4

Looking for the meaning of leave as verb, I found the following sentence, on the OALD:

Leave go of my arm—you're hurting me!

The dictionary says that the meaning of leave go is "to stop holding on to something," and that is synonym of let go.

Can I always replace let go with leave go?

|improve this question
  • As a native BrE speaker, I only very rarely hear 'leave go'. I think it is probably much more common in certain dialects (and in colloquial english), but in Standard English, 'let go' will almost always be more appropriate. – Σωκράτης May 11 '16 at 16:50
6

As noted, this usage isn't common among Americans. But I think even in British English we normally only use leave go instead of let go in contexts where the "holding on" is literal/physical - normally to a part of the speaker's body (arm, hand. ear, etc.).

Thus, Leave go [of] my arm! is much more common than Leave go [of] his arm.

Also, you won't normally hear it used transitively, as "Leave me go!" (that's invariably "Let me go!").

|improve this answer
  • What is your basis re literal/physical context restriction? I think this wiktionary example isn't literal/physical: “We were not left go to the beach after school except on a weekend.” – James Waldby - jwpat7 Feb 27 '13 at 22:18
  • 1
    @jwpat7: I don't accept that as a particularly credible utterance anyway. But it's a significantly different sense of let go = permitted to go. Perhaps owing something to conflation with given leave to go. I don't know. People can write anything in wiktionary - including highly localised non-standard forms. Actually, if you Google not left go to the beach they all copy that same highly suspicious example with that same suspicious site claiming it's "Irish dialect". I think it's probably so much tosh. – FumbleFingers Feb 28 '13 at 3:11
4

Leave go for let go would not be recognized in America. It must be let go here.

|improve this answer
  • 2
    I know; that is why I used british-english. :) – kiamlaluno Feb 27 '13 at 15:47
  • <comments removed> Please bring these discussions elsewhere. They're not relevant to improving this answer. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino♦ Mar 8 '13 at 17:50
  • Can't say I'd ever head it in the UK either before today, but it just appeared in the latest Times cryptic crossword, so it must be kosher! – thesunneversets Jul 17 '15 at 14:29
1

My husband is from Pennsylvania and he always says "Leave go" instead of "Let go" and it drives me crazy, but I guess he's the one speaking correctly. He was just saying "Leave go of that." to our toddler and I had to look it up because he's the only person I've ever met who says this. His entire family says "Leave go."

|improve this answer
0

I'm surprised at the suggestion that it's specifically a British-English phrase.

Whilst not oblivious to it's meaning, I've lived in the North of England all of my life, and can honestly say I've never heard anyone use it. I'd certainly never say it.

Perhaps it's a Southern variant. Honestly, I'd always thought it was an Americanism!

|improve this answer
  • I live in Southern US and I can tell you I've never heard that in my entire life. I didn't even think it was grammatically correct until I read these answers about it being a British phrase :) – Nicole Apr 17 '15 at 13:26
  • Never heard it in the south of England. But it appeared in the Times crossword today, so it must be real! – thesunneversets Jul 17 '15 at 14:29
0

I'm from Michigan, USA and I grew up saying leave go as in, let go of my hand! Now my teenage grandson from Georgia heard me say it and laughed! Grandma what the heck does "leave go" mean?? Never, ever thought it was funny or something incorrect til he questioned it. Maybe a Canadian thing because growing up in Detroit, Mi is right next to Windsor. Just a thought!

|improve this answer
0

I have heard the use of leave such as "I will leave you go now" or "I will leave you know". Used such as "we are fixin to go to Lexington and will leave you know when we start out". Lived my enitre life in Eastern, Southern Kentucky, West Virginia, and adjacent areas of Southern Ohio And Western Virginia.

|improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.