last

Wikipedia

PronunciationEdit

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läst, IPA^(key): /lɑːst/
• Rhymes: -ɑːst
• (GA) enPR: lăst, IPA^(key): /læst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æst
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /last/
• Rhymes: -ast
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɫast/
• Rhymes: -ast

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English last, latst, syncopated variant of latest, from Old English latost, latest, lætest, superlative of læt, whence English late.

AdjectiveEdit

last (not comparable)

1. Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

   “Eyes Wide Shut” was the last film to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.

2. Most recent, latest, last so far.
   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74: 

     In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year.

   The last time I saw him, he was married.

   I have received your note dated the 17th last, and am responding to say that […] .   (archaic usage)

3. 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. Being the only one remaining of its class.

   Japan is the last empire.

5. Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.
   • R. Hall

     Contending for principles of the last importance.

6. Lowest in rank or degree.

   the last prize

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

SynonymsEdit

• (final): at the end, caboose, final, tail end, terminal, ultimate
• (most recent): latest, most recent

Derived termsEdit

• last word
• nice guys finish last

TranslationsEdit

DeterminerEdit

last

1. The (one) immediately before the present.

   Last night the moon was full.

   We went there last year.

   Last Tuesday was Hallowe'en.

   (Discuss⁽⁺⁾ this sense) Last time we talked about this was in January.

2. (of a day of the week) Closest to seven days (one week) ago.

   It's Wednesday, and the party was last Tuesday; that is, not yesterday, but eight days ago.

Usage notesEdit

• (both senses): This cannot be used in past or future tense to refer to a time immediately before the subject matter. For example, one does not say I was very tired yesterday, due to not having slept well last night: last night in that sentence refers to the night before the speaker is speaking, not the night before the "yesterday" to which he refers. He would need to say I was very tired yesterday, due to not having slept well the night before or the like.

TranslationsEdit

AdverbEdit

last (not comparable)

1. Most recently.

   When we last met, he was based in Toronto.

   • Shakespeare

     How long is't now since last yourself and I / Were in a mask?

2. (sequence) after everything else; finally

   I'll go last.

   last but not least

   • Dryden

     Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, / Adores; and, last, the thing adored desires.

SynonymsEdit

• finally
• lastly

TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

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

VerbEdit

last (third-person singular simple present lasts, present participle lasting, simple past and past participle lasted)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To perform, carry out.
2. (intransitive) To endure, continue over time.

   Summer seems to last longer each year.

   They seem happy now, but that won't last long.

   • 1915, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, chapter I:

     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; […].

3. (intransitive) To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.

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

SynonymsEdit

• continue
• endure
• survive

AntonymsEdit

• disintegrate
• dissipate
• fall apart
• wear out

Related termsEdit

• everlasting
• lasting

TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Old English læste.

NounEdit

Wikipedia

last (plural lasts)

1. a tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes
   • 2006, Newman, Cathy, Every Shoe Tells a Story, National Geographic (September, 2006), 83,

     How is an in-your-face black leather thigh-high lace-up boot with a four-inch spike heel like a man's black calf lace-up oxford? They are both made on a last, the wood or plastic foot-shaped form that leather is stretched over and shaped to make a shoe.

Derived termsEdit

• cobbler, keep to your last

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

last (third-person singular simple present lasts, present participle lasting, simple past and past participle lasted)

1. To shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last.

   to last a boot

Etymology 4Edit

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.

NounEdit

last (plural lasts)

1. (obsolete) A burden; load; a cargo; freight.
2. (obsolete) A measure of weight or quantity, varying in designation depending on the goods concerned.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 114:

     Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes [...].

   • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, page 169,

     The last of wool is twelve sacks.

3. (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.

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

TranslationsEdit

StatisticsEdit

• Most common English words before 1923: under · same · take · #136: last · here · thought · found

AnagramsEdit

• lats
• salt
• slat

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PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /last/, [lasd̥]

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Low German last.

NounEdit

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

1. cargo
2. cargo hold, hold (cargo area)
3. weight, burden

InflectionEdit

SynonymsEdit

• (cargo): ladning
• (hold): lastrum

Etymology 2Edit

From Old Norse lǫstr

NounEdit

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

1. vice

InflectionEdit

Etymology 3Edit

See laste (“to load, carry”) and laste (“to blame”).

VerbEdit

last

1. imperative of laste

External linksEdit

• Last on the Danish Wikipedia.da.Wikipedia

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EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Germanic *hlastiz, from *hlaþ- (stem of *hlaþaną, Dutch laden) + *-tiz.

PronunciationEdit

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑst

NounEdit

last m (plural lasten, diminutive lastje n)

1. expense
2. load, burden
3. hindrance, problem
4. (dated) A measure of volume, 3 cubic meter

Derived termsEdit

• belasten
• belasting
• last hebben van
• lastpost
• vaste last

VerbEdit

last

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of lassen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of lassen

AnagramsEdit

• stal

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NounEdit

last

1. Partitive singular form of laps.

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VerbEdit

last

1. Second-person singular preterite of lesen.
2. Second-person plural preterite of lesen.

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Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Low German last

NounEdit

last f, m (definite singular lasta or lasten, indefinite plural laster, definite plural lastene)

1. a load or cargo

Derived termsEdit

• lastebil
• nyttelast

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

last

1. imperative of laste

ReferencesEdit

• “last” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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EtymologyEdit

From Middle Low German last

NounEdit

last f, m (definite singular lasta or lasten, indefinite plural laster or lastar, definite plural lastene or lastane)

1. a load or cargo

Derived termsEdit

• lastebil
• nyttelast

ReferencesEdit

• “last” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Germanic *laistaz, along with the feminine variant lǣst. Cognate with Middle Dutch leest (Dutch leest), Old High German leist (German Leist), Old Norse leist-r (“foot, sock”) (Swedish läst, Danish läst).

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /laːst/

NounEdit

lāst m (nominative plural lāstas)

1. footstep, track

Related termsEdit

• lǣstan

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EtymologyEdit

Proto-Slavic *volstь.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ˈláːst/
• Tonal orthography: lȃst

NounEdit

lást f (genitive lastí, uncountable)

1. property

DeclensionEdit

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PronunciationEdit

• audio

  (file)

NounEdit

last c

1. cargo
2. load; a burden
3. load; a certain amount that can be processed at one time
4. (engineering) load; a force on a structure
5. (electical engineering) load; any component that draws current or power
6. habit which is difficult to get rid of, vice

   Rökning var hans enda last

DeclensionEdit

See alsoEdit

• (cargo): lasta, lastbil
• (habit): vana, ovana