Dictionary

eleventh hour en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From a parable in the Bible of workmen hired at the eleventh hour (that is, late in the day), known as the Parable of the Workers of the Eleventh Hour or the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard: * King James Bible, Matthew 20:6 & 20:9: *: And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? … And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

Meanings

1. (countable, idiomatic, uncountable) A point in time which is nearly too late; the last minute.
   • Egypt had managed to bring the two sides to the brink of a deal two weeks ago, before internal political dynamics prompted the Israelis to back out at the eleventh hour. 2009 March 3, Tony Karon, “Why Money Alone Will Not Fix Gaza”, in TIME, archived from the original on 14 May 2009:
   • Thus, the famous title of the dictionary is, at base, derogatory. This explains why Yule kept the title secret until the eleventh hour, why some contemporary reviewers took exception to the title, and why Yule highlighted Burnell’s approval of the title. 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 59:
   • In the same year, 1844, negotiations were begun to strengthen the North Union's position by an amalgamation with the Liverpool & Manchester and Grand Junction companies, but at the eleventh hour the shareholders took exception to the rather overbearing ways of the Grand Junction, and backed out. 1960 February 14, M. D. Greville and G. O. Holt, “Railway Development in Preston—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 100:
   • If she repented, though at the eleventh hour, it was not too late. 1857, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 85, in The Virginians:
   • I have extricated myself so far at many eleventh hours and perhaps there is some hope in this. 1961, Philip Toynbee, Underdogs: Eighteen Victims of Society, page 56:
   • Highly providential was the appearance on the scene of Corny Kelleher when Stephen was blissfully unconscious but for that man in the gap turning up at the eleventh hour the finish might have been that he might have been a candidate for the accident ward […] 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

11 o'clock number · film at 11

Translations (27)

nb i ellevte time (The last minute) · es última hora (The last minute) · es último minuto (The last minute) · da i ellevte time (The last minute) · is á elleftu stundu (The last minute) · nl elfde uur (The last minute) · ar آخر لحظة، اللحظة الأخيرة (The last minute) · de im letzten Moment (The last minute) · ja 土壇場 (The last minute) · da i den ellevte time (The last minute) · ru в после́днюю мину́ту (The last minute) · de in letzter Sekunde (The last minute) · sh у задњи час (The last minute) · de fünf vor zwölf (The last minute) · pt em cima da hora (The last minute) · pl ostatnia chwila (The last minute) · fi viime hetki (The last minute) · cs v hodině dvanácté (The last minute) · it all'ultimo minuto (The last minute) · fr à la dernière minute (The last minute) · de im letzten Augenblick (The last minute) · sv i elfte timmen (The last minute) · es casi demasiado tarde (The last minute) · da i 11. time (The last minute) · fi yhdestoista hetki (The last minute) · is síðustu forvöð (The last minute) · sh u zadnji čas (The last minute)

wikipedia: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard