a. Forms: 1 ʓingest, ʓingæst, ʓingst, 3 ȝeongeste, ȝengestte, ȝongest(e, -ist, -ost(e, 3–6 ȝungest(e, 4 ȝingest, yongeist, Sc. ȝongast, ȝungaste, 4–6 ȝongest, yongest, 5 ȝongust, 6 yoongest, 6– youngest. [f. YOUNG a. + -EST. (The normal mutated OE. form ʓingest did not survive.)] The superlative degree of YOUNG a.; opposed to ELDEST, OLDEST.
1. In sense 1 of YOUNG: Of least age. Also absol.
c. 893. Ælfred, Oros., I. iv. § 1. Ioseph, se þe ʓingst wæs hys ʓebroðra.
c. 1205. Lay., 3460. Mi ȝengestte [c. 1275 ȝeongeste] dohter. Ibid., 6955. Þe ȝungeste of þan breðeren.
13[?]. Cursor M., 7391 (Gött.). Quer es þin alder ȝingest son?
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 148. The yongest of hem hadde of age Fourtiene yer.
1464. Paston Lett., II. 153. Your sone and lowly servant, John Paston, the yongest.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 391. When suche questions be asked, the yongest both of the spiritualitie and temporalitie say their opinions first.
1611. Cotgr., Qulocul,… the last, or youngest child one hath.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. Walk through Vill. They are a fine family from the eldest to the youngest.
1852. Miss Mulock, Agatha’s Husb., xii. She and the youngest Miss Harper eyed one another uncomfortably.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxii. 156. My guide,… with his strong right arm round the youngest of the party.
2. In senses 2 and 3 of YOUNG: Belonging to the earliest part of life, earliest; most youthful in character or aspect, freshest. rare.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXXXVIII. xi. Thou dost me fill, And hast from yongest yeares, With terrifying feares.
1818. Keats, Endym., I. 42. While the early budders are just new, And run in mazes of the youngest hue About old forests.
3. In senses 4 and 5 of YOUNG: Most newly initiated, begun, introduced, etc.; latest, most recent.
Beowulf, 2817. Þæt wæs þam gomelan Ʒingæste word breostʓehyʓdum, ær he bæl cure, hate heaðowylmas.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xli. 300. Ure Aliesend … he hiene ʓemedemade to bionne betweox ðæm læstum & ðæm ʓingestum monnum.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXXXIX. ii. Not yongest thought in mne doth grow,… But yet unutt’red thou dost know.
1596. Edw. III., II. ii. 117. Since Letherne Adam till this youngest howre.
1797. Nelson, 5 April, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), II. 27. To go youngest into the Britannia.
b. Youngest hand (in Card-playing): the last player, or the last except the dealer (opp. to eldest hand, ELDEST 5).
1680. Cotton, Compl. Gamester, 66. If the eldest and second hand pass the Ruff the youngest hath power to double it, and then it is to be plaid for the next deal. Ibid., 89. This being done, the eldest must show how many Chalks he hath in his hand to set up, and after him the youngest.
1720. R. Seymour, Compl. Gamester (1734), 74. If the youngest Hand names his Trump without asking Leave.
4. Comb., as youngest-born.
1596. Markham, Poem of Poems, II. xi. Now with their [sc. the vines’] smallest grapes, times yongest borne Clustred in bunches like a countlesse broode.
1833. Gen. P. Thomson, Exerc. (1842), II. 414. Music, the youngest-born of heaven’s benevolence.
1838. Lytton, Alice, VIII. iii. Our youngest-born affection is our darling and our idol.
