let-off

Deverbal from let off.

let-off (plural let-offs)

1. An escape from punishment.

   Coordinate term: get-out

   The accused received a suspended sentence, which many saw as a let-off.

   The missed penalty was a massive let-off for the home team.

2. (engineering) A device for letting off, releasing, or giving forth, as the warp from the cylinder of a loom.

• “let-off”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• offlet