Also 5 lattest. [A mod. superlative f. LATE a.1 + -EST, the connection of LAST a. (repr. OE. latost, latst), with the positive having been obscured by its change of form and its independent sense-development.]
1. = LAST. Now arch. and poet.
[c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 363. The see grauel is lattest for to drye, And lattest may thow therwith edifie.]
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 797. Now at the latest minute of the houre, Grant vs your loues.
1591. Troub. Raigne K. John (1611), 29. Ile fight it out unto the latest man.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 28. To leaue that latest, which concernes him first.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 337. The thinnest or latest part of the milk of a Mare.
1619. Drayton, Idea, No. 61. Now at the last gaspe of Loues latest Breath.
1669. Dryden, Tyr. Love, V. 1. ’Tis done, tyrant, this is thy latest hour.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, I. 320. I had her latest look of earthly love, I felt her hand’s last pressure.
1821. Keats, Isabella, xliii. How she might … sing to it one latest lullaby.
1864. Tennyson, Enoch A., 728. For Phillip’s dwelling fronted on the street, The latest house to landward.
1883. R. W. Dixon, Mano, I. i. 1. I, Fergant, living now my latest days.
absol. c. 1440. Girald. Hist. Irel., 26. Thay wer fyrst y-sete yn þe latest of þe host.
2. Most late; most recent.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. vi. 1. The latest newes we heare, Is that [etc.].
1825. Southey, T. Paraguay, Ded. viii. Take therefore now thy Father’s latest lay,… Perhaps his last.
1884. Times (weekly ed.), 17 Oct., 3/2. The latest … of these speeches.
1884. Graphic, 23 Aug., 198/1. The passengers in all except the latest trains are as a rule orderly enough.
1900. F. Anstey, Brass Bottle, i. 5. Let’s have a look at Beevor’s latest performance.
b. Phr. At (the) latest: at the most advanced hour, at the most distant date (cf. AT prep. 25 c).
1884. Times, 30 Jan., 9/3. Between February or March at latest, and May rustic attractions are over.
3. quasi-adv. (e.g., in Comb. with ppl. adjs.: cf. LATE adv. 7).
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 18. My fairest, my espous’d, my latest found.
1864. Tennyson, Enoch A., 150. Nursing the sickly babe, her latest-born.
