
manuscript1600
sheetful1711
page1743
slateful1836
chirograph1844
pageful1859
M1899
c1390 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 688 Vn-til a lettre al-one me lad Þat wel was writen on a wal.
a1400 (c1300) Northern Homily: Serm. on Gospels (Coll. Phys.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Lettre Malachye And..ysaie..Thai scheu bathe an wit, sere letter.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1580 Alle loked on þat letter as lewed þay were.
c1405 (c1375) G. Chaucer Monk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 210 In al that land Magicien was noon That koude expounde what that lettre mente.
c1475 Antichrist & Disciples in J. H. Todd Three Treat. J. Wycklyffe (1851) p. cxxxvi (MED) Þei wole þat men preche fables & lesyngis, & þerto graunte lettre & seel & many dayes of pardoune.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) x. 353 The gud Erll thomas Assegit, as the lettir [1489 Adv. lettre] sais, Edinburgh.
1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1316/1 Then foloweth it in the letter. ‘Hee came then vnto Simon Peter’ [etc.].
1594 (a1555) D. Lindsay Hist. Squyer Meldrum l. 1281 in Wks. (1931) I. 180 That Gaudefer, as sayis the Letter, At Gadderis Ferrie faucht no better.
8. A spark in the wick of candle popularly supposed to presage the arrival of a letter or visitor. Chiefly in letter in the candle. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > an omen, sign, portent > [noun] > portending a visitor or letter
letter1708
stranger1798
1708 Brit. Apollo 7–9 Apr. The reason..is as Wise an one as that of Letters, Winding Sheets, &c. in a Candle.
1755 Connoisseur No. 59. 352 My aunt one night observed with great pleasure a letter in the candle; and she hoped it would be from her son in London.
1821 W. T. Moncrieff Spectre Bridegroom i. ii. 8 He sent me word he was coming express, though there was no occasion for that; I knew it; for independently of an amazingly bright letter in the candle last night.
1854 B. F. Taylor January & June 220 Two ‘letters’ are snuffed from the candles.
1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major I. xii. 236 That was Weymouth postmaster, and he says there's a letter for me. Ah, I now call to mind that there was a letter in the candle three days ago this very night—a large red one; but foolish-like I thought nothing o't.
1912 McClure's Mag. Jan. 348/1 The most pathetic phase of the mysticism of the chimney corner, ‘the letter in the candle’.
9. A condom; = French letter n. at French adj. and n. Compounds 1b. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > contraception or birth control > [noun] > a contraceptive > condom
condom?1706
armour1708
machine1749
protective1827
French letter?1844
sheath1861
French safe1868
letterc1890
rubber1913
Durex1932
prophylactic1934
raincoat1934
male condom1938
Trojan1951
safety1952
safe1959
Frenchy1963
scumbag1967
internal condom1969
franger1975
dicksack1996
c1890 My Secret Life II. xviii. 318 My cock and the letter would not agree.
1900 Illustr. Police News 31 Mar. 10/3 (advt.) Stanley Ward's Unrivalled Letters... Splendidly finished and very strong.
1916 Declining Birth-rate ii. 247 A woman..will sometimes wear a cap over the neck of the womb, which takes the place, in the female, of the ‘letters’ that men wear.

Phrases

P1. In adverbial phrases.
†a. after the letter: literally; in the literal sense. Obsolete. [Compare Middle Low German nā der litteren.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [adverb] > so as to match truth, exactly > in words or text
after the lettera1425
letterly?a1475
verbatim?1503
verbatimly1587
literally1591
literatim1623
verbatim et literatim1642
au pied de la lettrea1739
textually1837
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 6759 Þir wordes, aftir þe lettre, er hard to here.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 68 Þai vnderstand noȝt haly writte spiritually, bot after þe letter.
b. to the letter.
†(a) Literally; = after the letter at Phrases 1a. Obsolete. [Compare Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French a la lettre (c1200 in Anglo-Norman in this sense), after classical Latin ad litteram.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > completely [phrase] > completely or perfectly
to (or unto) perfectiona1425
to the letter?1495
to point1590
to the (also a) nail?1611
to a shaving1804
jam up1835
to the moment1845
to a (fine) point1861
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > [adverb]
rightlyeOE
righteOE
evenOE
evenlya1225
redlyc1275
justicelya1375
justilya1375
justlya1375
redilya1375
trulya1375
properlya1382
precisec1392
preciselyc1392
truec1392
straitlya1395
leala1400
arightc1405
by linec1420
justlyc1425
featlya1450
rule-righta1450
to the letter?1495
exquisitely1526
evenliklya1530
very1530
absolutely1538
jump1539
just1568
accurately1581
punctually1581
jumplya1586
arights1596
just so1601
plumb1601
compassly1606
nicelya1616
squarely1626
justa1631
adequately1632
mathematicallya1638
critically1655
exquisitively1660
just1665
pointedly1667
faithfully1690
correctlya1704
jus1801
jest1815
jes1851
neat1875
cleanly1883
on the nose1883
smack-dab1892
spot on1920
forensically1974
?1495 R. Fitzjames Sermo Die Lune in Ebdomada Pasche (de Worde) sig. avi This seconde temple was no thynge lyke vnto the fyrste ne in buyldynge ne in garnysshyng: Wherfore holy cristen doctours as saynt Ierom & Bede expowne this prophecye to the letter. That gretter shall be the seconde glory of this seconde hous than of fyrste.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Aiiiiv God hath no suche bodely membres, as this texte to the letter dothe pretende.
1624 I. Bargrave Serm. against Selfe Policy 7 Such parabolicall transumptions are to be expounded to the sense, not to the letter.
(b) Precisely, strictly, rigidly; to the fullest extent. [Compare French à la lettre (late 14th cent. in Middle French in this sense).]
ΚΠ
1752 Adventures of Valet I. ii. vii. 107 It was Rapture to me, to receive such a Command; but I had too much Curiosity to obey it to the Letter.
1775 J. Macpherson Orig. Papers I. 243 He thought fit to observe his orders to the letter.
1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus v. i. 159 I shall obey you to the letter.
1886 ‘H. Conway’ Living or Dead iv. 26 You had better follow your father's commands to the letter.
1915 St. Nicholas June 743/2 Running out a hit is a practice every manager should insist upon his players' obeying to the letter.
1944 G. Emerson Voiceless India iii. xiii. 321 The cook was carrying out caste regulations to the letter.
2007 C. O'Clery Billionaire who Wasn't xiv. 130 Gardner honored the anonymity requirements to the letter.
c. letter for letter: in the exact or (in reference to transliteration) precisely corresponding letters. Cf. literatim adv., word for word adv.
ΚΠ
1566 T. Stapleton Returne Vntruthes Jewelles Replie iv. f. 56v You knowe your selfe right well that all the editions of Paris print, do reade those Very wordes in that very sorte, letter for letter, and sillable for sillable, as you haue in this place put them, and as you saie D. Harding hath altered them.
1631 E. Reynolds Three Treat. iii. 400 Of his fulnesse wee receive Grace for Grace, that is, as a Childe in generation receiveth from his Parents member for member, or the paper from the Presse letter for letter.
1663 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Names & Scantlings Inventions iv. 6 Never clogging the memory with several figures for words..which with ease and void of confusion, are thus speedily..letter for letter set down.
1780 Mirror No. 89. 130 He believed he owed almost all his business..to an advertisement in the news-papers interlarded with French words. It began thus; for I copied it letter for letter.
1861 M. Arnold On translating Homer 78 The real question is this—whether our living apprehension of the Greek world is more checked by meeting in an English book about the Greeks, names not spelt letter for letter as in the original Greek, or by meeting names which make us rub our eyes and call out, ‘How exceedingly odd!’
1890 Nation (N.Y.) 24 Apr. 338/2 The editing has been done with great care, the MS. being followed almost letter for letter, with the few corrections made noted at the foot of the page.
1949 Boys' Life Mar. 8/2 When the answer comes back, the Signaler reads it and indicates it letter for letter to the Scribe.
1989 A. Wilentz Rainy Season (1990) vi. 190 They were reading it letter for letter in transliterated English from the leaflets they were distributing to the illiterate commercantes.
2008 C. Stanley Handbk. for Christian Living 166 I can see why the scribes would copy letter for letter. It is so easy to leave out a letter here and a letter there when we think in words.
d. letter by letter: so as to take each letter in turn; (also) †using the exact letters (obsolete). Also (usually hyphenated) as adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > spelling > [noun] > action of naming letters of word
spellingc1440
letter by letter1588
1588 W. Kempe Educ. Children sig. F2v A sillable of eight letters, being too hard for a childe to learne all at once, he may learne letter by letter.
a1622 H. Ainsworth Annot. Five Bks. Moses, Bk. Psalmes & Song of Songs (1627) iv. v. 32/1 He (the Priest) brought a roll of parchment vellan..and wrote thereon..all the words wherewith he adjured her, letter by letter, word by word.
1696 J. Lead Fountain of Gardens 48 The Interpreter I my self must be, to tell you Letter by Letter; for you know not yet what number it is that makes up your New Name.
1730 R. Hayes Negociator's Mag. (rev. ed.) i. 28 Although some Words may happen to be false Spelt: They copy it out Letter by Letter.
1767 B. Thornton tr. Plautus Treasure iv. ii, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies II. 64 I'll recollect it Letter by letter.—It begins with C.
1800 W. Dunlap tr. A. von Kotzebue False Shame iv. 44 Are your senses so bound up in darkness that I must spell it to you letter by letter?
1836 R. Southey Cowper's Wks. III. 226 ‘In a firm and delicate hand’..(no doubt the same letter-by-letter writing that has before been noticed).
1951 Trans. Philol. Soc. 1950 181 Since there is a letter-by-letter transliteration in general use by comparatists, this has been utilized to represent the Armenian spelling.
1967 N. S. M. Cox & M. W. Grose Organization Bibliogr. Rec. by Computer ii. 13 The ability to sort word-by-word or letter-by-letter.
2006 J. Shannon Dark Streets iii. 38 He pointed to it now, running his finger from the G to the D as if she needed help reading it letter by letter.
P2. to hunt (also †affect, †lick) the letter: to practise or study alliteration. In later use chiefly with reference to Renaissance or classical poetry.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of structure or thought > use figure of structure or thought [verb (intransitive)] > alliterate (of words) > practise alliteration
to hunt (also affect, lick) the letter1575
to lick the letter1605
alliterate1804
1575 G. Gascoigne Certayne Notes Instr. in Posies sig. T.iiiiv They do so hunte a letter to death, that they make it Crambé.
1579 E. K. in E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Ep. Ded. I scorne and spue out the rakehellye route of our ragged rymers (for so themselues vse to hunt the letter).
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 55 I wil somthing affect the letter, for it argues facilitie. View more context for this quotation
1605 W. Camden Remaines i. 27 The English and Welsh delighted much in licking the letter.
1624 R. Montagu Gagg for New Gospell? Pref. I could haue played the foole in alliteration, and hunted the letter as you haue done.
1869 N. Brit. Rev. Oct. 64/1 Mr. Browning is Saxon, and not Latin, when he hunts the letter with clash and clatter like Holophernes.
1900 S. E. Winbolt in tr. Virgil Georgics I. 79 Note the alliterations on p, v, and s. It is seldom that Virgil ‘hunts the letter’ to the extent of l. 389.
1942 T. R. Glover Challenge of Greek 211 We cannot think of Homer hunting the letter.
P3. Scots Law. to run one's letters: (of a prisoner awaiting trial) to apply in writing to a judge requesting that he or she call on the prosecutor to set a date for trial; to await trial following this process. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > trying or hearing of cause > try or hear causes [verb (intransitive)] > apply in writing for date of trial
to run one's letters1741
1741 Ld. Kames Decisions Court of Session 2 341 A Party who, upon a sign'd information as guilty of forgery, had been committed to prison by the King's advocate, and had been liberate upon running his letters, no day being fixed for his trial within 60 days, insisting against the informer for damages and reparation.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian iv, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 80 They'll run their letters, and be adrift again, before ye ken where ye are.
1837 J. R. McCulloch Statist. Acct. Brit. Empire II. iv. vi. 367 A prisoner..may protect himself from undue delay of trial by the remedy called ‘running his letters’; a process in force since 1701.
1908 Hansard's Parl. Deb. 4th Ser. IX. 29 July 315 In Scotland..there is also a power on the part of the prisoner, by a process known as ‘running his letters’, to secure a trial within a certain number of days.
1965 Sc. National Dict. VI. at Letter When a person detained in custody on a criminal charge wished to expedite his trial, he applied to a judge to call on the prosecutor to fix within sixty days the hearing of the case on a date not later than thirty days thereafter. During this period the prisoner was said to be running his letters. If the prosecutor failed to bring his case within the stipulated time the prisoner was then liberated.
P4. U.S. slang. letter in the post office: a hole in the seat of a person's trousers through which the clothing underneath is visible. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1833 N.-Y. Mirror 7 Dec. 181/2 The husband's coat had a rent in the back, his hat was brimless and crownless, his trousers—‘He had a letter in the post-office’—and his shoes ‘had seen better days’.
1855 S. A. Hammett Wonderful Adventures Captain Priest 28 That something white which is fluttering in the breeze from his midships is..merely a bit of linen which under such circumstances is known to our gamins as ‘a letter in the post office’.
1894 Dial. Notes 1 341 Letter in the post-office, expression current among boys, denoting that the seat of the trousers is so out of repair that the shirt-tail is visible.
1953 C. Sandburg Always Young Strangers i. 19 Always there were clothes to be patched, the boys sometimes wearing out a third seat of trousers and having the other kids hollering, when the shirttail stuck out, ‘There's a letter in the post office for you!’
1976 Callaloo Dec. 26 When one's clothes are caught in the buttock, he has a ‘letter in the post office’, or is ‘cutting a patch’.

Compounds

C1.
a. General attributive.
(a) (In sense 1.)
letter change n.
ΚΠ
1844 Proc. Philol. Soc. 1 99 It is necessary to take some notice of these letter-changes before we discuss the changes in the Russian vowels corresponding thereto.
1904 Amer. Anthropologist 6 314 (heading) Some Algonquian letter-changes.
1999 Cognition & Instr. 17 179 Prereaders were oblivious to changes, with near-zero unprompted detections of letter changes.
letter form n.
ΚΠ
1857 A. Sprenger Catal. Bibliotheca Orientalis Sprengeriana 88 Letterforms in a very flowery style.
1937 Discovery Dec. 362/2 The letter-form of the calligrapher.
2001 N. Macdonald Graffiti Subculture v. 82 In the early days of the subculture writers would push themselves to invent new letter forms.
letter name n.
ΚΠ
1833 E. H. Burritt Geogr. of Heavens i. 42 The last, whose letter name is Gamma, is in the right knee..in Cassiopeia.
1886 G. H. Howard Course Harmony 4/2 The student may point out all the keys having the same letter name on the key-board.
1961 R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts xvii. 388 Examples are IQ and TV, in which the component letters are given their individual letter-name pronunciations.
2004 D. R. Meier Young Child's Memory for Words iv. 88 The letter name for i is pronounced just like the lone i in eyeball.
letter sequence n.
ΚΠ
1875 S. Ferguson Let. 25 Nov. in Jrnl. Royal Hist. & Archæol. Assoc. Ireland 3 533 Another combination presents itself on reading the legend in the usual course, from left to right..which may now be considered an almost equally sure guide to the letter-sequences.
1953 Language 29 72 The letter-sequences QL, TSR, SSS..never occur in English spelling.
2006 M. Macleod & B. Mees Runic Amulets & Magic Objects iv. 93 The letter sequence on the Fyn legend appears to have deliberately been extended out to 12 letters.
letter shape n.
ΚΠ
1865 Phonetic Jrnl. 17 June 278/1 A system which professes..to have framed its new letter-shapes on well-considered principles.
1954 K. G. Roman Handwriting xiii. 267 The small, fuzzy letter shapes are obscured by pastosity and smeariness.
2002 P. Baines & A. Haslam Type & Typogr. iv. 97/3 The computer will be used more actively in the creation of the letter shapes.
letter string n.
ΚΠ
1964 Language 40 168 The omission of a given letter-string from a dictionary is no assurance that the combination is not an English word.
2003 E. Làdayas in E. Zaidel & M. Iacoboni Parallel Brain xxii. 498/1 The patient was able to read aloud the letter string.
(b) (In sense 4.)
letter bag n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > mail-bag
letter baga1655
bag1702
postbag1706
mailbag1812
pouch1833
mail pouch1843
mail sack1869
a1655 S. Simpson Of Faith in Two Bks. (1658) v. 32 Shall one letter bag be counted better than another, because its filled with Gold?
1788 J. Trumbull Let. 15 Aug. in T. Jefferson Papers (1956) XIII. 519 I will put them in the Ships Letter bag, where they will be..secure.
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist III. xlvi. 206 The guard was standing at the door waiting for the letter-bag.
1920 Times 17 Jan. 9/2 Mountains of letter-bags still remain to be sorted.
1999 Mizz 10 Mar. 77/2 The arachnophobic..postie said she tried to keep working, but every time she got a glimpse of the new spidery stamps in her letter bag, she fainted!
letter boy n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > person
letter bearera1400
breveterc1440
post1507
letter carrier1552
post boy1588
ordinary1592
packet carrier1606
postie1611
woman-posta1616
postwoman1683
letterman1707
postman1758
packeteer1784
letter boy1794
carrier1798
delivery officer1839
post-girl1850
mailman1881
packeter1893
postlady1975
1794 J. Charnock Biogr. Navalis II. 194 This class of young officers were originally called the king's letter-boys.
1816 J. Austen Emma II. ix. 176 A stray letter-boy on an obstinate mule. View more context for this quotation
1908 Jrnl. Educ. May 354/2 Pupil teachers..receiving from £25 to £54 a year, or a rate equivalent to that received by a letter boy in the Postal Department at the age of sixteen years.
2008 E. E. Knight Fall with Honor 48 At sixteen I became a letter boy and started biking around with mail.
letter envelope n.
ΚΠ
1838 Trans. Agric. & Hort. Soc. India 5 224 Numbers 2, 3 and 4 are best suited for letter envelopes, rough copies of notes, and general packing.
1914 Times 20 Oct. 7/1 The letter envelopes were headed ‘For King and Empire.’
2010 Mississauga (Ont.) News (Nexis) 27 Jan. 1 Most employers put aside the letter envelopes.
letter file n.
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society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > [noun] > filing > file > where correspondence is kept
letter file1730
1730 in T. Gent Antient & Mod. Hist. York (end matter) (advt.) Almanacks, Letter-Files, Ink-Powder, Harbin's Shining Japan-Ink.
1836 Leicester Chron. 26 Mar. 1/5 According to the evidence, the letter file had not been examined.
1911 O. Onions Widdershins 294 The shelf on which I kept my letter-files... My files contained..my agent's letters.
2001 L. J. Braun Cat who brought down House (2004) 177 Janice is putting them in chronological order and then in letter files for your convenience.
letter pouch n.
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1787 R. Twiss Chess I. 45 A man with..four dice in his right hand, a crust of bread in his left, and a letter pouch suspended from his shoulders.
1857 Glasgow Herald 21 Dec. 3/5 The New York letter pouch from Boston was abstracted that night while the vigilant officers were going east towards Boston.
1979 Washington Post 17 Nov. c1/3 All three airlines were carrying letter pouches, but packages were being moved by other means.
2010 N. Jordan To tame Dangerous Lord vii. 148 You still have the letter pouch attached to your garter, remember?
letter sack n.
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1843 Mail Coach Contract (Ireland) 19 in Parl. Papers LI: Accts. & Papers XXII 49 I am of opinion they are well fitted for the service..and in general capable of containing all the letter sacks.
1957 Ars Orientalis 2 617/2 It seems curious, furthermore, that the Khan should have chosen for his letter sacks homemade textiles in overwhelming proportion to those from the professional workshops.
2009 A. Kilbane tr. A. Hirata Rainbow Troops xliv. 418 I looked hopelessly at the three letter sacks marked Union Postale Universele.
letter-slit n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > letter-slit on door or wall
letterbox1820
letter-slit1833
letter plate1849
mail slot1892
1833 Dublin Univ. Mag. Aug. 138/2 Great was the joy of my heart when, reconnoitering through the letter-slit, I beheld the face of my old friend on the landing.
1845 Punch 8 53 The Clerk..hearing a knocking at the outer door, looks through the letter-slit.
1972 R. Harris Prejudice & Tolerance in Ulster iii. 37 This house had a good, solid front door with a brass letter-slit and a knocker.
letter tray n.
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1829 Times 27 July 4/5 (advt.) Pedestals and letter trays, a rich table top, a ditto inlaid with ivory, and several items of taste.
1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 356/2 Letter Trays. Fitted with spring clip, 4to..0/9.
2009 H. Buttigieg & S. Brandes Organizing Outside Box i. 38 Clear plastic letter trays are effective for an inbox, outbox, and for papers waiting to be filed.
b. Objective (in sense 4).
letter bearer n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > person
letter bearera1400
breveterc1440
post1507
letter carrier1552
post boy1588
ordinary1592
packet carrier1606
postie1611
woman-posta1616
postwoman1683
letterman1707
postman1758
packeteer1784
letter boy1794
carrier1798
delivery officer1839
post-girl1850
mailman1881
packeter1893
postlady1975
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 7907 Al letter-berers for-þi. ta ensaumple be vrry.
1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes 288 If to do a thing by the hands of another, do alwayes signifie a supreme authoritie in the partie by whose handes it is done, then were ye Princes Pursiuant or letter bearer, aboue the Lieutenant, Iudge, or Deputie, to whom the letter is sent.
1695 W. Wotton tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. VII. ix. 91 The Letter-bearer was manifestly proved to be an Ill Man.
1783 T. Jefferson Let. 14 Apr. in Papers (1952) VI. 261 The Carolina letter bearer is here.
1866 J. T. Trowbridge Lucy Arlyn ii. 21 No savage growl or sudden onset of wolfish brutes leaping out from shadowy places threatened the timorous letter-bearer.
1996 P. J. Arnade Realms of Ritual iii. 88 Others greeted the letter bearers..with an elaborate ceremony.
letter-copying n.
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1790 World 13 Sept. 4/4 An Indulgence, a Side-board, a Letter copying Press, excellent Goose Beds [etc.].
1866 S. B. Skellorn Railway Business & Accts. 63 The ordinary Letter Copying Books are used for Memorandums.
1916 E. L. Seabrook How to make Business Pay ix. 171 If letter-copying is adopted it should be complete and systematic.
2006 P. Blackley & C. Blackley Our Virginia 69 (caption) The table held a letter-copying device, called a polygraph.
letter sorter n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > official of the post > mail sorter
sorter1699
letter sorter1714
bagman1924
1714 J. Macky Journey through Eng. I. xi. 146 The Clerks of every Road in England, and their Letter-Sorters under them, receive and distribute all the In-land-Letters.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xxxii. 147 No ordinary letter-sorter in the Post-office is equal to it.
1935 J. Laird Enq. Moral Notions ii. x. 139 Plainly we do make use of the services of postmen, engine-drivers, and letter sorters.
2003 S. Blumenthal Clinton Wars iv. 202 I had a summer job as a letter sorter.
letter-sorting n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > that is used for sorting letters
letter-sorting1840
1840 Hampsh. Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian 29 Aug. (heading) Letter sorting between Calcutta and Bombay.
1897 Patents for Inventions: Abridgm. Specif. 1884–8: Class 52 57/2 Dickson, W... Tables.—Relates to postal or letter-sorting tables.
