laten.
/leɪt/, U.S. /leɪt/ΚΠ
OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) xxxi. 55 Þa gesettan bileouene his gebroðrum gebeode on rihtne timan buton late and gnornunge.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2767 Egipte king to late [L. tandem] was dead.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 148v The store was full stith þen stynt þai for late.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 165v All left þai for late & lackyng of Sun.
2. Late evening, late in the day. Only in prepositional phrases, esp. in till (also until) late. Cf. from early to (also till, until) late at early n. 1.
ΚΠ
1579 S. Gosson Ephemerides Phialo f. 38v Turne them of with some prety delayes, from morning to euening, from early to late.
1705 T. Brodrick Historia Sacra 32 An Attendance on his Worship and Service, the whole Day..losing no Opportunity..to multiply and lengthen them from early to late.
1794 W. Anderson Piper of Peebles 11 The morn at late, that dreary hour, Fan spectres grim begin their tour.
1813 R. Owen New View of Society ii. 35 All the regularly trained Scotch peasantry disdained the idea of working from early till late, day after day, within cotton mills.
1884 D. Grant Lays & Legends of North 59 For aft at Allan's i' the late They drank a cosy gill.
1935 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 23 July 10/3 (advt.) Shop in the cool of the evening. Open till late. Ice creams, melons, soft drinks.
1952 E. Hemingway Old Man & Sea 84 The moon did not rise now until late and he had no way of judging the time.
2013 Guardian (Nexis) 25 June (Features section) 19 We worked from nine in the morning till late.
3. A vegetable, flower, fruit, etc., that ripens, blooms, or is harvested late in the year, or later than others of the same kind. Chiefly in plural. Cf. early n. 2.
ΚΠ
1814 App. Gen. Rep. Agric. State & Polit. Circumstances Scotl. I. ix. 420 After lates, the ground lies uncropped till the following spring.
1873 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener, & Country Gentleman 24 July 57/2 Now for lates: and here Elton Seedling [i.e. a variety of strawberry] comes in, but not all alone in its glory.
1912 Outing Nov. 218/1 He will make his money on the earlies and the lates; and perhaps the mid-season berries will pay his expenses.
1948 G. D. H. Bell Cultivated Plants Farm xiii. 114 There is, however, no distinct and fixed difference in flowering date between the two groups because the strains differ in this character, there being late Earlies and early Lates.
2006 C. Foley A-Z of Allotment Veg. 31/3 If the sprouts are growing unevenly and you want to crop them all at once for freezing, earlies (but not lates) can be stopped.
4. colloquial. Frequently in plural. A shift (shift n. 12b) beginning during the latter part of the day, esp. during the evening or late afternoon; a late shift. to be on lates, to do lates: see Phrases 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > work > times or periods of work > [noun] > spell of work or duty > other types of shift
day shift1842
dayside1899
graveyard shift1907
multiple shift1921
twilight shift1970
late1975
1975 Commerc. Motor 12 Sept. 106/1 (advt.) We have vacancies on days attracting a salary of £58.66 p.w., earlies and lates £62.91 p.w., and permanent nights £67.91 p.w.
1976 Irish Times 8 Oct. 12/2 Busmen work seven late shifts on most routes, then seven earlies, then seven lates.
1991 J. Marsden Lett. from Inside (1994) 134 Dad's working a late on Christmas Day, so we'll..have Christmas dinner early.
2013 J. Donoghue Police, Lies & Alibis x. 132 Shifts are not good for the body..: the mix of lates, nights and early days ensuring you can never get into a decent routine.
Phrases
P1. of (also †on, †upon) late: not long before or ago; recently, lately.
ΚΠ
1405 in G. D. MacRae Early Sc. Texts (1975) No. 59 Trewis war tane & sworne o late.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 5833 (MED) We schal dispise swiche oppiniouns, Whiche of þe fende wer founde nat of late.
1429 R. Neville Let. 3 June in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 69 (note) Grete costages & exp'nces at I haue hadd now of late.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 2331 (MED) Fra þe marche of Messedone I meued opon late.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 4394 (MED) Ȝe haue laȝt now on late, within a lite ȝeres, All Europ & Asie & Auffrik.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) li. 172 Of late I haue lost my goode lorde and mayster.
a1586 (?a1513) W. Dunbar in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 212 Sa mony ane Iudge sic lordis maid vp of lait.
