*SET-U

Chambers (1908)

Last

Read this edition’s complete source entry.

Englishe-38538-7065Historical source · not a reviewed *SET-U verdictRead the source ↗

This edition’s origin note

[A contr. of latest.]

Original source wording, not an independently verified *SET-U conclusion.

The complete extracted entry

e-38538-7065

Historical source text, not a reviewed *SET-U analysis. Claims and terminology belong to this edition.

Last, last, adj. latest: coming after all the others: final: next before the present: utmost: meanest: most improbable or unlikely—also adv.—n. Last′-court, a court held by the jurats in the marshes of Kent to fix rates chargeable for the preservation of these—also Last.—adv. Last′ly.—Last day (Scot.), yesterday; Last heir (Eng. law), he to whom lands come by escheat for want of lawful heirs.—At last, in conclusion (this from A.S. on lást, therefore not from late at all, but from last (1), which is the A.S. lást, a trace); Breathe one's last, to die; Die in the last ditch, to fight to the bitter end; First and last, altogether; On one's last legs, on the verge of utter failure or exhaustion; Put the last hand to, to finish, put the finishing touch to; The last cast (see Cast); The last day, the Day of Judgment; The last days, times (B.), the period when the end of the world draws near; To the last, to the end: till death. [A contr. of latest.]

Source locator ebook:38538;section:dictionary;paragraph:7090;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:2738323-2739629

Where interpretation must slow down

  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
  • Historical text may contain offensive, obsolete or inaccurate language and classifications.
  • Public-domain determination applies to the United States; other jurisdictions require separate confirmation.
  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

This page does not invent a manuscript attestation, a sound-change sequence, a modern scholarly verdict or a complete ancestor tree. Missing detail is a limit of this source record, not necessarily a limit of scholarship.

Find other records with this spelling →

Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

The full extracted entry is rendered as plain text. Formatting and navigation are added by *SET-U; source wording is not silently rewritten as new analysis.

Coverage: the complete A–Z main-entry clusters and dictionary Addenda. Derivative words remain within their original entry clusters. Non-dictionary appendices and standalone illustrations are excluded.

Original entry or artifact ↗Source edition and credits ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source audit fields
Source locator
ebook:38538;section:dictionary;paragraph:7090;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:2738323-2739629
Source record SHA-256
ba7bccc578e580b5034d9d008219860533934fad15c72df63ff7b3919b918df6
Records SHA-256
fe553f4cc08e11f2f222d5bd4706ae9585f8951c8374a3edc0fcc03264dbbea9
Published snapshot
00f489ccce5cccc78b796c10de36f4f0d18709073434ccf9285eb201d4ac39ca
Acquired
2026-11-05T09:16:04.758Z · acquisition date, not first attestation
Parser
chambers-1908-1
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,407,997 bytes555d2991c0d7cc611a61c79935db172efe6bb5becb074253788d90dafd0b6b08
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,773,892 bytes912196a924c239e3ccc550bbb1f8515ce77bbd271ebf777b27fc468174ac32f8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 2,804,092 bytes4a647fbb3ce598efbe36554cdc02b070b3f5edf5ba2e41fcd36328f18a26c4e8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 4,392,053 bytes222c6725b7618cc03250863a64cce04c859c3378caa03b347376611c0668b33d
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac