a. (sb.). Also 3 uttrest, 5 otter(e)st, vttyreste, vterrest(e, vttrest(e, -ist, utteres, Sc. uterast. [f. UTTER a. + -EST. Cf. OFris. ûterst, utterst, utrest, etc., OLG. ûtrist, MDu. uterst (Du. uiterst), OHG. ûʓar-, ûʓʓar-, ûʓorosto, etc. (MHG. ûʓʓer-, -ûʓereste, G. äusserst), ON. útarst adv. (Da. yderst, Norw. ytrast, yttarst), MSw. yterst(e, ytārsta, etc. (Sw. ytterst), a superl. formed on a comparative: cf. OUTEREST a.]
Now rare, the usual form being uttermost.
I. † 1. Most outward; = UTMOST a. 1. Obs.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 17. Ðanne clepeð he his pineres, & hat hem me nemen,… & werpen mein ðe uttreste þiesternesse. Ibid. Þe uttreste is se þiesternesse of helle.
c. 1350. Leg. Rood, 69. Þai fell In-to þe vtterest end of hell.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. i. (1868), 7. Þo come sche nere and sette hir doun vpon þe vterreste corner of my bedde.
14[?]. M. E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich), 93. Doo away the vttrest barke.
1464. Rolls of Parlt., V. 568/2. Your seid Town is sette in the utterest place of this youre Reame.
1491. Caxton, Vitas Patr. (W. de W., 1495), I. xvi. 19. b/1. He had dwellyd in thutterest or last desertes of Heracleos.
2. a. Extreme; = UTMOST a. 2. Now rare.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 787 (Camb. MS.). His wif to tempte more To the vttyreste priue of hire corage.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle, III. iv. (Caxton, 1483), 53. Doyng yow to wite, that ye ben now wretchid poure Caitifs at the vtterest meschyef.
c. 1444. Pecock, Donet, 90. Gloriose benefetis of god … ben in her vtterist goodnes and felicite.
a. 1470. H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), II. ii. 120/2. Punysshed with the uttrest payne & torment.
1481. Cely Papers (Camden), 67. I schall do my best in sayelles [sc. sales] to my otterst poyer.
1530. Baynton, in Palsgr., p. xii. He … may … in a brefe tyme attayne to his utterest desyre.
1883. J. Parker, Tyne Ch., 89. The utterest darkness of the wintriest night.
b. Of persons: That is such to a superlative degree; greatest.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 8. If you should denie it,… the diuill (my vttrest enemy) would confirme it.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, II. 140. The utterest fool … in all the universe.
† 3. Last, final; = UTMOST a. 3. Obs.
c. 1400. Love, Bonavent. Mirr., xxxvi. (1908), 184. He wolde … myȝtily suffre the malice of his pursueres in to the vttereste ende.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 513/1. Vttrest, and laste of alle,… extremus, novissimus.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 272. Till all gude resoun of uterast conclusioun of understanding of this poynt.
c. 1470. G. Ashby, Active Policy, 371. Thaugh your wytt excelle & be more hable To discerne the vtterest Iugement In any case to you appurtenent.
II. absol. or as sb.
† 4. Extreme limit, part, etc.; = UTMOST a. 4.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cxxxiv. 7. Fra vttrest of erthe kloudes ledand. Ibid., cxxxviii. 8. If i … eerde in vtrest of þe se.
a. 1325. Prose Psalter, cxxxviii. 8. Ȝif þat y take my liȝtynges … and wonne in þe vtterest [Dublin MS. vttermast] of þe see.
† 5. The very most; = UTMOST a. 5, 5 b. Obs.
c. 1410. Lantern of Light, 122. We must do oure vttirest to conforme oure wille to þis.
1450. Paston Lett., I. 156. That wyll sette hym verely to do the utterest ayens yow.
1481. Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 109. I haue not yet shewde the vtterist of my myght on yow.
1571. Fortescue, Forest, 145 b. Defending their selues to their vtterest, from the force of any other.
1577. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Chron., 41. Traiane did vtter and expend the vtterest of his skill, deuice, and policie, to take him.
6. To the utterest, = UTMOST a. 7.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxiv. 111. Þe emperour … destruyd þam to þe vtterest.
c. 1430[?]. Brut, II. 437. The two ffoughten togederis, armyd at all poyntis, to the vtterist.
1474. Stonor Papers (Camden), I. 150. He seith hit … wolbe sued to the utterest accordyng to your title.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, xlii. (Arb.), 115. Neuer for noman wold I torne fro yow, But abyde by yow to the utterist.
1571. Fortescue, Forest, 129. Paulus Emilius … did his paine to the vttereste, that his children should be like hym.
1884. J. Payne, Tales fr. Arabic, I. 302. She was distinguished to the utterest for chastity.
(b) 1513. W. Sabyn, in Lett. & Papers War France (1897), 142. I do yt to the utterest off my power.
1540. Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), II. 272. To the utterest of my Remembraunce.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom., 41. Jesus Christe, whose worke I labour in, to the vtterest of my power.
† 7. At (the) utterest: a. = sense 6. Obs.
c. 1420. Brut, II. 355. Þeze ij worthi lordez comyn yn to þe ffelde, clene armed…, and were yn the place redy io fiȝt at þe vttrest.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xvii. 99. If eny man dare not … suffre his feith and hise othere opiniouns be brouȝt into liȝt … to be at uttrist examyned.
† b. At the utmost limit or latest period of time. Obs.
c. 1425. Orolog. Sapient., v., in Anglia, X. 361/24. To-morowe or alle þe vtterist with-in þis seuen-nyȝte.
1487. Cely Papers (Camden), 169. Wythyn viij or x days wee schall knowe at the uttrest.
