last word
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun[edit]
last word (plural last words)
- (idiomatic, often preceded by the and followed by in) The finest, highest, or ultimate representative of some class of objects.
- Synonym: exemplar
- 1917, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Captain Jim Crosses the Bar”, in Anne’s House of Dreams, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, published 1920, →OCLC, page 332:
- Little Joe's mother's cake was the last word in cakes; [...]
- 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter III, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, authorized British edition, London: Martin Secker […], published February 1932 (May 1932 printing), →OCLC:
- Michaelis was the last word in what was caddish and bounderish.
- (idiomatic) Concluding remark; final advice, instructions, or observation.
- 1876 October, Henry James, Jr., chapter XII, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 205:
- ["]I have got my leave, and that is all I want." / "You had better receive the last word from my mother," said the marquis. / "Very good; I will go and get it," said Newman; and he prepared to return to the drawing-room.
- 1918, W. H. Hudson, chapter 24, in Far Away and Long Ago:
- [W]hen we had grasped hands for the last time and had said our last good-bye, he added this one more last word: "Of all the people I have ever known you are the only one I don't know."
- (often pluralized) The final statement uttered by a person before death.
- 1889 September 11, Mark Twain, “Last words of great men”, in Buffalo Express[1], Buffalo, N.Y.:
- Benjamin Franklin [...] pondered over his last words for as much as two weeks, and then when the time came, he said, "None but the brave deserve the fair," and died happy.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘To-morrow We Disappear into the Unknown’”, in The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 109:
- This account I am transmitting down the river by canoe, and it may be our last word to those who are interested in our fate.
- (idiomatic) A final decision or remark, or the right to make one.
- have the last word
- get the last word
- 2008 July 9, Jeff Israely, “Where Is the Afghan Female Runner?”, in Time[2], archived from the original on 10 August 2008:
- An Afghan Olympic official said the team holds the right to substitute Andyar with another female athlete, though the IOC would have the last word.
Translations[edit]
finest, highest or ultimate representation of some class of object
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concluding remarks
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(often pluralized) final statement uttered before death
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final decision or the right to make such a decision
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- “last word”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.