1957 New Scientist 19 Dec. 20/1 The first move was to analyse the organisation and operation of present methods of letter sorting.
1970 Railway Mag. Oct. 545/2 Post Office Sorting van; has letter sorting racks and some vehicles also have nets and traductor arms.
2004 M. De Leon Once upon Family Tree x. 57 She went back to the letter-sorting machine. She started to run the mail through.
letter writing n. and adj.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun]
epistolizing1602
letter writing1637
epistolography1785
epistolization1803
lettering1813
letterizing1824
1637 J. Bastwick Answer Information Sir J. Bancks 17/1 If every Letter-writing and booke then that is penned with judgment carry its owne sense and meaning in it..dare any man be so bold and audacious as to say that the Letters and Proclamations of the King of heaven and God of the whole world can not bee understood?
1737 Universal Spectator 3 Dec. 1/1 I may say more..on Letter-Writing in general, at some other time.
1788 W. Cowper Let. 6 Dec. (1982) III. 238 My Letter writing time is spent and I must now to Homer.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1839) VI. xlix. 235 He varied his style of letter writing according to the character..of his..correspondents.
1904 J. R. Robinson 50 Years Fleet St. 236 The passion for letter-writing to newspapers is recognised in Fleet Street as a distinct form of mental aberration.
1957 G. Frick tr. ‘M. Yourcenar’ Coup de Grâce 16 Conrad was not of the letter-writing type.
2002 J. W. Hall Hot Damn! 43 She is as emphatic in her letter writing as she is in person.
C2.
letter balance n. now chiefly historical = letter-scale n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > scale for weighing letters
letter balance1837
letter weigher1839
letter-scale1840
1837 Westm. Election 8 (advt.) Ollivier's Post Office Letter Balance. For the Library and Drawing Room Table.
1880 G. N. Lamphere U.S. Govt. 240/1 Supplying the post-offices entitled thereto with blanks,..twine, letter-balances, and cancelling-stamps.
1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 577/1 A German firm brought out a folding letter-balance, on the pan of which were engraved the British postal rates and the legend, ‘Made in Germany’.
2000 N. Hall in D. Barton & N. Hall Let. Writing as Social Pract. vi. 103 There could have been a letter balance to ensure correct postage was paid.
letter ballot n. a ballot in which votes are sent by post; = postal ballot n. at postal adj. and n. Compounds.
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the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > expression of choice by some approved method > [noun] > voting by post or when absent
absent vote1850
letter ballot1874
vote-by-mail1880
postal ballot1888
postal vote1903
postal voting1913
1874 Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engin. Mag. Jan. 88/2 Such amendments..shall be voted on by letter-ballot.
1927 Times 12 Apr. 13/4 A correctly addressed letter ballot..revealed a great difference of opinion between the Post Office and two of the unions.
1998 K. C. Mehta in J. D. Reira & A. G. Davenport Wind Effects on Buildings & Struct. 308/1 Voting on the provisions of the standard is accomplished by letter ballot.
letter blindness n. [after French cécité littérale (1885 or earlier)] Medicine the inability, or loss of the ability, to recognize the letters of an alphabet when seen, resulting from localized brain damage; cf. word blindness n. at word n. and int. Compounds 2.
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1891 Med. News 1 Aug. 133/1 He was also unable to name the letters (word- and letter-blindness).
1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1307/2 So complete was the letter-blindness that she could not recognize a single letter of the alphabet.
2008 N. R. Miller et al. Walsh & Hoyt's Clin. Neuro-ophthalmol.: Essent. (ed. 2) xii. 271/2 This type of alexia with agraphia sometimes is called literal alexia or ‘letter blindness’.
letter board n. (a) Printing a board on which type is placed; (b) a board containing letters, or to which letters may be fixed.
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1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 29 Letter-Boards are Oblong Squares... They ought to be made of clean and well-season'd Stuff.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. 181 We wash and clean our Letter-board.
1784 Morning Chron. 5 May A bellows press, a great number of chases, cases, letter boards [etc.].
1854 T. F. Adams Typographia 256 The form is then laid with its face downwards on a letter-board covered with the press-blankets.
1920 Documents School Comm. City of Boston 1919 iv. 163 1 letter board cabinet.
1990 N. R. C. Leng Psychol. Care in Old Age v. 96 An alternative method of communication, such as a letter board.
2008 L. Dean Idea of Love xvii. 97 There was a plastic letter board on the wall..bearing the names of foreign currencies.
letter book n. now chiefly historical a book in which correspondence is copied out, or in which letters or copies of letters are kept for reference.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-case, -rack, or -book
letter case1653
letter book1667
letter rack1821
mail-rack1896
1667 T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. 148 The Books that concern the affairs of the Society, shall be the Charter Book, Statute Book, Journal Books, Letter Books, and Register Books, for the entring of Philosophical Observations, Histories, Discourses, Experiments, Inventions.
1695 S. Baston Baston's Case Vindicated 28 I pray'd their Honours to send for the Commissioners Letter-Book, wherein I would shew them the Entry of a Letter.
1757 Read's Weekly Jrnl. 16 Apr. 1/1 President: Is that the original Letter you sent by Mr. Boyd? A. No; it is a Copy from my Letter-Book.
1776 J. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 224 It would fill this letter-book to give you all the arguments for and against this measure.
1892 Sir R. V. Williams in Law Times Rep. 67 234/1 The letter-book satisfies me that Mr. Norton was right.
1925 Times 5 Mar. 9/2 That letter..had never been press-copied into his letter-book.
1987 R. M. Utley High Noon in Lincoln (1989) 239 These records consist of ledger books,..and letter books preserving copies of correspondence to customers.
2009 Church Times 2 Oct. 4/3 The company..has copies of every letter sent, written in longhand before the advent of the typewriter, bound in letter books.
letter-bound adj. now rare characterized by strict adherence to rules or laws.
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1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 43 That letter-bound servility of the Canon Doctors.
1876 M. Arnold in Contemp. Rev. Nov. 907 It recalls..the narrow and letter-bound views of Biblical inspiration.
1960 Times 17 Sept. 9/4 Germany [sic] musicology tends to be rather letter-bound when it comes to problems of performance.
letter carrier n. now chiefly North American a person employed to carry or deliver letters, either as a private messenger or a public official; a postman.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > person
letter bearera1400
breveterc1440
post1507
letter carrier1552
post boy1588
ordinary1592
packet carrier1606
postie1611
woman-posta1616
postwoman1683
letterman1707
postman1758
packeteer1784
letter boy1794
carrier1798
delivery officer1839
post-girl1850
mailman1881
packeter1893
postlady1975
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Letter carier, ambulus, libellio, tabellarius.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xliiii. 1199 The chiefe governour..craftily suborned a fellow for the nones in guise and shew of a letter-carrier, and received from him letters.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 2 Aug. (1970) II. 146 Met with a Letter-Carrier of Cambrige.
1734 London Evening-Post 26 Dec. 1/1 His Holiness has had time to publish an Edict, forbidding all Persons employ'd in the Post-Office to deliver any Letters but to the Letter-Carriers.
1772 B. Franklin Let. 2 Dec. in Papers (1975) XIX. 416 I suspect the Letter Carrier might be corrupted.
1829 Times 2 Nov. 4/2 The letter-carrier knocks at my door at 12 in the day with the General Post delivery.
1887 U.S. Mail Mar. 60/2 The letter carriers are hard at it again in their efforts to have their hours of labor reduced to eight hours per day.
1973 P. G. Wodehouse Bachelors Anonymous ix. 123 ‘You're American, aren't you?’ said Amelia Bingham. ‘I thought so. It was your saying “letter-carrier” instead of postman.’
2005 J. Fudge in C. J. Cranford et al. Self-employed Workers Organize ii. 60 Rural route couriers perform many of the same tasks as the letter carriers who sort and deliver mail throughout urban Canada.
letter case n. a case used to hold letters, papers, or stationery; †an envelope (obsolete rare).
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society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-case, -rack, or -book
letter case1653
letter book1667
letter rack1821
mail-rack1896
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > cover or envelope
coverture1587
by covert1655
envelopea1715
letter cover1741
cover1747
letter case1823
wrapper1846
1653 Boston Town Rec. 10 39 Some other Bills..are in my Leather Letter Case wch comonly lyes upon my table in that closet.
1672 T. Jordan London Triumphant 16 By Ladies Letter-case, [He] Shall have a better place.
1733 Daily Courant 22 Feb. The long narrow Form in which these Tables are printed was thought the most convenient as being adapted for Carriage in a Letter-Case, or Pocket Book.
1784 S. Johnson Let. 27 Feb. (1994) IV. 291 In the letter-case was a letter relating to me.
1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 44 Let a person choose any one of them [sc. cards], and inclose it in a letter-case.
1878 Notes & Queries 7 Sept. 183/1 The straps of the postman's letter-case being thin pieces of leather.
1941 ‘Faugh-a-Ballagh’ 34 93/1 A travelling letter-case, to contain pens, ink, paper, wax, and wafers.
1999 Novel 33 43 Elma contributed ever more personal gifts—a letter case, a purse, a shawl, slippers, belts, shirt patterns.
letter chute n. = mail chute n. at mail n.2 Compounds 3.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > conveyor > [noun] > chute > types of
pulleya1586
letter chute1868
sack-shoot1902
tremie1905
mail chute1961
1868 Lowell (Mass.) Daily Citizen & News 10 Dec. A new and useful invention..consisting of a combined door-plate and letter-chute or slide.
1937 Times 30 Sept. 23/2 (advt.) A letter chute on every floor connecting with postal box cleared at usual collecting times.
2003 R. M. Skaler Philadelphia's Broad Street iv. 66 Newman designed the fireproof building with..electric lights, letter chutes, and fireproof and burglarproof vaults on all the office floors.
letter clip n. a clip or clasp used for fastening letters or documents.
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1841 Mechanics' Mag. 18 Sept. 233/1 Mr. Heeley's ingenious spring letter clip takes precedence of all the numerous contrivances for a similar purpose.
1859 G. A. Sala Gaslight & Daylight xviii. 204 Letter-clips, portfolios, music-cases.
1916 G. L. Johnson Photogr. in Colours (rev. ed.) 283 Clip the plates together with strong letter clips.
2005 B. Ginn & P. Klassen Passion for Printed Paper 15 Attach letter clips to cardstock strip for the title.
letter corporal n. now rare a corporal whose duty it is to carry or deliver letters.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier with special duty > [noun] > messenger
runner1611
orderly man1705
orderly1781
letter corporal1861
1861 M. Beverley Moor Cottage xxxiii. 362 Pray finish your writing. I met the letter Corporal not far off, he will be here almost immediately.
1881 L. Adams Lady Deane II. xiii. 260 I reached my quarters just in time to see our letter-corporal crossing the square with his letter-bag across his shoulders.
1903 B. M. Croker Johanna xxviii. 241 Now I must end, for the letter corporal is coming round.
letter cover n. now historical and rare an envelope.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > cover or envelope
coverture1587
by covert1655
envelopea1715
letter cover1741
cover1747
letter case1823
wrapper1846
1741 S. Richardson Pamela IV. xxxviii. 233 Her Handkerchief, and Letter-cover.
1816 Ld. Byron Let. 1 Oct. (1976) V. 109 Two days ago I sent you in three letter-covers a journal of a mountain-excursion lately made by me in the Bernese Alps.
1841 J. S. Buckingham Evils & Remedies of Elections in Monthly Rev. Oct. 440 Put the whole in an ordinary letter-cover..and send it, for security, through the post-office, on the following day.
1916 Philatelic Mag. Oct. 289 A very stringent circular had been sent out by the post office..forbidding postmasters to receive the money at all, but to sell the stamps to the public, and make them put them on the letter covers themselves.
letter cutter n. (a) Typography a person who makes punches for type founding; (b) a person who carves letters or inscriptions, esp. into stone.
ΚΠ
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 82 A Letter-Cutter should have a Forge set up.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. i. 5 Figures..observed..by the Letter-cutter.
