letter Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a written message addressed to a person or organization
    missive.
    • mailed an indignant letter to the editor
  2. noun the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech
    alphabetic character; letter of the alphabet.
    • his grandmother taught him his letters
  3. noun owner who lets another person use something (housing usually) for hire
  4. noun a strictly literal interpretation (as distinct from the intention)
    • he followed instructions to the letter
    • he obeyed the letter of the law
  5. noun an award earned by participation in a school sport
    varsity letter.
    • he won letters in three sports
  6. verb win an athletic letter
  7. verb set down or print with letters
  8. verb mark letters on or mark with letters

WordNet

Let"ter noun
Etymology
From Let to permit.
Definitions
  1. One who lets or permits; one who lets anything for hire.
Let"ter noun
Etymology
From Let to hinder.
Definitions
  1. One who retards or hinders. Archaic.
Let"ter noun
Etymology
OE. lettre, F. lettre, OF. letre, fr. L.littera, litera, a letter; pl., an epistle, a writing, literature, fr. linere, litum, to besmear, to spread or rub over; because one of the earliest modes of writing was by graving the characters upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. Pliny, xiii. 11. See Leniment, and cf. Literal.
Definitions
  1. A mark or character used as the representative of a sound, or of an articulation of the human organs of speech; a first element of written language.
    And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew. Luke xxiii. 38.
  2. A written or printed communication; a message expressed in intelligible characters on something adapted to conveyance, as paper, parchment, etc.; an epistle.
    The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural. Walsh.
  3. A writing; an inscription. Obs.
    None could expound what this letter meant. Chaucer.
  4. Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement.
    We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. Jer. Taylor.
    I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. Tennyson.
  5. (Print.) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.
    Under these buildings . . . was the king's printing house, and that famous letter so much esteemed. Evelyn.
  6. pl. Learning; erudition; as, a man of letters.
  7. pl. A letter; an epistle. Obs. Chaucer.
    A strange lock that opens with AMEN. Beau. & Fl.
Let"ter intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Lettered ; present participle & verbal noun Lettering
Definitions
  1. To impress with letters; to mark with letters or words; as, a book gilt and lettered.

Webster 1913