last

Etymology 1

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

adj

1. Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.
   “Eyes Wide Shut” was the last film to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.
2. Most recent, latest, last so far.
   In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. 2013-05-25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74
   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)
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.
   Contending for principles of the last importance. 1802, Robert Hall, Reflections on War
6. Lowest in rank or degree.
   Three contestants will win awards, but the last prize is just a book voucher.
   I will not wish you to consider me but as the last and lowest of mankind. 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
   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 […] 1899, Richard Savage, The White Lady of Khaminavatka: A Story of the Ukraine, page 186
   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. 1970, Julius Fast, Body Language, page 39
   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. 31 March 2003, Marko Peljhan, “Lecture: March 31, 2003”, in Jen Budney, Adrian Blackwell, editors, Unboxed Engagements in Social Space, published 2005, page 110

det

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?

adv

1. Most recently.
   When we last met, he was based in Toronto.
2. (sequence) after everything else; finally
   I'll go last as I have to add the butter last.
   last but not least

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

1. (transitive, obsolete) To perform, carry out.
2. (intransitive) To endure, continue over time.
   Summer seems to last longer each year.
   They seem happy now, but that won't last long.
3. (intransitive) To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.
   I don't know how much longer we can last without reinforcements.
4. (intransitive, slang, of a man) To purposefully refrain from orgasm

Etymology 3

From Old English lǣste, Proto-Germanic *laistiz. Compare Swedish läst, German Leisten.

noun

1. 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.

verb

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

1. (obsolete) A burden; load; a cargo; freight.
2. (obsolete) A measure of weight or quantity, varying in designation depending on the goods concerned.
   Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes …. 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 114
   The last of wool is twelve sacks. 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 169
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.