Last vs Lest - What's the difference?
last | lest |
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.
For fear that; that . . . not; in order that . . . not; in case.
* '>citation
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-27, volume=408, issue=8846, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= That (without the negative particle); – after certain expressions denoting fear or apprehension.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}
As an adjective last
is final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.As a determiner last
is the (one) immediately before the present.As an adverb last
is most recently.As a verb last
is to perform, carry out.As a noun last
is a tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes.As a conjunction lest is
for fear that; that . . . not; in order that . . . not; in case.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 .
Statistics
*lest
English
Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)Lunacy?, passage=Lest any astrologer reading this result get cocky, Dr Cajochen does not believe that what he has found is directly influenced by the Moon through, say, some tidal effect. What he thinks he has discovered is an additional hand on the body’s clock-face.}}