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last

adj
/lɑːst/UK/læst/US/last/CA/ɫast/

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English lest, leste (“shoemaker’s model shaped like a foot, last”), from Old English lǣste (“shoemaker‘s last”), from Proto-Germanic *laistiz, from *laisǭ (“track, trail”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-eh₂-, from *leys- (“to trace; to track”). Doublet of learn and lore. The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * Dutch leest * German Leisten * Proto-Germanic *laistaz (“footprint”) * Swedish läst

  1. derived from *laistijaną✻
  2. derived from *laistijan✻
  3. derived from lǣstan
  4. derived from lasten

Definitions

  1. Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.

    • Will try to fix it by myself for now: as a last resort, we can always take it to a grease monkey.
    • Eyes Wide Shut was the last film to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.

  2. Most recent, latest, last so far.

    • The last time I saw him, he was married.
    • I have received your note dated the 17th last, and am responding to say that[…]
    • She told him the last news about little Georgy, and how he was gone to spend that very day with his sisters in the country.

  3. Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition

    Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition; most unlikely, or least preferable.

    • He is the last person to be accused of theft.
    • The last person I want to meet is Helen.
    • More rain is the last thing we need right now.
  4. ›+ 18 more definitions

    1. Being the only one remaining of its class.

      • Japan is the last empire.

    2. Supreme

      Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.

      • Contending for principles of the last importance.

    3. Lowest in rank or degree.

      • Three contestants will win awards, but the last prize is just a book voucher.
      • In one word then, unless I could unfold the mystery, I will not wish you to consider me but as the last and lowest of mankind.
      • The whole community from the patrician master to the last beggar knew that in the five months when the generous bosom of the steppe throbbed with creative life, they must toil for the subsistence of all […]

    4. The (one) immediately before the present.

      • We went there last year.
      • I was last to go; you're next.

    5. Closest in the past, or closest but one if the closest was very recent

      Closest in the past, or closest but one if the closest was very recent; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) ago, or the most recent instance before seven days (one week) ago.

      • It's Wednesday, and the party was last Tuesday; that is, not yesterday, but eight days ago.
      • When you say last Monday, do you mean the Monday just gone, or the one before that?
      • Where my brother had stood last night, I now stood.

    6. Most recently.

      • When we last met, he was based in Toronto.
      • How long is't now since last yourself and I / Were in a mask?

    7. after everything else

      after everything else; finally

      • As I arrived last of all, I'll go last to add the butter last.
      • last but not least
      • Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, / Adores; and, last, the thing adored desires.

    8. To endure, continue over time.

      • Summer seems to last longer each year.
      • They seem happy now, but that won't last long.
      • They say this blizzard might last (for) days.

    9. To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.

      • I don't know how much longer we can last without reinforcements.

    10. To purposefully refrain from orgasm

    11. To perform, carry out.

    12. A tool in the form of a foot on which an item of footwear (such as a boot or shoe) is…

      A tool in the form of a foot on which an item of footwear (such as a boot or shoe) is placed for shaping while it is being manufactured or repaired.

      • I muſt to the learned to learne of them, that's as much to ſay, as the Taylor muſt meddle vvith his Laſte, the Shoomaker vvith his needle, the Painter vvith his nets, and the Fiſher vvith his Penſill, I muſt to the learned.
      • Here's gallants of all ſizes, of all laſts, / Here you may fit your foote, make choyſe of thoſe / VVhome your affection may reioyce in.
      • Shoomaker, you goe alittle beyond your laſt.

    13. To shape (an item of footwear such as a boot or shoe) during its manufacture or repair…

      To shape (an item of footwear such as a boot or shoe) during its manufacture or repair while it is placed on a last (noun etymology 3, noun sense 1).

      • to last a boot
      • I now begin to last the boot, shoe, or clog with a wax thread, in the same way as boot or shoemakers brace the toe-part of a boot or shoe down to the inner sole, but no nails or tacks must be used, […]
      • Sport cycling shoes are lasted on semi-curved or semi-straight lasts much like walking and hiking shoes.

    14. A burden

      A burden; load; a cargo; freight.

    15. A measure of weight or quantity, varying in designation depending on the goods concerned.

      • Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes [...].
      • The last of wool is twelve sacks.

    16. An old English (and Dutch) measure of the carrying capacity of a ship, equal to two tons.

      • 1942 (1601), T D Mutch, The First Discovery of Australia, page 14, The tonnage of the Duyfken of Harmensz's fleet is given as 25 and 30 lasten.

    17. A load of some commodity with reference to its weight and commercial value.

    18. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

at last, at long last, at the last, at the last minute, at the last moment, be born last week, belay my last, born at night but not last night, breathe one's last, breathe one's last breath, close one's eyes for the last time, come down in the last shower, court of last resort, dead last, die in the last ditch, draw one's last breath, drug of last resort, every last, fall at the last hurdle, famous last words, Fermat's last theorem, first and last, forelast, for the last time, first to last, get on someone's last nerve, get the last laugh, have seen one's last gum tree, have the last laugh, hear the last of, he laughs best that laughs last, he who laughs last laughs best, he who laughs last laughs hardest, I can't remember the last time, if it's the last thing I do, in the last analysis, laglast, last 16, last antecedent rule, last big thing · +119 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for last. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA