last

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läst, IPA^(key): /lɑːst/
• (General American) enPR: lăst, IPA^(key): /læst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

Etymology 1

From Middle English laste, latst, syncopated variant of latest.

Adjective

last (not comparable)

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

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

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

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 […] (archaic usage)

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in 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.

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.
   • 1802, Robert Hall, Reflections on War:

     Contending for principles of the last importance.

6. Lowest in rank or degree.

   Three contestants will win awards, but the last prize is just a book voucher.

   • 1797, Richard Cumberland, The Last of the Family; republished as The Posthumous Dramatick Words of the Late Richard Cumberland, Esq., volume 2, 1813, page 237:

     I will not wish you to consider me but as the last and lowest of mankind.

   • 1899, Richard Savage, The White Lady of Khaminavatka: A Story of the Ukraine, page 186:

     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 […]

   • 1970, Julius Fast, Body Language, →ISBN, page 39:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

Determiner

last

1. The (one) immediately before the present.

   We went there last year.

   I was last to arrive.

2. (of days of the week or months of the year) 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?

Usage notes

• (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.

Translations

Adverb

last (not comparable)

1. Most recently.

   When we last met, he was based in Toronto.

   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

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

2. (sequence) after everything else; finally

   I'll go last as I have to add the butter last.

   last but not least

   • 1717, William Congreve, Samuel Croxall, John Dryden, Laurence Eusden, John Ozell, “Book X”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

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

Synonyms

• (after everything else): finally, lastly; see also Thesaurus:lastly

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To endure, continue over time.

   Summer seems to last longer each year.

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

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XLII, page 65:

     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.

   • 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., , , →OCLC, page 0016:

     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; […].

   • 2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:

     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.

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

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

3. (intransitive, slang, of a man) To purposefully refrain from orgasm
4. (transitive, obsolete) To perform, carry out.

Synonyms

• continue
• endure
• survive

Antonyms

• disintegrate
• dissipate
• fall apart
• wear out

Related terms

• everlasting
• lasting

Translations

Etymology 3

From Old English lǣste, Proto-Germanic *laistiz. Compare Swedish läst, German Leisten Dutch leest, Proto-Germanic *laistaz (“footprint”).

Noun

last (plural lasts)

2. 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 terms

• cobbler, keep to your last
• stick to one's last

Translations

Verb

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 4

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.

Noun

last (plural lasts or lasten)

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, Kupperman, published 1988, page 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.

Derived terms

• belast
• ballast

Translations

Further reading

• “last”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• last (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• last on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Alts, LTAs, SALT, Salt, TLAs, alts, lats, salt, slat

Chinese

Etymology

From English last.

Pronunciation 1

Adjective

last

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) last (final; ultimate)

Pronunciation 2

Verb

last

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to last (to endure)

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/,

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last, from the verb laden (“to transport”), from Old Saxon hladan.

Noun

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

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

Inflection

Synonyms

• (cargo): ladning
• (hold): lastrum

Etymology 2

From Old Norse lǫstr, from the root of Proto-Germanic *lahaną (“to reproach, blame”), see also Old High German lastar (“vice”).

Noun

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

1. vice

Inflection

Etymology 3

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

Verb

last

1. imperative of laste

Further reading

• last on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑst/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑst

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch last, from Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz.

Noun

last m (plural lasten, diminutive lastje n)

1. load, weight
2. burden
3. hindrance, problem
4. expense
5. (law) requirement, duty
6. (dated) A measure of volume, 3 cubic meter

Derived terms

• belasten
• lastdrager
• last hebben van
• lastpost
• ten laste leggen
• vaste last

Descendants

• Negerhollands: last

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

last

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

Anagrams

• stal

Estonian

Noun

last (genitive lasti, partitive lasti)

1. cargo

Declension

Noun

last

1. partitive singular of laps

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse lǫstr, from the root of Proto-Germanic *lahaną (“to reproach, blame”), see also Old High German lastar (“vice”).

Noun

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)

1. vice

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German last, from the verb lāden (“to load”), from Old Saxon hladan.

Noun

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)

1. cargo
2. cargo hold, hold (cargo area)

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

last

1. second-person singular/plural preterite of lesen

Icelandic

Etymology

See löstur (“fault, vice, reprehensible action”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/
• Rhymes: -ast

Noun

last n (genitive singular lasts, no plural)

1. blame

Declension

Synonyms

• (blame): baktal

Derived terms

• guðlast (“blasphemy”)

Related terms

• lasta (“to blame”)

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz.

Noun

last m or f or n

1. load, weight
2. task, duty, obligation
3. tax (money)
4. (emotional) difficulty, sorrow
5. a unit of volume

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: last
• Limburgish: las

Further reading

• “last”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “last”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last.

Noun

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

1. a load or cargo

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

last

1. imperative of laste

References

• “last” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German last.

Noun

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

1. a load or cargo

Derived terms

References

• “last” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *laist, along with the feminine variant lǣst.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑːst/

Noun

lāst m (nominative plural lāstas)

1. footstep, track

Declension

Derived terms

• feorhlāst (“trail of blood”)
• wræclāst (“path of exile”)

Related terms

• lǣstan

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *volstь, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *walˀstís, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /láːst/

Noun

lȃst f

1. property

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Further reading

• “last”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last, from the verb lāden (“to load”), from Old Saxon hladan.

Noun

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. (electrical engineering) load; any component that draws current or power

Declension

Derived terms

See also

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

Etymology 2

From Old Swedish laster (Old Icelandic lǫstr), from Old Norse löstr, from the root of Proto-Germanic *lahaną (“to reproach, blame”), see also Old High German lastar (“vice”).

Noun

last c

1. habit which is difficult to get rid of, vice

   Rökning var hans enda last

   Smoking was his only vice

Declension

Derived terms

• lastgammal

Anagrams

• lats, salt, stal, tals