1797 Encycl. Brit. VII. 380/2 In the business of cutting, casting, &c. letters for printing, the letter-cutter must be provided with a vice, hand-vice, hammers [etc.].
1847 S. N. Dickinson Hand-bk. Specimen Printing Type Pref. Our Scotch Faces were selected from the very extensive Foundry of Alexander Wilson and Sons of Edinburgh and also from an eminent letter cutter of that city.
1883 Kelly's Sheffield Directory 194 Ashmore, Cornelius, mark maker and letter cutter.
1928 J. C. Oswald Hist. Printing xxii. 292 Dr. Fell also employed Peter Walpergen, a Dutch letter-cutter, to take charge of the Oxford type foundry.
1987 N. F. Jones Public Organization Anc. Greece iii. 141 The single words ‘politai’ and ‘metoikoi’ would have..spared the letter-cutter unnecessarily lengthy rubrics.
2008 Guardian (Nexis) 27 Oct. (Newsprint Suppl.) 3 Gill's convoluted life and beliefs..cannot eclipse the beauty of his elegant line as sculptor, draughtsman, letter cutter or font designer.
letter cutting n. (a) Typography the technique or process of making punches for type founding; (b) the technique or process of carving letters or inscriptions, esp. into stone.
ΚΠ
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 81 Letter-Cutting is a Handy-Work hitherto kept so conceal'd among the Artificers of it.
1732 S. Palmer Gen. Hist. Printing ii. 312 His modesty would not suffer him to rely upon his own judgment, till he had it confirm'd by other eminent masters in the art of Printing, letter-cutting, &c.
1795 J. O'Keeffe Life's Vagaries v. i. 76 Humphry Grin, the stone mason, is famous in the letter cutting way.
1828 Mirror of Lit. 7 Oct. 221/1 The art of engraving and letter cutting.
1889 Illustr. Boston (ed. 2) 198/2 Fine steel letter cutting being a leading specialty.
1946 F. W. Goudy Half-cent. of Type Design & Typogr. 1895–1945 169 Some years before I began my own letter-cutting, I had in London come across the firm of Bannerman & Son, printers' engineers, who made and sold all sorts of gadgets for typefounders' use.
1975 S. V. Tracy Lettering of Athenian Mason iii. 122 Greek letter-cutting..has emerged as unique in many ways when contrasted with the practice of Roman and of modern cutters.
2005 S. Loxley Type iv. 45 The slate sign is a beautiful piece of letter cutting.
letter drop n. U.S. (a) a letterbox (now rare); (b) a place used for passing on letters, information, etc., in secret (cf. drop n. 17d); (also) the act or practice of doing this.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > place where letters, etc., may be collected > in post office
poste restante1782
letter drop1922
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > [noun] > information exchange > use of
letter drop1971
1875 Boston Daily Advertiser 25 Mar. These parcels..must be received by a clerk, as they will not go through a letter-drop.
1899 F. Norris McTeague xiii. 257 He heard the postman's step in the hall and saw the envelopes begin to shuttle themselves through the slit of his letter-drop.
1922 Admin. Dec. 727/2 Often, an office boy will go to the post-office and stand at the letter drop with 500 letters.
1971 ‘A. Hall’ Warsaw Document iii. 32 He delivers the goods by letter-drop and he's caught doing it because he's meant to be.
1975 Forbes 1 July 70/1 We've got a letter drop in Nassau, but who doesn't?
2006 M. Felt & J. O'Connor G-man's Life iii. 18 He had sent secret messages to his German superiors in 1940 and 1941 via a letter drop in Milan.
letter dropper n. now rare a person who omits a letter or syllable from speech or writing; cf. lipogrammatist n. at lipogrammatic adj. Derivatives.
ΚΠ
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 59. ¶2 The Lipogrammatists or Letter-droppers of Antiquity.
1776 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music I. 449 These instances of his being a Lipogrammatist, or letter-dropper, and of his particular enmity to the hissing letter S, are greater proofs of his patience and delicacy of ear, than of his genius or good taste.
1810 Classical Jrnl. Mar. (1824) 100 The French, who are great letter-droppers, obviate the latter inconvenience, by preserving the letters in writing, although they are silent in utterance.
1958 N. J. Jacobs Naming-day in Eden viii. 52 Writers who exclude from their literary productions certain letters for which they have conceived an active dislike are known as lipogrammatists or letter droppers.
letter founder n. Typography (now chiefly historical) a person who or company which makes metal type.
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society > communication > printing > type founding > type-founder > [noun]
letter founder1611
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Matrice,..a money-makers, or letter-founders, Matrice; the mould or forme for the eyes of their markes, or letters.
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 80 To let you know, how the Letter-Founder Cuts the Punches.
1747 B. Franklin Let. 25 May in Papers (1961) III. 129 Smoke from dry Rosin dropt into a little hot Letter Founders Ladle..does not destroy the Repellency.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. 46 Letter founders call 3000 Lower case m's a Bill.
1887 T. B. Reed (title) History of the Old English Letter Founders.
1892 A. Powell Southward's Pract. Printing (ed. 4) xxxi. 292 Most of the letter-founders supply music types.
1956 Times 9 Oct. 13/2 Until 1931 he was London manager of Mssrs. Stephenson and Blake, the Sheffield letter founders.
2002 V. Yefimov in J. D. Berry Lang. Culture Type 139 The letter-founder Mikhail Yefremov was casting roman fonts.
letter founding n. Typography (now chiefly historical) the technique or process of making metal type.
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society > communication > printing > type founding > [noun]
letter founding1683
letter foundry1785
type-casting1864
1683 J. S. Present State Eng.: Pts. III & IV iii. 96 Having spoken of Printing, it will not be unseasonable to intimate how much Letter-founding hath been advanc'd of late.
1767 J. Baskerville Let. 7 Sept. in B. Franklin Papers (1970) XIV. 249 I offered my whole Apparatus of Letter founding, printing &c. to the Court of France.
1825 T. C. Hansard Typographia i. ii. 54 Mr. Willet..determined to become fully acquainted with the practical part of letter-founding and printing.
1922 D. B. Updike Printing Types II. xvii. 98 The separation of printing from letter-founding was a gradual process.
1950 Dublin Hist. Rec. 11 59 Archbishop Parker..appears to have been interested in letter founding and typography.
2006 in S. Dunant In Company of Courtesan (2007) (end matter) Jenson started a new career in Venice in letter-founding and printing.
letter foundry n. Typography a foundry which makes metal type; (also) = letter founding n.
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society > communication > printing > type founding > [noun]
letter founding1683
letter foundry1785
type-casting1864
1785 W. Caslon Specimen of Printing Types (front matter) The acknowledged Excellence of this Foundry..having gained universal Encomiums on its ingenious Improver and Perfecter, (whose uncommon Genius transferred the Letter-Foundry Business from Holland to England..) has excited the Jealousy of the envious.
1838 (title) Specimen book of types cast at the Austin Letter Foundry.
1876 National Printing Office Lisbon (Philadelphia Exhib. 1876) 16 The Letter-foundry comprehends the following dependencies: Engraving, galvonoplastic and galvanographic compartment; Letter-foundry and stereotypy [etc.]
1922 Printing Art July 363/2 Letter foundries soon sprang up in Paris, Lyons, and Rouen, where punches, matrices, and cases of type of all kinds could be had.
1997 New Hampsh. Sunday News (Nexis) 30 Nov. e1 Golgonooza Letter Foundry & Press is an independent publishing house and also a letter foundry and press.
letterhead n. (a) a printed heading on a sheet of letter paper containing the name, address, etc., of an organization or individual; (also) stationery or a sheet of paper with such a heading; (b) English regional (southern) a postage stamp (rare).
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > paper for correspondence > types of
mourning paper1635
bank paper1696
bank post1801
foreign1825
Bath-post1837
bill-head1845
mourning notepaper1846
vellum post1847
bond papera1877
correspondence card1892
notehead1892
airmail paper1933
letterhead1939
notelet1955
bluey1989
1841 London & Brighton Railway Guide (end matter) (advt.) Book Plates, Letter Heads, Commercial and Legal Writings, Invoices, Labels &c. of every description..are executed with the greatest care and facility.
a1887 R. Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 88 At the village post-office they ask for ‘Letterhead, please Sir’, instead of a stamp.
1899 Printers' Ink 20 Dec. 43/2 The best letter head is the simplest and plainest possible.
1939 Fortune Oct. 91/2 (advt.) Your letterheads and important papers should carry a distinctive watermark, either mill brand or private, so their authenticity can be proved in time of need.
1973 J. Ludwig Woman her Age vi. 120 She slips the creamy vellum letterhead slowly, and pointedly, into the generous J & S envelopes.
1984 C. J. Bourg in E. Barker Of Gods & Men 57 Many others with temporary staff, some letterhead, a telephone, a mailing address, and an office with a desk and a few chairs.
2001 D. Mitchell Number 9 Dream 74 If you want to call me, phone the number on the letterhead.
letterheaded adj. (of paper) bearing a letterhead.
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1880 Chicago Tribune 26 Dec. 3/5 Letters.., all written on letter-headed paper, inclosed in printed envelopes.
1974 Jrnl. S. Afr. Stud. 1 44 Official record books and letterheaded paper bearing tribal totems were provided for chiefdoms which did not already have them.
2005 Times (Nexis) 9 July (Mag.) 63 Even the telephone number printed on their letterheaded menu is incorrect.
letter heading n. a heading on a sheet of letter paper containing the name, address, etc., of an organization or individual.
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1852 J. Storey Tinwell's Treat. on Pract. Arithm. (ed. 18) (advt.) Journey Notes, Letter Headings, Circulars, Medical Labels.
1871 Amer. Encycl. Printing 270/2 Letter-Headings, lines printed at the head of sheets of letter-paper, containing the residence, and generally the name and place of business, of the party for whom such work is done.
1920 P. G. Wodehouse Little Warrior xviii. 331 Jill exhibited a piece of paper stamped with the letter-heading of the management.
1999 J. Arnott Long Firm i. 38 Get some tasty-looking stationery printed with all your friends in high places prominent on the letter heading.
letter-high adj. (a) Printing of the same height as the type being used (now rare); (b) Baseball (of a pitch) chest-high; at the height of the letters on the batter's uniform.
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1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 18 In the choice of his Brass Rules, he examines that they be exactly Letter high.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. 122 Brass rules should be exactly letter-high.
1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 212 Bearers letter-high placed round the block.
1889 Amer. Printer & Lithographer July 12 Brass rules occasion much trouble. If full letter high they are sharp, and leave an impression on the plate.
1911 Mansfield (Ohio) News 8 Aug. 8/4 When you see the pill coming right over about letter high and your old bat can hardly wait till he meets her, why intuition tells you that the ball is going to take some ride and probably over the fence.
1988 R. Angell Season Ticket (1989) ix. 201 He cuts violently at the next delivery, a letter-high fastball.
2009 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 19 Apr. (Sport section) 6 Seamon got a letter-high pitch and launched it over the fence in left.
† letter-house n. English regional Obsolete rare = post office n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > public department providing
Foreign Office1646
post office1652
post1663
post office department1782
P.O.1824
letter-house1832
1832 M. R. Mitford Our Village V. 47 The letter-house had lately acquired another occupant.
letter jacket n. North American a blouson-style jacket, in school or college colours, on which a cloth initial letter is embroidered or sewn, originally to indicate achievement in sport (cf. sense 3b).
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > jacket > other
duffel coat1683
duffel jacket1732
petenlair1753
grego1767
wamus1805
camisole1816
over-jacket1830
matinee1851
Zouave1859
paletot1863
blazer1880
Norfolks1902
letter sweater1914
letter jacket1934
bomber jacket1940
shirt-jac1944
samfu jacket1955
guru jacket1966
Mao jacket1967
1934 Lockhart (Texas) Post-Reg. 8 Feb. In the contest to see who the first girl would be to wear a letter jacket, Estelle Blunt won. The owner's initials are B. S. and it is NOT Bruno Schroeder's.
