Also 5 lest. [f. LAST v.1]
1. Continuance, duration. Now rare.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19562. In last o cristen mans lijf.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 90. Fy on fortoun, fy on thi frewall quheyll; Fy on thi traist, for her it has no lest.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1549/2. Things memorable, of perpetuitie, fame, and last.
a. 1626. Bacon, New Atl. (1650), 29. These Drinks are of Severall Ages, some to the Age or Last of forty yeares.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Jan., 4/2. Another omission, and a more important one, from the point of view of the literary last of the book, is [etc.].
2. Power of holding on or out; ‘staying’ power.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. vii. It’s a fair trial of skill and last between us and them [the masters].
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 May, 10. His [a waterman’s] ‘last’ is not in the same proportion to his pace as that of the amateur.
