last - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

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English numbers (edit)

| | 1 | 2 → [a], [b], [c], [d] | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Cardinal: one Ordinal: first Abbreviated ordinal: 1st Latinate ordinal: primary Reverse order ordinal: last Latinate reverse order ordinal: ultimate Adverbial: one time, once Multiplier: onefold Latinate multiplier: single Distributive: singly Germanic collective: onesome Collective of n parts: singlet, singleton Greek or Latinate collective: monad Greek collective prefix: mono- Latinate collective prefix: uni- Fractional: whole Elemental: singlet, singleton Greek prefix: proto- Number of musicians: solo Number of years: year | |

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

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)
    • 2013 May 25, “No Hiding Place”, in The Economist‎[1], 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 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:
      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.
    • 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.

most recent

least preferable

being the only one remaining of its class

supreme; highest in degree; utmost

last

  1. The (one) immediately before the present.
    We went there last year.
    I was last to go; you're next.
  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?
    Where my brother had stood last night, I now stood.

last (not comparable)

  1. Most recently.
    When we last met, he was based in Toronto.
  2. (sequence) after everything else; finally
    As I arrived last of all, I'll go last to add the butter last.

after everything else

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

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.
    They say this blizzard might last (for) days.
    • 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:
      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.

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{[syn](/wiki/Template:synonyms#top "Template:synonyms")|en|...}} or {{[ant](/wiki/Template:antonyms#top "Template:antonyms")|en|...}}.

to endure, continue over time

to hold out

A pair of wooden lasts.

The noun is derived from Middle English lest, leste (“shoemaker’s model shaped like a foot, last”),[1] from Old English lǣste (“shoemaker‘s last”),[2] from Proto-Germanic *laistiz, from *laisǭ (“track, trail”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-eh₂-, from *leys- (“to trace; to track”).[3] Doublet of learn and lore.

The verb is derived from the noun.[4]

last (plural lasts)

  1. (shoemaking) 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.
    Hyponyms: bootlast, shoe-last
    Coordinate terms: boot tree, shoe tree

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

  1. (transitive, shoemaking) 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
    • 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:
      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, […]
    • 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:
      Sport cycling shoes are lasted on semi-curved or semi-straight lasts much like walking and hiking shoes.

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.

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

measure of the carrying capacity of a ship

  1. ^ “lē̆st(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “lǽste”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 612, column 2.
  3. ^ Compare “last, _n._1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “last3, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “last, _v._4”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025.

From English last.

last

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

last

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) finally; in the end; ultimately

last

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

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

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

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

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

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

  1. vice

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

last

  1. imperative of laste

From Middle Dutch last, from Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz. Equivalent to laden (“to load”) +‎ -st (“verbal 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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

last

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

last (genitive lasti, partitive lasti)

  1. cargo
Declension of last (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
singular plural
nominative last lastid
accusative nom.
gen. lasti
genitive lastide
partitive lasti lastelastisid
illative lastilastisse lastidesselastesse
inessive lastis lastideslastes
elative lastist lastidestlastest
allative lastile lastidelelastele
adessive lastil lastidellastel
ablative lastilt lastideltlastelt
translative lastiks lastidekslasteks
terminative lastini lastideni
essive lastina lastidena
abessive lastita lastideta
comitative lastiga lastidega

last

  1. partitive singular of laps

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

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)

  1. vice

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

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)

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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

last

  1. second-person singular preterite of lesen
    Synonym: lasest
  2. second-person plural preterite of lesen

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

last

  1. alternative form of laste
    1. imperative singular of lasten
    2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of lasten

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

last n (genitive singular lasts, no plural)

  1. blame
    Synonym: baktal

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

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

Strong masculine noun

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ------ | ------ | | nominative | last | laste | | accusative | last | laste | | genitive | lasts | laste | | dative | laste | lasten |

Strong feminine noun

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ----------- | ------ | | nominative | last | laste | | accusative | last | laste | | genitive | last, laste | laste | | dative | last, laste | lasten |

Strong neuter noun

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ------ | ----------- | | nominative | last | last, laste | | accusative | last | last, laste | | genitive | lasts | laste | | dative | laste | lasten |

From Middle Low German last.

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

  1. a load or cargo

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

last

  1. imperative of laste

From Middle Low German last.

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

  1. a load or cargo

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

lāst m (nominative plural lāstas)

  1. footstep, track
    • 10th century, The Wanderer:
      Stondeð nū on lāste · lēofre duguþe
      weal wundrum hēah, · wyrmlīcum fāh.
      Now a wall stands in the track of dear band,
      wondrously high, with worm-forms adorned.

Strong _a_-stem:

From Proto-Slavic *volstь, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *walˀstís, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-. First attested in the 16th century.

lȃst f

  1. property
Feminine, i-stem, long mixed accent
nominative lást
genitive lastí
singular
nominative(imenovȃlnik) lást
genitive(rodȋlnik) lastí
dative(dajȃlnik) lásti
accusative(tožȋlnik) lást
locative(mẹ̑stnik) lásti
instrumental(orọ̑dnik) lastjó

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

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

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”).

last c

  1. habit which is difficult to get rid of, vice
    Rökning var hans enda last
    Smoking was his only vice