1974 J. Irving 158-Pound Marriage ii. 35 He wore a blatant college letter-jacket, black with leather sleeves and a thick, oversized gold ‘I’ on the breast.
1985 New Yorker 28 Jan. 66/2 In Bydalek's classroom sat twenty gangly examples of the modern yeoman class, wearing letter jackets, their hair teased and blow-dried, their faces happily expectant.
2006 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 5 Oct. 55/1 The ninth-grade bully..in the letter jacket.
† letter kerner n. Typography Obsolete rare a person who makes or adjusts kerned type.
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1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 119 They..left the Letter-Kerner, after the Letter was Cast, to Kern away the Sholdering.
letter-leaf n. now rare any of several orchids with letter-like markings on their leaves; esp. = letter plant n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids
satyrionOE
bollockwort?a1300
sanicle14..
bollock?a1425
martagon1548
orchis1559
dogstones1562
hare's-ballocks1562
stone1562
bollock grass1578
dog's cods1578
dog's cullions1578
double-leaf1578
fly-orchis1578
goat's cullions1578
goat's orchis1578
priest's pintle1578
twayblade1578
bee-orchis1597
bifoil1597
bird's nest1597
bird's orchis1597
butterfly orchis1597
fenny-stones1597
gelded satyrion1597
gnat satyrion1597
humble-bee orchis1597
lady's slipper1597
sweet ballocks1597
two-blade1605
cullions1611
bee-flower1626
fly-flower1640
man orchis1670
musk orchis1670
moccasin flower1680
gnat-flower1688
faham tea1728
Ophrys1754
green man orchis1762
Arethusa1764
honey flower1771
cypripedium1775
rattlesnake plantain1778
Venus's slipper1785
Adam and Eve1789
lizard orchis179.
epidendrum1791
Pogonia?1801
Vanda1801
cymbidium1815
Oncidium1822
putty-root1822
Noah's Ark1826
yellow moccasin1826
gongora1827
cattleya1828
green man1828
nervine1828
stanhopea1829
dove-flower1831
catasetum1836
Odontoglossum1836
Miltonia1837
letter plant1838
spread eagle1838
letter-leaf1839
swan-plant1841
orchid1843
disa1844
masdevallia1845
Phalaenopsis1846
faham1850
Indian crocus1850
moccasin plant1850
pleione1851
dove orchis1852
nerve root1854
Holy Ghost flower1862
basket-plant1865
lizard's tongue1866
mousetail1866
Sobralia1866
swan-neck1866
swanwort1866
Indian shoe1876
odontoglot1879
wreathewort1879
moth orchid1880
rattlesnake orchid1881
dendrobe1882
dove-plant1882
Madeira orchis1882
man orchis1882
swan-flower1884
slipper-orchid1885
slipper orchis1889
mayflower1894
scorpion orchid1897
moederkappie1910
dove orchid1918
monkey orchid1925
man orchid1927
1839 Edwards's Bot. Reg. 25 65 Grammatophylum multiflorum. Many-flowered Letter-leaf.
1897 T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) 203 Letter-leaf (Grammatophyllum speciosum).
1984 Orchid Biol. 3 40 M[acodes] petola Lindl.: In Java this plant is called ‘letterleaf’ because the leaf markings were held to resemble Javanese letter symbols.
letter-learned adj. †(a) learnt from literature or books (obsolete rare); (b) (of a person) = book-learned adj. (now rare).Chiefly in the usage of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [adjective] > of knowledge: well-founded, deep > learned from books
letter-learned1649
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [adjective] > skilled in letters
book-lereda1250
lettereda1375
bookeda1393
texted14..
letterlya1425
literate?a1475
book-learnedc1475
clerklya1529
book-read1591
bookwise1593
read1594
letter-learned1771
book-formed1798
1649 Warn. Jac. Beem xxviii. 18 That selfe-reason which without Gods spirit is onely letter-learned.
1682 G. Keith Truths Def. ii. sig. C2 The simple naked Truth..has more prevailed against a Letter-learned Adversary many times.
1739 G. Whitefield Christian's Compan. 289 There can be no greater Opposition than this Letter-learned Writer has made.
1771 R. Sanders Compl. Eng. Traveller 368/1 The master..was one of those letter learned pedants, who can tell the difference between a noun and a verb.
a1804 J. Mather Songs (1862) 66 A throstle whom nature has taught A song..Too high for a letter-learned scholar to reach.
1870 Penn Monthly Aug. 317 Dippel..waged unceasing warfare on the letter-learned Doctors.
1903 P. E. Burrowes Revolutionary Ess. in Socialist Faith & Fancy xxxviii. 186 The trick of the world's letter-learned men is to substitute a word hook for nature's nexus.
letter-learning n. now rare = book learning n.Chiefly in the usage of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [noun] > book-learning, letters
craftOE
book loreOE
lettersa1250
letter1340
lettrurec1400
literaturec1450
reading?1548
book learning1553
book skill1553
book knowledge1613
bookcrafta1637
scholarship1644
clerkship1648
letter-learning1668
bookhood1772
clerk-learning1865
literacy1880
1668 G. Keith Immediate Revelation 127 Paul sayes, not the Scriptures were writ, that we should learn only by them, or stick to the Letter learning, for he had a learning beyond them, even that of the Spirit.
1678 R. Barclay Apol. True Christian Divinity x. 210 As for letter-learning, we judg it not so much necessary to the wel-being of one.
1740 G. Whitefield Christ Only Rest for Weary 10 Thou, O Man, with all thy Letter-learning, will surely see the Judgement-Seat of Christ.
1755 W. Darney Fund. Doctr. Holy Script. 103 He hath gotten a good education, and is approved by men of great letter learning.
1828 T. Hood Stanzas to T. Woodgate in Lit. Souvenir IV. 167 All letter-learning was a line You, somehow, never crossed!
1867 W. Hodgson Lives, Sentiments, Sufferings Reformers & Martyrs v. 70 ‘The Master’ was trusting too much to his letter-learning.
1914 M. P. Malter World Process p. vii Letter-learning is too largely given to analytic aspects of facts.
letter lichen n. now rare any of several crustose lichens of the genus Graphis or (more widely) the family Graphidaceae in which the apothecia form irregular patterns resembling hieroglyphics; also called scripture-wort.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > lichen > [noun] > other lichens
cup-moss1597
ground liverwort1597
Usnea1597
perelle1712
oak moss1728
necklace moss1759
rag1759
thrush-lichen1759
Iceland lichen1777
Iceland moss1785
map lichen1796
scripture-wort1835
letter lichen1846
dog lichen1853
fairy cups1855
velvet moss1858
manna lichen1864
tree-hair1866
famine-bread1887
old man's beard1888
sea ivory1966
1812 W. Withering Withering's Brit. Plants (ed. 5) IV. 4 Black-letter Lichen, Opegrapha scripta.]
1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom lv Graphidaceæ, or Letter-Lichens.
1902 J. A. Owen & G. S. Boulger Country Month by Month (new ed.) xi. 444 The marvellous hieroglyphics of one of the species of Graphis..well merit the names of ‘letter lichens’ or ‘scripture-worts,’ which have been proposed for them.
1961 F. M. Haworth Toadstools & Lichens 32 The letter lichen (Graphis elegans), living on smooth barks.
letter lock n. a combination lock opened by rotating a set of lettered dials in a specific sequence.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > lock > combination lock > type of
letter lock?a1650
puzzle lock1838
wheel-lock1875
autodial1932
?a1650 Ghismonda (1944) iv. 151 With a letter-locke They were so fastned that till you spake ye word, The skilful'st picklock knew not how to open't.
1774 W. Perry Man of Business 3 (table) ½ doz. letter-locks, at 13s. ditto.
1850 J. Chubb On Constr. Locks & Keys 6 Another description of lock is that well known by the name of the ‘Letter Lock’.
1922 Times 15 Aug. 11/5 Why not have letter locks? These cannot be opened by any other than the owner of the word or by violence.
1996 L. Day & I. McNeil Biogr. Dict. Hist. Technol. 550/2 Perkins had..invented..a letter-lock for bank vaults.
letter mark n. a letter or group of letters used as a symbol or mark of identification.
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society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > letter > used as abbreviation
sigle1614
letter mark1671
sigla1706
1671 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue IV. xix. 270 That she might be a la mode, there must be no Letter-Marks on it, but on every piece there must be the Coat of Arms of her Husband.
1756 F. Nichols Scots Compend. (ed. 6) 469 Lord Belhaven's Body was taken up near Falmouth, being known by a Diamond Ring on his Finger, and the Lettermark on his Shirt.
1857 W. E. Worthen Appleton's Cycl. Drawing 7 Pencils are of various qualities, distinguished by letter marks.
1883 Amer. Law Reg. Aug. 521/2 A trade-mark consists of a right of property in a mere name, figure, letter-mark, device or symbol.
1907 Congregational Year Bk. p. xxix The following letter-marks and signs are adopted:—B. (Baptist); C.H. (Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion).
1992 C. E. Challis New Hist. Royal Mint iii. 350 Every year he was contracted to produce..a letter mark to denote the year when the silver passed the assay.
† letter money n. Obsolete money contributed to the support of the Royalist army during the English Civil War, in response to Charles I's letters of appeal.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > payment > contribution > [noun] > contributions for specific purposes
sowl-silver?1292
pageant-silvera1430
pageant money1525
pageant-pence1551
soul pencea1556
letter money1703
1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. ix. 501 The Letter Money and Subscription Money being almost exhausted.
lettermonger n. chiefly depreciative (now rare) = wordmonger n.; a person who deals in letters or words.In quot. 1699 spec.: a forger of literature.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > wordmongering > one who
wordmonger1590
lettermonger1592
parolist1604
logodaedalus1611
word-pecker1649
vocabularian1899
1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Bodl. copy) Ep. Ded. sig. A2 Haue you any odde shreds of Latine to make this lettermunger a Cockescombe off?
1673 M. Locke Present Pract. Musick 70 A certain kind of Letter-Monger, that with..much of confidence, nothing of Learning; comes a day after the Fair.
1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 171 Our Letter-monger has Herodotus's very words.
a1742 T. Story Jrnl. of Life (1747) 738 The Lord opened a Door of Utterance of many Truths of the Gospel in the Authority of it; where divers false Doctrines of the mercenary, deceitful Letter-mongers were exposed.
1764 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 20 Dec. The public are too competent judes [sic] of right and wrong to be misled by mercenary letter-mongers.
1807 Med. & Physical Jrnl. July 57 My remarks extend only to some petty Letter-mongers, whose genius is confined to a Case.
1893 J. Parker People's Bible XXI. 374 He was a literalist, and the letter-mongers have nearly ruined the whole cause of Christianity.
1994 Guardian 3 Sept. 22/8 Peter Barnes of Milton Keynes, another ace lettermonger, has written disputing my view that you can't expect to make FISHCAKE at Scrabble.
letter office n. = post office n.; cf. General Letter Office n.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > post office
letter office1635
post-house1635
post office1659
post hut1753
post-shed1753
P.O.1824
station1845
post1848
1635 (title) By the King. A Proclamation for the setling of the Letter Office of England and Scotland.
1741 Gentleman's Mag. June 330/1 Letters are for the future to be taken in at the Letter Office in London.
1865 Sat. Rev. 11 Nov. 614 Lighting upon one toe at the Twickenham letter-office, turning on it while exchanging bags, and chasséing back to town.
1994 Times (Nexis) 23 Sept. (Business section) Almost 20 million letters from 56 main letter offices have been incorrectly franked with a middle ‘e’ in Wedgwood.
letter opener n. (a) a person who opens letters (now rare); (b) a tool used for opening letters.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-opener
letter opener1864
1757 W. Warburton Let. 8 June in Lett. Late Eminent Prelate (?1793) civ. 179 The rogues, the letter-openers aforesaid, would..inuendo me into some disaffection against the government of his Vice-Chancellors.
