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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

last gasp en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. The final gasp or breath a person takes before death.
    • Now the murdered man is drawing his last gasp. 1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer and Christen Jul, Vampyr:
  2. (broadly) The point of death, or the last period of one's life.
    • The duke had honoured her by coming to her house, and she was bound to welcome him, though in doing so she should bring Lady Lufton to her last gasp. 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, volume 2, page 65:
    • […] I have got an old aunt of my own, who has been puffing and blowing as if she was at her last gasp ever since I can remember; 1782, Frances Burney, chapter 10, in Cecilia, volume 1, page 137:
    • Such as feare God shall be strengthened to stand against all assaults of Satan; yea they shal continue and stand stedfast vnto the end, euen to the last gasp. 1585, Edwin Sandys, “Sermon 14”, in Sermons, page 247:
    • […] but so much rain fell therewith, as refreshed Aurelius his Forces, that were at the last gasp for thirst: 1680, Andrew Marvell, A Short Historical Essay Touching General Councils, Creeds, and Impositions in Matters of Religion, page 33:
  3. (figuratively) The point at which something disappears or is destroyed; a last-gasp moment, attempt, etc.
    • Me thinks, (my Lord) you are grown something solemn on the sudden; since your Monopolies and Patents, which made your purse swell like a wet spunge, have been reduc’d to th’ last gasp. 1654, George Chapman (attr.), “Act I”, in Revenge for Honour, page 9:
    • ‘What about Greg?’ It was his conscience letting out a last gasp. 1979, Patrick White, The Twyborn Affair, page 221:
    • The current was more rapid now, the steamer seemed at her last gasp, the stern-wheel flopped languidly, and I caught myself listening on tiptoe for the next beat of the float, for in sober truth I expected the wretched thing to give up every moment. 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 165, page 486:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
last gasps Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

last-gasp

Translations (9)

es último suspiro (a person's last breath before dying) · fr dernier soupir (a person's last breath before dying) · mi manawa kiore (a person's last breath before dying) · bn শ্বাস (a person's last breath before dying) · pl ostatnie tchnienie (a person's last breath before dying) · fi viimeinen henkäys (a person's last breath before dying) · pl ostatnie podrygi (a person's last breath before dying) · fr dernier souffle (a person's last breath before dying) · pl ostatnie podrygi (the final moment or days of one's life)