last word

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last word (plural last words)

1. (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.

2. (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."

3. (often pluralized) The final statement uttered by a person before death.
   • 1889 September 11, Mark Twain, “Last words of great men”, in Buffalo Express‎, 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.

4. (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, 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.

• final say
• last laugh

• “last word”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• draw lots