letter, n. 1. missive, dispatch, written message; epistle, Obs. billet, note, line, bulletin; answer, reply, acknowledgement, bread-and-butter note, thank-you note; business letter, form letter, drop letter; love letter, billet-doux, Inf. mash note, fan letter; card, Christmas card, postcard, picture postcard; Rom. Cath. Ch. encyclical.
2. alphabetic character, written character, sign, symbol, phonetic character; initial, majuscule, uncial, ideogram, rune, hieroglyphic character, hieroglyph, cuneiform character, hierogram; letter of the alphabet, ABC.
3. type, piece of type, impressed form, stamp, print; linotype, monotype, stereotype, electrotype, autotype, albertype, ambrotype, chromotype, zinctotype, steno-type, lithotype; logotype, ligature; lower case, minuscule, upper case, majuscule, capital, Inf cap, small capital; strike, matrix, jet, sprue, body, type body, face, typeface.
4. (all type styles) Old English, Gothic, German text, antique, clarendon, French, Elzevir, Caslon, Caslon old style, Ionic, Chapel text, typewriter; black letter, roman, italic, cursive, script; standard, lightface, boldface, fullface, extrabold face, extrabold; Braille.
5. letters a. literature, belles-lettres, the humanities, Latin, litterae humaniores, the classics, philosophy; the world of letters, the field of letters, writing, play-writing, journalism; book publishing, bibliogony, bibliography, librarianship, bibliopoly; linguistics, science of language, philology, lexicography, glossology, semantics, etymology, lexicology, grammar, diction,
b. learning, booklore; culture, liberal education, higher education, scholarship, study, studies, erudition.
6. to the letter literally, Latin, literatim, literal, according to the letter, verbatim, word for word, Fr. mot a mot, in the same words, Latin, sic, thus; strictly speaking, chapter and verse, by the rules, Inf. according to Hoyle, Inf. kosher, orthodox, authentic, faithful, conforming, canonical, scriptural, textual; exactly, precisely, accurately.
-v. 7. inscribe, write, mark, character, initial, sign, stencil.
letter carrier, n. postman, mail carrier, mailman, post boy, postal clerk; carrier, bearer, carrier pigeon, messenger; courier, dispatch bearer, post rider, runner; go-between, intermediary, connection.
lettered, adj. educated, well-educated, erudite; learned, literate, informed, well-informed, enlightened; well-versed, well-posted, well-grounded; literary, well-read, widely read, Inf. highbrow; cultivated, cultured, accomplished, polished, refined.
letter-perfect, adj. well-rehearsed, well-prepared, perfectly drilled; memorized, Inf learned by heart, learned by rote, committed to memory; precise, exact, accurate, perfect, authentic, faithful; literatim, letter for letter, verbatim, word for word, Fr. mot a mot, to the letter, literal, in the same words, Latin, sic, thus.
letup, n. 1. abatement, reduction, lessening, slackening, moderation, tempering; decrease, fall-off, diminution, remission; retardation, retarding, slowing down; alleviation, mitigation, assuagement, relief, palliation, mollification, softening, easing up; waning, fading, decline; weakening, attenuation.
2. cessation, termination, ending, completion, finish, conclusion, close, desinence; discontinuance, breaking off, abruption; ceasing, ending, quitting, desisting, de-sistance; arrest, halt, stand, standstill, stoppage.
3. intermission, pause, interlude, interim, pause,
