letter (redirected from letters)

a dead letter

an agreement or a law which still exists but which people do not obey or which is not effective any more. The ceasefire agreement was a dead letter as soon as it was signed since neither side had any intention of keeping to it.

See also: dead

a Dear John letter (humorous)

a letter that you send to a man telling him you want to end a romantic relationship with him. I've always thought Dear John letters a cowardly way of ending a relationship.

See also: dear, john

a four-letter word

a short word that is extremely rude. The player was suspended after using a variety of four-letter words in front of the umpire.

See also: word

a French letter (informal, old-fashioned)

a thin rubber covering that a man can wear on his penis during sex to stop a woman becoming pregnant or to protect him or his partner against infectious diseases. In those days, French letters were the only form of contraceptive we had.

See also: french

the letter of the law (formal)

the exact words of a law and not its more important general meaning. There is always the danger that a judge may follow the letter of the law rather than its spirit.

See also: law

a man of letters (formal)

a man, usually a writer, who knows a lot about literature. A distinguished statesman and man of letters, he was born just before the turn of the century.

See also: man

a poison-pen letter

a letter that has no signature and says unpleasant things about the person it is sent to. After he was convicted, his family received a number of poison-pen letters.

a red-letter day

a day that is very important or very special. The day our daughter was born was a real red-letter day for us.

See also: day

to the letter (slightly formal)

if you follow instructions or obey rules to the letter, you do exactly what you are told to do. I followed the instructions to the letter but I still couldn't get it to work.

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to the letter

completely or exactly. I followed the instructions to the letter but I still couldn't put the fan together.