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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?
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!").
Leave go for let go would not be recognized in America. It must be let go here.
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."
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!
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.
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 till he questioned it. Maybe a Canadian thing because growing up in Detroit, Mi is right next to Windsor. Just a thought!
I grew up with my grandparents, who were born 1901 and 1899, one of whom was born and grew up in Lexington County, South Carolina, USA, the other who was. born in Augusta, Georgia, USA, and grew up between there and Atlanta, Georgia to age 8, and then moved with the family to Columbia, South Carolina, where they settled. Both grandparents were working in cotton mills from age 6-8, child labour. I am an only child, so my early language was formed exclusively by them, as, by my time, we were living in extreme rural conditions, our nearest neighbour over a mile away and those neighbours were probably born about the same time as my grandparents. "Leave me go" was exactly what I learned to say when someone would not let me go. I did not learn "let me go" until I was age 6-7, in primary school, when kids, bullying me, actually let me go and stood around laughing at me, berating me for saying "leave me go!" they saying no one talked like that. I, therefore learnt not to say "leave me go!" once I was surrounded by other children in school, but it was definitely normal speech in my immediate household, and likewise amongst all my grandparents' pals, all of whom grew up between Georgia and South Carolina at the turn of the previous century. As a bonus, and because I've since learned it is Cornwall, England speech, I also learnt the word, "dareckly," which I did not realise was the word, "directly," until I was taking linguistic courses at uni. Learnt from my granny, "We'll be there, dareckly," meant we were leaving within the hour, and had perhaps two or three stops, so we'd arrive within 4 - 6 hours. "Dareckly" never, ever meant we'd be there immediately, and never, ever, was it our first stop; for anyone curious, "we're about to leave, we'll be right there," meant we would be there.... directly.