1830 Brit. Mag. 1 306 (heading) The Royal ‘Letter Opener’.
1864 Sci. Amer. 28 May 347/3 I claim a letter-opener, constructed with a curved shank.
1942 R. Chandler High Window (1943) xix. 135 She killed her cigarette in Morny's copper goldfish bowl, speared the crushed stub absently with the letter opener.
2001 A. Patchett Bel Canto 21 A letter opener with a cloisonné handle.
letter ornament n. a design or decoration in the form of alphabetic letters.
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1848 ‘Peregrinus’ Dash into Spain vii. 17/2 This style of letter ornaments prevails in several other parts of the church, and adds greatly to the interest of the spectator.
1975 R. Schnyder in S. Ferber Islam & Medieval West 31 Fragments of bowls decorated with band and letter ornaments.
2009 Winnipeg Sun (Nexis) 4 Dec. 6 The film animator stressed he'll continue to upgrade the small structure—with its unusual, exterior letter ornaments—to try to meet the city's needs under the vacant and derelict buildings bylaw.
letter paper n. paper, typically in quarto size, of a type used for writing letters.
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > paper for correspondence
letter paper1752
notepaper1836
note1883
1752 in B. Thornton Have at You All 12 Mar. 214 (advt.) Mrs. Marten, lately arriv'd from Paris, sells all sorts of glazed and gilt Letter-Paper, scalloped and figured.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxii. 341 Sam..stepped into the stationer's shop, and requested to be served with a sheet of the best gilt-edged letter-paper.
1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 74 Letter-paper. This term is applied to quarto paper—note paper being octavo.
1987 C. Shields Mary Swann 24 I get out my best letter paper and linger over my longhand.
2003 L. Baldrige New Manners for New Times xii. 638 There are many kinds of letter paper and notepaper available for purchase.
letter-perfect adj. (a) knowing perfectly every word of one's part in a play, a text for recitation, etc.; (b) literally correct, verbally exact; flawless.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [adjective] > knowing part
perfect1581
letter-perfect1823
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [adjective] > following original exactly
line by line1487
perfect1523
verbal1598
sound1599
verya1616
literala1627
verbatim1651
undepraved1686
literatim1774
letter-perfect1867
line for line1876
1823 Monthly Mag. Jan. 512/2 She has only to read a character a few times, to be what is theatrically termed, letter perfect.
1867 Harper's Mag. Aug. 405/1 Where [legal] papers are to be served, and copies must be letter-perfect.
1894 ‘M. Twain’ Pudd'nhead Wilson xvii. 222 Tom's conduct had remained so letter-perfect during two whole months.
1929 F. M. Ford Let. 10 July (1965) 186 If you will send me the better copy to look through I will certainly make it as letter-perfect as I can.
1969 Time 31 Jan. 1 The performances by such Bergman regulars as Max von Sydow and Gunnar Björnstrand are letter-perfect.
1993 Harper's Apr. 6/3 The speeches were letter-perfect.
letter plant n. now rare any of several epiphytic tropical orchids of the genus Grammatophyllum, so named from markings on the leaves likened to letters.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids
satyrionOE
bollockwort?a1300
sanicle14..
bollock?a1425
martagon1548
orchis1559
dogstones1562
hare's-ballocks1562
stone1562
bollock grass1578
dog's cods1578
dog's cullions1578
double-leaf1578
fly-orchis1578
goat's cullions1578
goat's orchis1578
priest's pintle1578
twayblade1578
bee-orchis1597
bifoil1597
bird's nest1597
bird's orchis1597
butterfly orchis1597
fenny-stones1597
gelded satyrion1597
gnat satyrion1597
humble-bee orchis1597
lady's slipper1597
sweet ballocks1597
two-blade1605
cullions1611
bee-flower1626
fly-flower1640
man orchis1670
musk orchis1670
moccasin flower1680
gnat-flower1688
faham tea1728
Ophrys1754
green man orchis1762
Arethusa1764
honey flower1771
cypripedium1775
rattlesnake plantain1778
Venus's slipper1785
Adam and Eve1789
lizard orchis179.
epidendrum1791
Pogonia?1801
Vanda1801
cymbidium1815
Oncidium1822
putty-root1822
Noah's Ark1826
yellow moccasin1826
gongora1827
cattleya1828
green man1828
nervine1828
stanhopea1829
dove-flower1831
catasetum1836
Odontoglossum1836
Miltonia1837
letter plant1838
spread eagle1838
letter-leaf1839
swan-plant1841
orchid1843
disa1844
masdevallia1845
Phalaenopsis1846
faham1850
Indian crocus1850
moccasin plant1850
pleione1851
dove orchis1852
nerve root1854
Holy Ghost flower1862
basket-plant1865
lizard's tongue1866
mousetail1866
Sobralia1866
swan-neck1866
swanwort1866
Indian shoe1876
odontoglot1879
wreathewort1879
moth orchid1880
rattlesnake orchid1881
dendrobe1882
dove-plant1882
Madeira orchis1882
man orchis1882
swan-flower1884
slipper-orchid1885
slipper orchis1889
mayflower1894
scorpion orchid1897
moederkappie1910
dove orchid1918
monkey orchid1925
man orchid1927
1838 Edwards's Bot. Reg. 24 46 Grammatophyllum multiflorum... This fine plant..was believed to be the famous Letter-plant of the Malayan Archipelago. It, however, appears..that, although belonging to the genus it is a very different species.
1887 Garden 27 Aug. 172/2 G. speciosum.—This remarkable plant has obtained the name of the Letter plant, from the peculiar blotching of its sepals and petals.
1975 J. Kramer Orchids 167 G. scriptum is sometimes called the letter plant.
letter plate n. a metal plate through which mail may be posted, consisting of a rectangular aperture covered by a flap and fixed to the outside of a door or wall.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > letter-slit on door or wall
letterbox1820
letter-slit1833
letter plate1849
mail slot1892
1849 New-Eng. Mercantile Union Directory 317/1 Thimbles and Letter-Plates, B.S. Curtis, manufacturer, Woodbury.
1898 F. W. Macey Specif. in Detail 247 Knockers and letter plates are..made in iron and gun-metal, and vary in price from 3s. to £1 10s.
1923 Work 17 Nov. 161/2 A section through the door, showing the relative positions of the letter-plate and the box, is given by Fig. 3.
1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) iii. 193/2 Letter plates are designed for horizontal or vertical fitting. They are available in a variety of styles and materials—solid brass, stainless steel, plated, cast iron and aluminium.
letter post n. a person who or vehicle which carries letters; a postal service for letters; also as adv.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > types of service
printed paper1553
letter post1660
penny post1680
general post1687
parcel post1790
penny postage1798
twopenny post1811
twopenny1818
printed matter1836
parcel delivery1837
bangy1842
book post1848
special delivery1865
V.P.P.1888
express delivery1891
rural free delivery1891
certified mail1955
recorded delivery1960
Mailgram1969
freepost1970
1660 C. Hoole tr. Cicero in Centuria Epist. Anglo-Lat. sig. A2v I would have you dispatch the Letter-posts back again with all speed.
1753 World 8 Nov. 274 All Posts of honour, Posts in war, letter Posts, and Post the latin preposition, though they spell their names in the same manner, are of a quite different family.
1811 J. Black tr. A. von Humboldt Polit. Ess. New Spain II. 336 The letter-post still goes from this port along the north-west coast to San Francisco.
1823 ‘G. Smith’ Not Paul, but Jesus 286 Between Thessalonica and Athens..there was not..any established letter-post.
1929 D. H. Lawrence Let. 9 July (1962) II. 1163 If I seal them letter-post they may hold them and make more fuss.
1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (new ed.) xv. 216 Goods sent by letter post within the European Union no longer need customs declarations.
letter punch n. Typography a steel punch used in making matrices for type.
ΚΠ
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xxi. 264/2 He beareth vert, a Punch, or Letter Punch, Argent... These are steele on the end whereof the letters are cut so that they are punched into the Matrice.
1765 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. at Foundery In this metal is sunk the face of the letter, by striking the letter-punch the depth of an n.
1851 Illustr. Exhibitor 13 Sept. 268/2 Next to the letter-punches, the matrices taken from them are exhibited.
1907 Inland Printer Jan. 518/1 The linotype company was paying as high as $8 per letter-punch.
1983 Buck & Hickman Catal. 1983–5 132/1 (heading) Letter punch sets (27 letters).
2007 S. Simanaitis Kaleidoscope 37/2 You can emboss whole phrases or single words using steel letter punches on the front side of the metal.
letter-quality adj. (esp. of a computer printer) that produces print of a quality suitable for business letters; (of printed material) printed to this standard.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printed matter > arrangement or appearance of printed matter > [adjective] > qualities of print
rub-resistant1947
letter-quality1974
1974 Public Opinion Q. 38 617 The potential respondents' names and addresses were computer-typed on letter-quality computer burst paper.
1981 Computer Design June 192/1 (heading) Character printers provide letter quality hard copy at 55 chars/s.
1993 Computers & Humanities 37 291/1 After all, why have a ‘letter quality’ printer if your software can scarcely print envelopes for the letters?
2008 M. V. Knackstedt Marketing & Client Relations xii. 108 Most of the newer computer printers..offer both draft and letter-quality printing.
letter rack n. (a) Printing a tray with divisions used to hold an assortment of types; (b) a rack in which letters, papers, etc., are kept.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-case, -rack, or -book
letter case1653
letter book1667
letter rack1821
mail-rack1896
1766 J. Parker Valuation of Printing Office 27 Jan. in B. Franklin Papers (1969) XIII. 62 1 Letter Rack and one Case Rack.
1821 M. R. Sterndale Life of Boy II. v. 104 Lady C. went directly to the letter-rack. ‘Ah! a packet from Lord Fitz-Erin!’
1871 Amer. Encycl. Printing 271/1 Letter-rack, a rack for containing wood and metal letters of such a size that it would be inconvenient to keep them in cases.
a1960 R. Wright Lawd Today! (1963) ii. ii. 119 There were six rows, each row some forty feet long with letter racks on both sides of the row.
1994 P. Baker Blood Posse xv. 172 There was a new letter rack on the wall beside the refrigerator.
letter racket n. colloquial (now rare) a dishonest or fraudulent scheme involving letters, esp. begging letters.
ΚΠ
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 186 Letter-racket, going about to respectable houses with a letter or statement, detailing some case of extreme distress, as shipwreck, sufferings by fire, &c.
1895 Century June 296/1 If he does as I do,—sends letters of introduction,—his luck will probably be better. Here in Liverpool, for instance, we do fairly well at the letter racket.
1909 Illinois Issue 11 June 2/2 The letter racket is worked and the guileless Senator thinks that each one is a separate and distinct voter of his district.
letter receiver n. now historical and rare a person who receives letters to be sent by post; (also) a receptacle for posted letters, a letterbox.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > person > man employed to deliver or receive mail
letter receiver1683
expressman1847
1683 London Gaz. No. 1812/4 Many of the Letter-Receivers are Tradesmen.
1793 10th Rep. Comm. Fees in Public Offices 4 The Postmaster General..is to appoint such Deputy Postmasters, Substitutes, Accountants, Comptrollers, Supervisors, Collectors, Clerks, Sorters, Window Men, Letter Receivers, Letter Carriers, Messengers, and other Officers.
1855 P. Miles Postal Reform 31 The Letter Receiver sells postage stamps, for which he is allowed a commission.
1867 Times 27 Dec. 10/5 A man passing the sub-post-office in Church-Lane this afternoon observed a bright light in the letter-receiver, and gave an alarm.
1912 J. C. Hemmeon Hist. Brit. Post Office ii. 28 In the Foreign Office, there were a controller, two sorters, an alphabet-man, and eight letter receivers, of whom two were women.
