Part 6480

<p><b>4.</b> <def>Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement.</def>

<blockquote>We must observe the <b>letter</b> of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. <i>Jer. Taylor.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>I broke the <b>letter</b> of it to keep the sense. <i>Tennyson.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>5.</b> <fld>(Print.)</fld> <def>A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.</def>

<blockquote>Under these buildings . . . was the king's printing house, and that famous <b>letter</b> so much esteemed. <i>Evelyn.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <pluf>pl.</pluf> <def>Learning; erudition; <as>as, a man of <ex>letters</ex></as>.</def>

<p><b>7.</b> <pluf>pl.</pluf> <def>A letter; an epistle.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<i>Chaucer.</i>

<cs><mcol><col>Dead letter</col>, <col>Drop letter</col></mcol>, <cd>etc. See under <er>Dead</er>, <er>Drop</er>, etc.</cd> -- <col>Letter book</col>, <cd>a book in which copies of letters are kept.</cd> -- <col>Letter box</col>, <cd>a box for the reception of letters to be mailed or delivered.</cd> -- <col>Letter carrier</col>, <cd>a person who carries letters; a postman; specif., an officer of the post office who carries letters to the persons to whom they are addressed, and collects letters to be mailed.</cd> -- <col>Letter cutter</col>, <cd>one who engraves letters or letter punches.</cd> -- <col>Letter lock</col>, <cd>a lock that can not be opened when fastened, unless certain movable lettered rings or disks forming a part of in are in such a position (indicated by a particular combination of the letters) as to permit the bolt to be withdrawn.</cd></cs>

<blockquote>A strange lock that opens with AMEN. <i>Beau. & Fl.</i></blockquote>

-- <col>Letter paper</col>, <cd>paper for writing letters on; especially, a size of paper intermediate between note paper and foolscap. See <er>Paper</er>.</cd> -- <col>Letter punch</col>, <cd>a steel punch with a letter engraved on the end, used in making the matrices for type.</cd> -- <col>Letters of administration</col> <fld>(Law)</fld>, <cd>the instrument by which an administrator or administratrix is authorized to administer the goods and estate of a deceased person.</cd> -- <mcol><col>Letter of attorney</col>, <col>Letter of credit</col></mcol>, etc. <cd>See under <er>Attorney</er>, <er>Credit</er>, etc.</cd> -- <col>Letter of license</col>, <cd>a paper by which creditors extend a debtor's time for paying his debts.</cd> -- <col>Letters close &or; clause</col> <fld>(Eng. Law.)</fld>, <cd>letters or writs directed to particular persons for particular purposes, and hence <i>closed</i> or sealed on the outside; -- distinguished from <i>letters patent</i>. <i>Burrill</i>.</cd> -- <col>Letters of orders</col> <fld>(Eccl.)</fld>, <cd>a document duly signed and sealed, by which a bishop makes it known that he has regularly ordained a certain person as priest, deacon, etc.</cd> -- <mcol><col>Letters patent</col>, <col>overt</col>, &or; <col>open</col></mcol> <fld>(Eng. Law)</fld>, <cd>a writing executed and sealed, by which power and authority are granted to a person to do some act, or enjoy some right; <as>as, <ex>letters patent</ex> under the seal of England</as>.</cd> -- <col>Letter-sheet envelope</col>, <cd>a stamped sheet of letter paper issued by the government, prepared to be folded and sealed for transmission by mail without an envelope.</cd> -- <col>Letters testamentary</col> <fld>(Law)</fld>, <cd>an instrument granted by the proper officer to an executor after probate of a will, authorizing him to act as executor.</cd> -- <col>Letter writer</col>. <sd>(a)</sd> <cd>One who writes letters.</cd> <sd>(b)</sd> <cd>A machine for copying letters</cd>. <sd>(c)</sd> <cd>A book giving directions and forms for the writing of letters.</cd></cs>

<h1>Letter</h1> <Xpage=845>

<hw>Let"ter</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Lettered</er> <tt>(?)</tt>; <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Lettering</er>.]</wordforms> <def>To impress with letters; to mark with letters or words; <as>as, a book gilt and <ex>lettered</ex></as>.</def>

<h1>Lettered</h1> <Xpage=845>

<hw>Let"tered</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Literate; educated; versed in literature.</def> " Are you not <i>lettered</i>?"

<i>Shak.</i>

<blockquote>The unlettered barbarians willingly accepted the aid of the <b>lettered</b> clergy, still chiefly of Roman birth, to reduce to writing the institutes of their forefathers. <i>Milman.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Of or pertaining to learning or literature; learned.</def> " A <i>lettered</i> education."

<i>Collier.</i>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>Inscribed or stamped with letters.</def>

<i>Addison.</i>

<h1>Letterer</h1> <Xpage=845>

<hw>Let"ter*er</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>One who makes, inscribes, or engraves, alphabetical letters.</def>

<h1>Lettering</h1> <Xpage=845>

<hw>Let"ter*ing</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>The act or business of making, or marking with, letters, as by cutting or painting.</def>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>The letters made; <as>as, the <ex>lettering</ex> of a sign</as>.</def>

<h1>Letterless</h1> <Xpage=845>

<hw>Let"ter*less</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Not having a letter.</def>