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Let fly   /lɛt flaɪ/   Listen
verb
Let  v. t.  (past & past part. let, obs. letted; pres. part. letting)  
1.
To leave; to relinquish; to abandon. (Obs. or Archaic, except when followed by alone or be.) "He... prayed him his voyage for to let." "Yet neither spins nor cards, ne cares nor frets, But to her mother Nature all her care she lets." "Let me alone in choosing of my wife."
2.
To consider; to think; to esteem. (Obs.)
3.
To cause; to make; used with the infinitive in the active form but in the passive sense; as, let make, i. e., cause to be made; let bring, i. e., cause to be brought. (Obs.) "This irous, cursed wretch Let this knight's son anon before him fetch." "He... thus let do slay hem all three." "Anon he let two coffers make."
4.
To permit; to allow; to suffer; either affirmatively, by positive act, or negatively, by neglecting to restrain or prevent. Note: In this sense, when followed by an infinitive, the latter is commonly without the sign to; as to let us walk, i. e., to permit or suffer us to walk. Sometimes there is entire omission of the verb; as, to let (to be or to go) loose. "Pharaoh said, I will let you go." "If your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is."
5.
To allow to be used or occupied for a compensation; to lease; to rent; to hire out; often with out; as, to let a farm; to let a house; to let out horses.
6.
To give, grant, or assign, as a work, privilege, or contract; often with out; as, to let the building of a bridge; to let out the lathing and the plastering. Note: The active form of the infinitive of let, as of many other English verbs, is often used in a passive sense; as, a house to let (i. e., for letting, or to be let). This form of expression conforms to the use of the Anglo-Saxon gerund with to (dative infinitive) which was commonly so employed. See Gerund, 2. " Your elegant house in Harley Street is to let." In the imperative mood, before the first person plural, let has a hortative force. " Rise up, let us go." " Let us seek out some desolate shade."
To let alone, to leave; to withdraw from; to refrain from interfering with.
To let blood, to cause blood to flow; to bleed.
To let down.
(a)
To lower.
(b)
To soften in tempering; as, to let down tools, cutlery, and the like.
To let fly or To let drive, to discharge with violence, as a blow, an arrow, or stone. See under Drive, and Fly.
To let in or To let into.
(a)
To permit or suffer to enter; to admit.
(b)
To insert, or imbed, as a piece of wood, in a recess formed in a surface for the purpose.
To let loose, to remove restraint from; to permit to wander at large.
To let off.
(a)
To discharge; to let fly, as an arrow; to fire the charge of, as a gun.
(b)
To release, as from an engagement or obligation. (Colloq.)
To let out.
(a)
To allow to go forth; as, to let out a prisoner.
(b)
To extend or loosen, as the folds of a garment; to enlarge; to suffer to run out, as a cord.
(c)
To lease; to give out for performance by contract, as a job.
(d)
To divulge.
To let slide, to let go; to cease to care for. (Colloq.) " Let the world slide."


Fly  v. i.  (past flew; past part. flown; pres. part. flying)  
1.
To move in or pass through the air with wings, as a bird.
2.
To move through the air or before the wind; esp., to pass or be driven rapidly through the air by any impulse.
3.
To float, wave, or rise in the air, as sparks or a flag. " Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
4.
To move or pass swiftly; to hasten away; to circulate rapidly; as, a ship flies on the deep; a top flies around; rumor flies. "Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race." "The dark waves murmured as the ships flew on."
5.
To run from danger; to attempt to escape; to flee; as, an enemy or a coward flies. See Note under Flee. "Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight." "Whither shall I fly to escape their hands?"
6.
To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act suddenly or swiftly; usually with a qualifying word; as, a door flies open; a bomb flies apart.
To fly about (Naut.), to change frequently in a short time; said of the wind.
To fly around, to move about in haste. (Colloq.)
To fly at, to spring toward; to rush on; to attack suddenly.
To fly in the face of, to insult; to assail; to set at defiance; to oppose with violence; to act in direct opposition to; to resist.
To fly off, to separate, or become detached suddenly; to revolt.
To fly on, to attack.
To fly open, to open suddenly, or with violence.
To fly out.
(a)
To rush out.
(b)
To burst into a passion; to break out into license.
To let fly.
(a)
To throw or drive with violence; to discharge. "A man lets fly his arrow without taking any aim."
(b)
(Naut.) To let go suddenly and entirely; as, to let fly the sheets.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Let fly" Quotes from Famous Books



... up the avenue now, Sylvia between the two men. They talked at each other across her. She listened intently, with the feeling that Morrison was voicing for her the question she had been all her life wishing once for all to let fly at her parents' standards: "What good did it do anybody to go without things you might have? Conditions were too vast for one ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... all took it, by the way), to shoot at. Steele, whose weakness for dress and show were proverbial, levelled many of his blunt shafts at its use; and Pope, who himself tells us 'of his wig all powder and all snuff his band,' let fly one of his keener arrows at the beaux, whose wit lay in their snuff-boxes and tweezer cases. As the men laid by, in the Georgian era, much of the magnificence of their attire, so their snuff-boxes became plainer and decidedly uglier. Rushing into an opposite extreme, the most outrageous ...
— Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce • E. R. Billings
... there were no big stones anigh to roll down upon them. Moreover the way was short, and they rode six abreast down the pass and were soon through the hollow way. As he rode Ralph saw a few of the Strong-thieves at the nether end where the pass widened out, and they let fly some arrows at the chapmen which did no hurt, though some of the shafts rattled on the armour of the companions. But when Clement saw that folk, and heard the noise of their shouting he lifted up a great axe that he bore and ...
— The Well at the World's End • William Morris
... these three were prating, The sailor slily waiting, Thought if it came about, sir, That they should all fall out, sir, He then might play his part. And just e'en as he meant, sir, To loggerheads they went, sir, And then he let fly at her A shot 'twixt wind and water, That won this fair ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various
... afterwards, when I understood that they used all evasive tricks to avoid another meeting with us, and refused to do us right, my spirit was greatly stirred at their injustice, and in the sense thereof, willing, if possible, to have provoked them to more fair and manly dealing. I let fly a broadside at them, in a single sheet of paper, under the title of "A Fresh Pursuit"; in which, having restated the controversy between them and us, and reinforced our charge of forgery, &c., against Thomas Hicks and his abettors, ...
— The History of Thomas Ellwood Written by Himself • Thomas Ellwood


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