2001 Ottawa Sun (Nexis) 31 Mar. 43 The release of tiny labels, in effect receipts for postage, replaced the system of letter-receivers paying postmen to receive mail.
letter-scale n. a scale used for weighing letters or packages.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > scale for weighing letters
letter balance1837
letter weigher1839
letter-scale1840
1840 Mechanics' Mag. 25 Apr. 675 (table) Quadrants & pointers for letter scales.
1900 A. Upward Ebenezer Lobb 307 Be it enough To move the index of a letter-scale But in the estimation of a hair.
2009 Independent (Nexis) 11 Dec. 50 If corner shops had letter-scales and stocked stamps in anything other than six or 12 first-class, that might be a solution.
letter slot n. originally and chiefly U.S. a narrow opening in a door, post box, etc., through which letters, parcels and other items may be deposited; cf. mail slot n. at mail n.2 Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1888 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 8 Aug. A 9-year old girl was dared to put her finger in the letter slot [of the post box].
1889 Amer. Architect & Building News 22 June 29/2 Letter-plates are often used to cover the letter-slot through office doors.
1959 Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) 16 Jan. 15/4 The night depository, located on the right front of the building, has a letter slot as well as the receptacle for receiving money bags.
1989 J. Hersey Blouse in Fling (1990) 73 Her mouth was like a metal letter slot at the post office.
2005 K. Shamsie Broken Verses xix. 266 No one on his street had seen it pushed through the letter slot in the gate.
letter stamp n. (a) a printing stamp engraved or carved with a letter; (b) an official mark or stamp imprinted on letters, etc., by a post office; a postage stamp.
ΚΠ
1692 C. Ellis Folly of Atheism 97 Did the Letter-stamps in the Printer's boxes, ever yet save both the Writer and Printer their labour, and hit so together by Chance, as to make a Learned Book, or a Wise Discourse?
1793 St. James Chron. 9 Apr. 1/4 All Letters coming from or through Milford will bear the Letter Stamp of Milford.
1819 Providence (Rhode Island) Patriot 5 May (advt.) Glass Ink-Stands, Letter Stamps, best kind of Strings for Instruments.
1871 J. H. Hessels tr. A. van der Linde Haarlem Legend xv. 107 The first letter-stamps were cut..after the model of the written characters of that time.
1907 S. Atlantic Q. Oct. 321 How would it be to have letter stamps in North Carolina two and a quarter cents, in South Carolina three and a quarter cents?
1996 S. MacDonald Squish, sort, paint, & Build v. 115 Place the letter stamps in a basket along with a stamp pad and blank story books.
† letter-struck adj. Obsolete smitten with love of literature and learning.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1667 J. Evelyn Publick Employm. 77 There is nothing more stupid than some of these μουσοπάτακτοι, letter-struck men.
letter sweater n. North American a pullover or cardigan, in school or college colours, on which a cloth initial letter is embroidered or sewn, originally to indicate achievement in sport (cf. sense 3a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > jacket > other
duffel coat1683
duffel jacket1732
petenlair1753
grego1767
wamus1805
camisole1816
over-jacket1830
matinee1851
Zouave1859
paletot1863
blazer1880
Norfolks1902
letter sweater1914
letter jacket1934
bomber jacket1940
shirt-jac1944
samfu jacket1955
guru jacket1966
Mao jacket1967
1914 Boston Daily Globe 2 Dec. 6/7 The Somerville High School A. A. last night voted football letter sweaters to Capt Clayton Ellis..and Manager Chapin.
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Dec. 737/1 Football is God, a letter sweater the height of ambition for the boys (for the girls it is to be chosen as cheer leader).
2010 J. London One Season Sunshine viii. 94 Jane could imagine him wearing a letter sweater on some Ivy League campus.
letter weigher n. a device used for weighing letters; = letter-scale n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > scale for weighing letters
letter balance1837
letter weigher1839
letter-scale1840
1839 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 16 Dec. The public..suffer some inconvenience by the want of letter-weighers, which cannot be made so fast as they are required.
1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 366/2 Folding Portable Letter Weigher..to weigh up to 16 oz...each 1/8.
2006 Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Jrnl. (Nexis) 5 July 1 Included on their list of instruments capable of being converted for drug use are..postal scales sold as letter-weighers and jewelry scales.
letterweight n. now chiefly historical = paperweight n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-weight
letterpress1818
paperweight1822
letterweight1829
1829 Newcastle Courant 11 Apr. 1/2 A great Variety of Bronze Inkstands, Pen Trays,..Letter Weights, Frank Balances, &c.
1923 P. Selver tr. K. Capek R.U.R. i. 5 A large ‘knee-hole’ writing-table on which stand an electric lamp,..letter-weight, [etc.].
2000 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 19 Aug. 50 The Bacchus paperweights were catalogued as ‘letterweights’.
letter-winged kite n. a small, largely nocturnal kite of central Australia, Elanus scriptus (family Accipitridae), having white and pale grey plumage with a contrasting black stripe on the underside of the wings.
ΚΠ
1842 J. Gould Birds Austral. (1848) I. Pl. 24 Elanus scriptus..Letter-winged Kite.
1920 Argus (Melbourne) 9 Apr. 8/5 We have several hawks of handsome plumage, notably the falcons, the sparrow-hawk, and black-shoulder and letter-winged kites.
2005 Jrnl. Mammal. 86 699/1 Avian predators of small mammals, particularly barn owls (Tyto alba), black-shouldered kites (Elanus axillaris) and letter-winged kites (E. scriptus) also became abundant during 2001.
letterwood n. [in sense (b) after French bois de lettre (1698 in the passage translated in quot. 1698)] †(a) a medicinal plant (not identified) (obsolete rare); (b) the decorative timber of the South American tree Brosimum guianense (family Moraceae), marked with black spots likened to letters or hieroglyphics; also called snakewood.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > other woods of South American trees
letterwood1655
kingwood1788
canary wood1822
saouari wooda1832
macaco-wood1835
paddlewood1837
quebracho1839
mustaiba1843
violet-wood1843
taigu wood1868
rauli1874
louro1914
balsa wood1917
palisander1930
1655 W. M. Queens Closet Opened 75 Take Sage two handfuls, one of Tyme..two of Rosemary, one of Letterwood, two of Pennyroyal, [etc.].
1698 tr. F. Froger Relation Voy. Coasts Afr. 129 Letter-wood (as they call it).
1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 93 This wood is..variegated..with black spots and figures, which have been tortured into a fancied resemblance of letters, from whence the European nations have distinguished it by the name of Letter Wood.
1874 Naut. Mag. Dec. 1016 The handsome Letterwood is of a bright red chestnut colour, with small rhomboidal black patches, mostly isolated, though occasionally concurrent.
1995 S. Price & R. Price Enigma Variations 53 We saw that many of the miniature boxes and other sculptures, executed in highly polished letterwood, had trick openings.
letterword n. a runic symbol or ideograph representing both a word and a single letter; (also) a word wholly or partly consisting of letters used as abbreviations, an initialism.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > character representing a word
per se1596
monogram1801
word-sign1842
word-symbol1852
word-type1866
letterword1927
logogram1933
1845 I. Pitman Man. Phonogr. (ed. 7) §30 19 Grammalogue, a letter-word; a word represented by a logogram.
1927 J. Joyce Let. 2 Mar. (1957) I. 250 A Chinese student sent me some letterwords I had asked for. The last one is ?. It means ‘mountain’ and is called ‘Chin’.
1932 W. L. Graff Lang. & Langs. 299 A type of word which has become very popular in modern times is the so-called letter word: the initial letters or syllables of a series of words are so put together as to supply a new unit.
1948 D. Diringer Alphabet 519 A manuscript containing the poem..of King Alfred's time..which describes in verse each runic letter-word.
2000 L. Sercu Acquiring Intercultural Communicative Competence from Textbks. v. 206 When prompted with ARD or ZDF, pupils in year 6 were not always able to recognise the letterwords as referring to German television channels.
letter-worship n. excessive or pedantic attention to rules or laws, esp. religious ones.
ΚΠ
1822 T. Patching Relig. Convincement & Plea 315 Among all these notions, what do we see more than tradition; or letter worship at most?
1896 F. S. Boas Shakespeare & his Predecessors x. 232 Portia's saving plea is grounded upon the equally slavish letter-worship of the Roman Law.
1997 G. H. Box tr. C. Cornill Introd. Canonical Bks. Old Test. xix. 483 Talmudic Judaism has..lapsed into the dreariest letter-worship, killing out all living power.
letter writer n. (a) a person who writes letters; (b) (more fully manifold letter writer) a machine used for copying letters (now historical and rare).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-writer
secretary1587
epistler1592
epistolizer1615
letter writer1615
epistoler1620
epistolographer1687
scribe1712
epistolist1743
epistolarian1807
epistolographist1818
epistolean1819
society > communication > printing > duplicating processes > [noun] > copying-machine
rolling press1780
copying-press1785
copying-machine1803
letterpress1839
manifold letter writer1840
multigraph1878
chromograph1880
cyclostyle1883
graph1884
Roneo1901
jellygraph1919
Multilith1933
1615 M. R. (title) A president for young pen-men. Or the letter-writer.
1710 J. Addison Whig Examiner No. 2. ⁋4 Our Letter-writer here alludes to that known verse in Lucan.
1759 (title) The Complete Letter-Writer.
1840 Morning Chron. 12 Feb. 8/1 The improved Manifold Letter Writer..for producing letters and a copy simultaneously.
1888 Athenæum 14 Jan. 43/2 The same desire impels thousands of persons to write letters to the newspapers; but these letter-writers are not usually journalists.
1934 D. Thomas Let. 2 May (1987) 122 Let me be a model letter-writer for once, & reply to your letter page by page in strict order.
2009 N. Baker Anthologist ix. 137 Poets are good letter writers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† lettern.2

Forms: see let v.2 and -er suffix1; also Middle English lettour.
Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: let v.2, -er suffix1.
Etymology: < let v.2 + -er suffix1. Compare early modern German letzer (a1510).With the form lettour compare -our suffix. Compare Old English lettend , in the same sense ( < let v.2 + -end suffix1).
Obsolete.
A person who or (occasionally) a thing which hinders or impedes; a hinderer. Cf. let v.2
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > [noun] > one who or that which hinders > a hindrance, impediment, or obstacle > person
letterc1390
interrupter1511
blancher1548
crosser1565
dog in the manger1573
thwarter1633
obstructer1647
obstructor1647
obstructive1835
filibusterer1856
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. i. l. 67 He is a lettere of loue.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 16888 Yond traitur, yond letter of vr lai.
R. Misyn tr. R. Rolle Mending of Life 107 Violence he doys to all his lettars.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. ccxlii. f. clxiiii The letter of this iourney..was Rycharde Duke of Guyon.
1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII c. 1 If any clothmaker..be letted..than the letter..to..forfait..xiid.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxix For suche lettours it is harde any suche iewel to wynne.
1563 Abp. M. Parker Articles §11 Whether your Persons, Vicars and Curates be..letters of good religion.
1616 J. Davies in J. Smith Descr. New Eng. sig. Av Thy Letters [glossed Hinderers] are as Letters in thy praise.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

lettern.3

Brit. /ˈlɛtə/, U.S. /ˈlɛdər/
Forms: see let v.1 and -er suffix1.
Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: let v.1, -er suffix1.
Etymology: < let v.1 + -er suffix1.
1. A person who lets blood; = bloodletter n. Also in extended use: a shedder of blood.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > surgeon > [noun] > performing specific operations > bloodletting
bloodletterOE
ventoserc1340
lettera1400
phlebotomer?a1425
blooder1495
phlebotomist1618
arteriotomist1684
bleeder1788
cupper1812
Sangrado1812
venesector1890
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 299 A man þat schal be letere blood schal be ȝong.
1547 A. Boorde Pryncyples Astronamye iii. sig. A.viv Flebothomator or letter of blod.
1642 J. Hotham Let. Worthy Member House of Commons (single sheet) Being loath to be the first letter of Blood.
1810 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1811) XIV. 40 The enraged shaver, who is a volunteer as well as a letter of blood.
