last full measure

English

Noun

last full measure (plural last full measures)

1. (idiomatic) A person's life, when lost through death in service to a nation or cause, particularly as a member of a military force in war or a semi-militarized organization such as a police force or civil defense corps, e.g. fire departments. May also be applied to some dangerous government and civil occupations such as espionage.

Usage notes

Not normally applied to death in service to a nation or cause outside of a military or semi-military context; for example the deaths by starvation of scientists defending the Pavlovsk Experimental Station gene bank in Leningrad during World War II, refusing to consume irreplaceable scientific samples even to save themselves, are not usually characterized this way, despite those deaths being regarded sentimentally and as noble acts.

See also

• hero
• kamikaze
• martyr
• shaheed
• suicide bomber

Further reading

See the World War I era English poem titled in Latin “Dulce et Decorum est”, alluding to the ancient expression of Horace dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, “it is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland”, for a notable commentary on this concept.