last meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

last

adj

UK /lɑːst/ · US /læst/

Etymology From Middle English laste, latst, syncopated variant of latest, both ultimately from Old English latost. Doublet of latest.

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.

1 more example

Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

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[…]

2 more examples

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.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year.2013 May 25, “No Hiding Place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

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.

1 more example

More rain is the last thing we need right now.

Being the only one remaining of its class.

Japan is the last empire.

Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.

Contending for principles of the last importance.1802, Robert Hall, Reflections on War:

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.1797 May 8 (first performance), Richard Cumberland, “The Last of the Family. A Comedy.”, in Frances Marianne [Cumberland] Jansen, editor, The Posthumous Dramatick Works of the Late Richard Cumberland, Esq. […], volume II, London: […] [F]or G[eorge] and W[illiam] Nicol, […]; by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co., […], published 1813, →OCLC, Act III, scene [iii], page 237:

3 more examples

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 […]1899, Richard Savage, The White Lady of Khaminavatka: A Story of the Ukraine, page 186:
Lesser, but still important executives had offices without corner windows. The rank below this had offices without windows at all. […] The last rank had desks out in an open room.1970, Julius Fast, Body Language, →ISBN, page 39:
Russia is a very different place than here. […] Even the last soldier knows who Malevich was, and what the Black Square is, since they were taught this in school.2003 March 31, Marko Peljhan, “Lecture: March 31, 2003”, in Jen Budney, Adrian Blackwell, editors, Unboxed Engagements in Social Space, published 2005, →ISBN, page 110:

Synonyms: rear, rearmost, caboose, dernier, final, terminal, ultimate, lattermost;, latest, most recent
Derived terms: 154 terms
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last

det

Etymology From Middle English laste, latst, syncopated variant of latest, both ultimately from Old English latost. Doublet of latest.

The (one) immediately before the present.

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

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.

Of days of the week or months of the year

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?

1 more example

Where my brother had stood last night, I now stood.

last

adv

Etymology From Middle English laste, latst, syncopated variant of latest, both ultimately from Old English latost. Doublet of latest.

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?c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

Sequence after everything else; finally

As I arrived last of all, I'll go last to add the butter last.
last but not least

1 more example

Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, / Adores; and, last, the thing adored desires.1717, William Congreve, Samuel Croxall, John Dryden, Laurence Eusden, John Ozell, “Book X”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

Synonyms: finally, lastly

last

verb

Etymology From Middle English lasten, from Old English lǣstan, from Proto-West Germanic *laistijan, from Proto-Germanic *laistijaną. Cognate with German leisten (“yield”).

To endure, continue over time.

Summer seems to last longer each year.
They seem happy now, but that won't last long.

4 more examples

They say this blizzard might last (for) days.
And love will last as pure and whole ⁠As when he loved me here in Time, ⁠And at the spiritual prime Rewaken with the dawning soul.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 65:
Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;[…].1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
One of the earliest (and biggest) space weather events on record occurred in September 1859, when a massive solar eruption crashed into the Earth's magnetosphere, triggering a geomagnetic storm that lasted for days.2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:

To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.

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

Slang, Of a man To purposefully refrain from orgasm

Obsolete To perform, carry out.

Synonyms: continue, endure, survive
Antonyms: disintegrate, dissipate, fall apart, wear out
Derived terms: everlast, lastability, lastable, outlast, unlast
Related terms: everlasting, lasting

last

noun

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

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.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], signature [B4], recto:
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.1604 (first performance), [Thomas Middleton], Michaelmas Terme. […], London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Edward Allde] for A[rthur] I[ohnson] […], published 1607, →OCLC, signature [A4], recto:

4 more examples

Shoomaker, you goe alittle beyond your laſt.1605, [Thomas Heywood], If You Know Not Me, You Know No Bodie: Or, The Troubles of Queene Elizabeth, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot] for Nathaniel Butter, →OCLC, signature C2, verso:
And leſſe matters ſet on the Friers laſts, make ſeely Papiſts beleeue novv, that Proteſtants haue no Churches nor Religion, nor ſcarſely the ſhape of men.1614, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] Of the Religions and Other Rites of the Persians.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. […], 2nd edition, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of the Armenians, Medes, Persians, Parthians, Scythians, Tartarians, Chinois, and of Their Religions), page 372:
Is he not Duke indeed, ſee hovv he lookes / As if his ſpirit vvere a laſt, or tvvo / Above his veines, and ſtretcht his noble hide.1626 February 13 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Noble Gentleman”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene, page 36, column 1:
I ſet my braines vpon an vpright Laſt; tho my vvits be old, yet they are like a vvitherd pippin, vvholſome.1604 or 1605 (date written), Thomas Dekker, The Second Part of The Honest Whore, […], London: […] Elizabeth All-de, for Nathaniel Butter, published 1630, →OCLC, Act I, signature F2, recto:

Derived terms: cobbler, keep to your last, darning last, stick to one's last

last

verb

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, […]1819 November 1, William Archer Deacon, “Specification of the Patent Granted to William Archer Deacon, of Pilgrim’s Hatch, in the Parish of South Weald, in the County of Essex, Gentleman; for Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Boots, Shoes, and Clogs, by the Application of Certain Materials hitherto Unused for that Purpose. Dated November 1, 1819”, in The Repertory of Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture. […], volume XXXVIII (2nd Series), number CCXXVII, London: […] [Nichols and Son] for J. Wyatt, […], published April 1821, →OCLC, page 278:

1 more example

Sport cycling shoes are lasted on semi-curved or semi-straight lasts much like walking and hiking shoes.2010, Paul Langer, “Cycling”, in Matthew B. Werd, E. Leslie Knight, editors, Athletic Footwear and Orthoses in Sports Medicine, New York, N.Y.; Dordrecht, South Holland: Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISBN, part II (Sport-specific Recommendations), page 201:

Derived terms: laster, lasting

last

noun

Etymology From Middle English last, from Old English hlæst (“burden, load, freight”), from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz (“burden, load, freight”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to put, lay out”). Cognate with West Frisian lêst, Dutch last, German Last, Swedish last, Icelandic lest.

Obsolete A burden; load; a cargo; freight.

Obsolete 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 [...].1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 114:
The last of wool is twelve sacks.1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 169:

Obsolete 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.

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

Derived terms: belast, ballast

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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