leet

Meanings

Noun

• A portion or list, especially a list of candidates for an office; also the candidates themselves.
• A regular court, more specifically a court-leet, in which certain lords had jurisdiction over local disputes, or the physical area of this jurisdiction.
• The European pollock.
• A place where roads meet or cross; intersection
• Alternative of leat
• Abbreviation of leetspeak

Verb

• Past of let

Adjective

• Of or relating to leetspeak.
• Possessing outstanding skill in a field; expert, masterful.
• Having superior social rank over others; upper class, elite.
• Awesome, typically to describe a feat of skill; cool, sweet.

Origin

• From Scots leet, leit, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French lite, litte, variant of liste; or from Old Norse leiti, hleyti (compare Old English hlēte); or an aphaeretic shortening of French élite.
• From Old English lēt, past tense of lǣtan.
• Originated 1400–50 from late Middle English lete ("meeting"), from Anglo-Norman lete and Medieval Latin leta , possibly from Old English ġelǣte ("crossroads").
• Jamieson mentions the alternative spellings lyth, lythe, laid, and laith, and connects it to a verb lythe, as it "is frequently caught ... in deep holes among the rocks".
• From Middle English lete, from Old English ġelǣt, ġelǣte, from Proto-Germanic *galētą, *lētą. More at leat.
• An aphetic form of elite, respelled according to leetspeak conventions.