1908 A. T. Belknap in Souvenir Twenty-fifth Anniv. Ordination Rev. F. Hutchinson (First Baptist Church, Framingham, Mass.) 15 You have not been a letter of blood, a cutter and carver of the human soul.
1995 M. C. J. Putnam Virgil's Aeneid iii. 52 Aeneas pulls out what before had been thrown, to become the second letter of blood from the same body.
2. A person who lets or leases something to another; a lessor.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > hiring or letting out > [noun] > hirer out
letter1552
hirer1591
locator1607
letter-out1671
setter1806
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Letter of house or lande, cœnacularius.
1671 J. Crowne Juliana i. 5 By his tone a kind of Letter of Lodgings.
1723 London Gaz. No. 6175/6 Thomas Jenkins,..Letter of Horses.
1757 London Chron. 29–31 Mar. 320/3 Letters of Horses and Keepers of Livery-Stables.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 230/2 The lettors of rooms are the most exacting in places crowded with the poor.
1885 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 14 892 The relation..between hirers and letters of private carriages.
1893 Field 10 June 832/1 Builders and letters of boats might object.
1920 W. Stipp Essent. Commerc. Law cccxxvi. 91 The parties are usually called the letter and the hirer.
1992 J. Starr Law As Metaphor 35 Book 2 concerns ‘letting’—..the duties and rights of the letter and hirer after the contract has been made,..etc.

Phrases

Corresponding to phrasal combinations of let with a complement or verb (see let v.1 IV.).
a.
† letter-loose n. Obsolete rare a person who lets something loose.
ΚΠ
1615 G. Markham Countrey Contentments i. viii. 104 He which was chosen Fewterer or letter loose of the Grey-hounds.
1854 Lect. delivered before Church Eng. Young Men's Soc. 170 Now..we have the prince, or chief inventor, or letter-loose of that smoke which awakened..the whole eastern part of Christendom.
b.
letter-go n. now rare (a) a person who lets something go; (b) Scottish humorous (in form lettergae) a person who leads the singing of a choir or congregation, a precentor (after quot. 1718).
ΚΠ
a1637 B. Jonson tr. Horace Art of Poetrie 234 in Wks. (1640) III A carelesse letter-goe Of Mony.
1718 A. Ramsay Christ's-kirk on Green ii. 19 The Letter-gae of hally Rhime, Sat up at the Boord head.
1761 W. Forbes Domine Deposed (new ed.) i. 3 Quite other thoughts our lettergae begins to foster.
1826 Monthly Mag. Apr. 365 The law will charge the said letter-go of the said pistol.
1829 W. Scott Guy Mannering (new ed.) I. xi. 118 There was no sae mony hairs on the warlock's face as there's on Letter-Gae's ain at this moment.
1843 J. Watson in Whistle-Binkie 5th Ser. 49 The lettergae, tryin' new tunes.
1931 J. M. Edmonds tr. Solon in Elegy & Iambus I. 117 An Athenian of the tribe of Salaminaphetae or Letters-go of Salamis.
1931 A. M. Williams Bundle of Yarns 17 The 103rd psalm was sung again and again by the choir, the precentor acting, for the time being, as lettergae.

Compounds

With adverbs, in compound agent nouns corresponding to adverbial combinations of let (see let v.1).
letter-out n. now rare a person who lets or leases something to another; = sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > hiring or letting out > [noun] > hirer out
letter1552
hirer1591
locator1607
letter-out1671
setter1806
1671 H. M. tr. Erasmus Colloquies 267 The letter out of the Horses at first was silent.
c1747 T. Aston Brief Suppl. Colley Cibber 8 She was the Daughter of a..Letter-out of Coaches.
1847 C. G. Addison Treat. Law Contracts II. xxiii. 754 Thus the locator operis, or letter out of the work, is also conductor operarum, or hirer of the labour and services.
1892 M. F. Sanborn It came to Pass xiv. 294 Three days later the rooms were stripped; the furniture-dealer, the upholsterer, and the letter-out of pianos came to claim their own.
1903 Irish Law Times 1 Aug. 310/1 The fact of taking possession puts an end to any rights which the letter-out of the articles might otherwise have.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

letterv.

Brit. /ˈlɛtə/, U.S. /ˈlɛdər/
Forms: see letter n.1
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: letter n.1
Etymology: < letter n.1 Compare earlier lettered adj., lettered n., lettering n.
†1. transitive. To instruct in letters or learning; to educate. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > [verb (transitive)]
i-taechec888
lerec900
iwisseOE
to teach a personc1000
wisc1000
ylereOE
avayc1315
readc1330
learna1382
informc1384
beteacha1400
form1399
kena1400
redec1400
indoctrinea1450
instructc1449
ensign1474
doctrine1475
introduct1481
lettera1500
endoctrinec1500
to have (a person) in schooling?1553
lesson1555
tutor1592
orthographize1596
pupil1599
con1612
indoctrinate1621
art1628
doctrinate1631
document1648
verse1672
documentizea1734
form1770
intuit1776
skill1809
indoctrinize1861
a1500 (a1471) G. Ashby Active Policy Prince l. 648 in Poems (1899) 33 Yf god sende you children..Do theim to be lettred right famously.
1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne iv. 73 In that deceitfull lore so was she lettered.
1602 2nd Pt. Returne from Pernassus (Arb.) iii. v. 47 Our doting sires, Carked and cared to haue vs lettered.
2.
a. transitive. To inscribe, paint, or otherwise write out (a word, sentence, or passage); to write down.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > [verb (transitive)] > set down in writing
adighteOE
to set on writea900
dightc1000
writeOE
brevea1225
layc1330
indite1340
take1418
annote1449
printa1450
scribe1465
redact?a1475
reduce1485
letter1504
recite1523
to commit to writing (also paper)1529
pen1530
reduce?1533
token up1535
scripture1540
titulea1550
to set down1562
quote1573
to put down1574
paper1594
to write down1594
apprehend1611
fix1630
exarate1656
depose1668
put1910
society > communication > writing > [verb (transitive)] > inscribe (writing)
inscribe1552
letter1655
tablet1847
entable1865
inscript1923
1504 W. Cornishe in J. Skelton Pithy Pleasaunt & Profitable Wks. (1568) sig. Zviii I prayed them of helpe of this combrous songe Priked with force and lettred with wronge.
?1596 W. Bathe Briefe Introd. Skill of Song sig. A.vii You see daylie that when any song is lettred, these names be not attributed to them.
1655 J. Harrison Glimpse of Divine Light i. 1 The Law of Moses, so eminently lettered in tables of Stone.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. iv. iv. 440 It would be convenient, that every one of these Instances should be Philosophically Lettered.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iv. xxxiii. 329 There might be a hundred Ezra Cohens lettered above shop-windows.
1877 F. W. Farrar In Days of Youth (ed. 4) i. 3 He [sc. God] engraves His name upon the rock tablets of the world; and..He letters it in fire amid the stars of heaven.
1934 H. Kemp Let. 2 Sept. in N. Frye & H. Kemp Corr. (1998) I. 323 She has no conception whatever of the work involved in lettering the words of twenty-five songs.
1951 Pop. Mech. Dec. 159/1 The line of the poem corresponding to each scene is lettered on a hardboard panel.
2003 N. Rush Mortals xxii. 321 It was a series of statements printed in turquoise ink, waveringly, drunkenly lettered, on a sheet of vellum.
b. transitive. To assign or attach an alphabetic character to; to distinguish or classify by means of a letter. Cf. number v. 4a.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > [verb (transitive)]
awriteeOE
writeOE
speak?c1225
paintc1400
conscribec1487
blecka1500
cipher1565
letter1570
characterize1581
character1589
bewrite1660
scriven1680
quill1768
screeve1851
1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xiii. f. 395v I will here, but note the lines vnto you: as in euery of the fower places, the constructions haue them lettred and specified.
a1670 Duke of Albemarle Observ. Mil. & Polit. Affairs (1671) xiii. 45 These Figures following lettered with A B C D E F G, shew you the order of the Divisions of Horse and Foot.
1778 in S. Johnson & G. Steevens Plays of Shakspeare (rev. ed.) I. 253 The first volume of these Entries has been either lost or destroyed, as the earliest now to be found is lettered B.
1786 Lett. & Papers Agric. (Bath & West of Eng. Soc.) III. 241/2 The knobs..are over each upper spout, but, (to prevent confusion) are not lettered in the plate.
1837 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. i. i. ii. 30 Distinguishing planes on the basal edges from those on the lateral, by lettering the former with a Roman e, and the latter with an Italic e.
1869 J. Tyndall Notes 9 Lect. on Light 46 Fraunhofer..lettered them and made accurate maps of them.
1913 Concrete-cement Age Aug. 74/1 This result is best accomplished by numbering or lettering each column and each panel of floor construction.
1980 N.Z. Jrnl. Geol. & Geophysics 23 251 The present day beach ridge, which is forming a short distance above high water level, is lettered A.
2004 B. Patail in J. F. Dyro Clin. Engin. Handbk. lv. 229/2 Identify all subprocesses under each block of this flow diagram. Letter these subprocesses consecutively under each block.
c. transitive. To inscribe or write on (something); spec. to apply lettering to the binding of (a book). Frequently in passive.
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society > communication > writing > [verb (transitive)] > mark with letter(s)
inletter1628
letter1686
1686 (title) Bibliotheca Baconia: or, a collection of choice English books, all in folio, curiously bound, gilt, and lettered on the back.
1687 E. Halley Let. 5 July in I. Newton Corr. (1960) II. 482 I intend the price of them bound in Calves leather and lettered to be 9 shillings here.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 463. ¶7 I observed one particular Weight lettered on both Sides.
1755 S. Johnson Let. 20 Mar. (1992) I. 100 I hope to see my Dictionary bound and lettered next week.
1800 D. Wordsworth Grasmere Jrnls. 3 Sept. (1991) 20 The coffin was neatly lettered & painted black.
1844 ‘E. Warburton’ Crescent & Cross (1845) II. 420 The greater number of the shops are lettered in the same tongue [sc. Italian].
1958 B. Behan Borstal Boy iii. 250 My granny even used to letter and gild the backs of the law book in Temple Bar, down opposite Dublin Castle.
1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings ii. i. 71 The men who lettered the stones at Eggjum in Norway.
1994 City & Country Home Winter 12/2 Little wood chairs..make inventive napkin rings for $7 each and, for $9, can be lettered with Please Take a Seat.
†3. intransitive and transitive with it. To engage in letter-writing; to write correspondence. Obsolete. rare.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > write a letter [verb (intransitive)]
writeOE
epistolize1650
to write in1834
letter1861
1647 [implied in: J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 238 You may give the law of lettering to all the world. (at lettering n. 2)].
1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer i. 3 Wouldst thou pretend to letter it with a person who hath been to Paris, to the Alps, to Petersburgh?
1861 S. Wilberforce Diary 22 Feb. in R. G. Wilberforce Life S. Wilberforce (1882) III. i. 15 Did not go out at night, but lettered.
†4. intransitive. To carry post or mail. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > carry letters or mail [verb (intransitive)]
letter1841
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxiv. 71 Our people go backwards and forwards..lettering, and messaging.
5. intransitive. North American. To be awarded a varsity letter acknowledging achievement in a sport. Cf. letter n.1 3b.
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1922 Sigma Phi Epsilon Jrnl. 15 Sept. 498 John C. Pickett..not alone lettered in baseball but in a former year earned a letter in basketball.
1925 Decatur (Illinois) Rev. 15 Mar. 16/4 He lettered in football, basketball, baseball, track and tennis, making a fine showing in all of them.
1971 W. Grimsley Tennis ii. 36 Campbell..was succeeded by Robert D. Wrenn, a Harvard student who lettered in football, hockey and baseball.
2003 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 10 Aug. c11 Norwoods's daughter, Sandra, lettered in three sports in high school.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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