1611 Bible (King James) John xi. 8 Master, the Iewes of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither againe? View more context for this quotation
1644 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 121 Till of late that some of the stones were carried away to repair the city walls.
1716 J. Addison Freeholder No. 32. ⁋2 Great Numbers of them [sc. women] have of late eloped from their Allegiance.
1794 R. Burns Let. Sept. (1985) II. 311 I shall write you some ballads, in a day or two, the playthings of my fancy of late.
1827 H. Steuart Planter's Guide (1828) 14 Since the Ladies of late have become students of Chemistry.
1868 Stephen's New Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 6) III. iv. ii. iv. 111 In modern times, and particularly of late, various alterations have been introduced.
1904 Daily Chron. 15 Apr. 4/7 There has been some discussion of late as to who invented the picture postcard.
1973 Times 2 Aug. 6/2 An atmosphere of tension has developed of late.
2010 New Yorker 17 May 40/2 The benefits of good financial innovations have, of late, been swamped by the costs of the ones that went bad.
P2. Chiefly colloquial. to be on lates: to be on late shifts. to do lates: to work late shifts.
ΚΠ
1976 J. Newson & E. Newson Seven Years Old in Home Environment viii. 266 When he's on lates, like, I often have a little natter at the top of the terrace with..well, my old man thinks they're me fancy men.
1984 A. Coyle Redundant Women iv. 87 By the time I get home from work, if I'm on lates, it's 9.30.
1999 Evening Standard (Nexis) 26 Nov. 37 Next week I'm doing lates, so I'll be starting about six in the evening and finishing at one in the morning.
2014 P. James Want you Dead 355 ‘We're on lates tonight,’ Susi Holiday said. ‘We're around until midnight.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
lateadj.1
/leɪt/, U.S. /leɪt/α. Old English hlætt (Northumbrian), Old English læt, Old English lætt (rare), Old English lat- (inflected form), Old English latt- (inflected form, rare), early Middle English leate (south-west midlands), early Middle English let, early Middle English lete, Middle English latt, Middle English–1600s lat, Middle English–1600s latte; English regional 1800s– lat (northern and midlands), 1900s– latt- (in compounds, Essex); Sc. pre-1700 lat, pre-1700 latt, pre-1700 latte, pre-1700 let, pre-1700 lett.
β. Middle English laat, Middle English laate, Middle English lait, Middle English–1600s laite, Middle English– late, 1500s laytt, 1500s–1600s layte; English regional 1800s– leeat (northern), 1900s– leat (northern); Scottish pre-1700 laeyt, pre-1700 lait, pre-1700 laite, pre-1700 laitt, pre-1700 layt, pre-1700 layte, pre-1700 layth (perhaps transmission error), pre-1700 leait, pre-1700 leat, pre-1700 leate, pre-1700 leatt, pre-1700 leatte, pre-1700 leit, pre-1700 leite, pre-1700 leitt, pre-1700 leyt, pre-1700 liate, pre-1700 lyit, pre-1700 1700s– late; also Irish English (Wexford) 1800s laate.
I. Senses relating to slowness or delay.† 5. English regional (northern). Of weather: wet, unseasonable. Obsolete. rare.
1. Slow, sluggish; reluctant; tedious. Also: †lax, negligent (obsolete). Frequently with to or infinitive; also with genitive or of. Now rare (English regional (northern and midlands) in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > slowness of action or operation > [adjective]
lateeOE
slackc1000
slowc1225
heavya1400
lent14..
