First vs Last - What's the difference?
first | last |
Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
* 1784 : William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. ,
Before anything else; firstly.
* , chapter=8
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
* 1699 , ,
(uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
(countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
(countable, baseball) first base
(countable, British, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
(countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
A fraction of an integer ending in one.
Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.
* , chapter=5
, title= Most recent, latest, last so far.
* {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition; most unlikely, or least preferable.
Being the only one remaining of its class.
Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.
* R. Hall
Lowest in rank or degree.
The (one) immediately before the present.
(of a, day of the week) Closest to seven days (one week) ago.
Most recently.
* Shakespeare
(sequence) after everything else; finally
* Dryden
To perform, carry out.
(label) To endure, continue over time.
:
:
*
*: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;.
(label) To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.
:
a tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes
* 2006, Newman, Cathy, Every Shoe Tells a Story , National Geographic (September, 2006), 83,
To shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last.
(obsolete) A burden; load; a cargo; freight.
(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:
* 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,
A load of some commodity with reference to its weight and commercial value.
In context|obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between first and last
is that first is (obsolete) time; time granted; respite while last is (obsolete) an old english (and dutch) measure of the carrying capacity of a ship, equal to two tons.As adjectives the difference between first and last
is that first is preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest while last is final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.As adverbs the difference between first and last
is that first is before anything else; firstly while last is most recently.As nouns the difference between first and last
is that first is (uncountable) the person or thing in the first position or first can be (obsolete) time; time granted; respite while last is a tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes or last can be (obsolete) a burden; load; a cargo; freight.As a determiner last is
the (one) immediately before the present.As a verb last is
to perform, carry out or last can be to shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last.first
English
(wikipedia first)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), .Alternative forms
* firste (archaic) * fyrst (obsolete) * fyrste (obsolete)Adjective
(-)Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
PREFACE
- THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
Alternative forms
* ; (in names of monarchs and popes) IAdverb
(-)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.}}
Unspontaneous combustion, passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.}}
Noun
Heads designed for an essay on conversations
- Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
Derived terms
* feet first * firstborn * first-class * first gear * first imperative (Latin grammar) * first of all * first place * first things first * first upSee also
* primaryEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), (m), . See also (l).Statistics
*last
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), syncopated variant of (m), from (etyl) latost, (m), , whence English (l).Adjective
(-)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=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.}}
citation, passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year.}}
- He is the last person to be accused of theft.
- Contending for principles of the last importance.
- the last prize
- (Alexander Pope)
Synonyms
* (final) at the end, caboose, final, tail end, terminal, ultimate * (most recent) latest, most recentDerived terms
* last word * nice guys finish lastDeterminer
(en determiner)- Last night the moon was full.
- We went there last year.
- Last Tuesday was Hallowe'en.
- Last time we talked about this was in January.
- It's Wednesday, and the party was last Tuesday; that is, not yesterday, but eight days ago.
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 or the like.Adverb
(-)- When we last met, he was based in Toronto.
- How long is't now since last yourself and I / Were in a mask?
- I'll go last .
- last but not least
- Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, / Adores; and, last , the thing adored desires.
Synonyms
* finally * lastlyEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)Synonyms
* continue * endure * surviveAntonyms
* disintegrate * dissipate * fall apart * wear outEtymology 3
(etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia last) (en noun)- 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
*Verb
(en verb)- to last a boot
Etymology 4
From (etyl) last, from (etyl) , (etyl) last, (etyl) Last, (etyl) last, (etyl) lest.Noun
(en noun)- Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes [...].
- The last of wool is twelve sacks.
The First Discovery of Australia, page 14,
- The tonnage of the of Harmensz's fleet is given as 25 and 30 lasten .