Late vs Let - What's the difference?

late | let |

As nouns the difference between late and let

is that late is (kind of) hatchet, axe, chopper while let is milk or let can be letter.

late

English

Adjective

(er)

Near the end of a period of time.

Specifically, near the end of the day.

(usually, not used comparatively) Associated with the end of a period.

Not arriving until after an expected time.

Not having had an expected menstrual period.

(deceased)(not comparable, euphemistic) Deceased, dead:

* , chapter=12

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.}}

Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.

Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.

* 1914 , (Robert Frost), (North of Boston) , "A Hundred Collars":

Lancaster bore him — such a little town, / Such a great man. It doesn't see him often / Of late years, though he keeps the old homestead / And sends the children down there with their mother

Usage notes

* (deceased) (term) in this sense is unusual among English adjectives in that it qualifies named individuals (in phrases like (term)) without creating a contrast with another Mary who is not late. Contrast (hungry): a phrase like (term) is usually only used if another Mary is under discussion who is not hungry.

Noun

(en noun)

(informal) A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.

* 2007 , Paul W Browning, The Good Guys Wear Blue

At about 11 pm one night in Corporation Street my watch were on van patrol and Yellow Watch were on lates as usual.

Adverb

(er)

After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.

We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late .

formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.

:Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.

Derived terms

* a day late and a dollar short * as of late * better late than never * * late bloomer * latecomer * late in the day * late in the game * lately * late night * later * sooner or later

References

* 2009 April 3, , "Re: Has 'late' split up into a pair of homonyms?", message-ID <bdb13686-a6e4-43cd-8445-efe353365394@l13g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, alt.usage.english'' and ''sci.lang , Usenet.

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* * * * * * * 1000 English basic words ----

let

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) leten, .

Verb

(label) To allow to, not to prevent (+ infinitive, but usually without (to)).

*(Bible), (w) viii. 28

*:Pharaoh said, I will let you go.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:If your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is

*1971 , , (The Tombs of Atuan)

*:He could not be let die of thirst there alone in the dark.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",

To leave.

*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

*:Yet neither spins nor cards, ne cares nor frets, / But to her mother Nature all her care she lets .

(label) To allow the release of (a fluid).

(label) To allow possession of (a property etc.) in exchange for rent.

(label) To give, grant, or assign, as a work, privilege, or contract; often with out .

(label)

To cause (+ bare infinitive).

Soo within a whyle kynge Pellinore cam with a grete hoost / and salewed the peple and the kyng / and ther was grete ioye made on euery syde / Thenne the kyng lete serche how moche people of his party ther was slayne / And ther were founde but lytel past two honderd men slayne and viij kny?tes of the table round in their pauelions

*1818 , (John Keats), "To—":

*:Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb, / Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand.

Synonyms

* (to allow) allow, permit

Usage notes

The use of "let" to introduce an imperative may sometimes be confused with its use, as its own imperative , in the sense of "to allow". For example, the sentence "Let me go to the store." could either be a second-person imperative of "let" (addressing someone who might prevent the speaker from going to the store) or a first-person singular imperative of "go" (not implying any such preventer).

Etymology 2

(etyl) . More at late, delay.

Verb

(archaic) To hinder, prevent; to obstruct (someone or something).

* Bible, 2. Thessalonians ii. 7

He who now letteth' will ' let , until he be taken out of the way.

* Tennyson

Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, / And lets me from the saddle.

(obsolete) To prevent or obstruct (to) do something, or (that) something happen.

* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts VIII:

And as they went on their waye, they cam unto a certayne water, and the gelded man sayde: Se here is water, what shall lett me to be baptised?

Noun

(en noun)

An obstacle or hindrance.

*, II.16:

*:Paulus Emilius'' going to the glorious expedition of ''Macedon'', advertised the people of ''Rome'' during his absence not to speake of his actions: ''For the licence of judgements is an especiall let in great affaires.

*Latimer

*:Consider whether your doings be to the let of your salvation or not.

(tennis) The hindrance caused by the net during serve, only if the ball falls legally.

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* * * 1000 English basic words English irregular past participles English irregular simple past forms English irregular verbs English terms with multiple etymologies English verbs with base form identical to past participle ----