slowfulc1400
sloth1412
latesomea1425
sluggedc1430
sluggingc1430
tardy1483
lingeringa1547
tarde1547
sleuth1567
snailish1581
slow-moving1592
lagging1597
snail-paced1597
snail-slow1600
slow-pacing1616
snail-like1639
sluggish1640
ignave1657
languishing1693
slow-stepping1793
lentitudinous1801
somnolent1812
slow-coachish1844
tardigradous1866
vermigrade1938
slow-cooking1968
the world > movement > rate of motion > slowness > [adjective] > tardy or sluggish
lateeOE
latredec897
latelyOE
slowfulc1400
latesomea1425
languoring?c1425
sluggedc1430
tardy1483
tediousc1485
hooly1513
longsome1543
lingeringa1547
tarde1547
slow-worm1548
tardious?1572
lagging1597
snail-slow1600
snail-paced1601
snail-like1639
languid1646
dilatory1648
sluggish1648
languishing1693
laggard1702
lentitudinous1801
laggardly1826
lag-last1862
slowpoke1872
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xxxviii. 281 Sie æghwelc mon suiðe hræd & suiðe geornful to gehieranne, & suiðe læt to sprecenne [L. tardus autem ad loquendum].
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxxiii. 238 Be latre meltunge innan nim gearwan drince on ecede.
OE Beowulf (2008) 1529 Eft wæs anræd, nalas elnes læt,..mæg Hylaces.
OE Blickling Homilies 43 Se mæssepreost se þe bið to læt þæt he þæt deofol of men adrife, & þa sauwle raþost mid ele & mid wætere æt þon wiþerweardan ahredde.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 183 Hire þuncheð lang þat hie om [read on] him bileueð..Hit þincher [read þincheð] hire let, for hire is loð þar-inne.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 183 (MED) To gode þu ware slau and let, and to euele spac and hwat.
c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 695 Ioseph..Called him Mordreyns ‘a lat mon’ in trouþe.
a1400 Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 990/374* ‘A! foyls,’ quod our lord, ‘ful latt are ȝe to traw.’
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1172 Of leaute he watz lat to his Lorde hende.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 223 Laat of mevynge, and Slow to take nedys but yf thay bene grete.
a1567 L. Nowell Vocabularium Saxonicum (1952) 111/1 Læte, slowe, slack, behind. Lanc., latte.
1673 J. Ray N. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 29 Lat, late, slow, tedious.
1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. Late, slow. N[orthern].
1826 R. Wilbraham Attempt Gloss. Cheshire 53 Lat-a-foot, slow in moving.
1856 in Manch. Guardian (1883) 17 Jan. 7/6 The natives of this shire [sc. Lancashire] pride themselves, ‘Quick at meat and quick at work, For lat (slow) at eating's good for nought.’
1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. (at cited word) Yo'n find it a lat job to shift all them 'urdles by yoreself.
1887 T. Darlington Folk-speech S. Cheshire Lat..(4) tedious. ‘A lat job.’
2.
a. That occurs, comes, or happens after the proper, right, or expected time; delayed or deferred in time. Frequently with for.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > [adjective] > late
lateOE
latefulc1384
tediousc1485
overlate1574
tarde1609
tardy1667
belated1670
sero1682
late in the day1689
slack1694
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > [adjective] > late > late in arriving or overdue
latec1325
too-late1620
tardy1638
overdue1858
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxix. 333 Hi behreowsodon þæt hi ele næfdon, ac heora behreowsung wæs to lætt.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) i. 21 Þæt folc wæs Zachariam geanbidiende & wundrodon þæt he on þam temple læt wæs.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 7824 Er he ssolde þat abbe ydo, vor it was þo late [c1425 Harl. to late] ynou.
c1480 (a1400) St. Placidus 2 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 69 Lat penance is rycht perolouse.
c1480 (a1400) St. Adrian 77 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 274 Ȝet wil I, þo it lat be, to criste and his treutht tak me.
1585 R. P. tr. D. Ortúñez de Calahorra Second Pt. First Bk. Myrrour of Knighthood f. 149v Although the victorie should be verie late, yet he supposed that the furie of the Prince Brandizel could not endure long against him.
a1631 J. Donne Sunne Rising in Poems (1633) 199 Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,..Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide Late schooleboyes.
1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 33 A great snow with us makes the post so late that [etc.].
1725 W. Pattison tr. Virgil Georgics in M. Prior et al. New Coll. Poems Several Occasions 128 What cou'd he do? all Efforts are too late.
1781 R. B. Sheridan Critic i. ii. 46 Dangle. I believe it must be near the time—shall we go together. Fuff. No; It will not be yet this hour, for they are always late at that theatre.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 349 Their late repentance might perhaps give them a fair claim to pardon.
1884 M. Crommelin Brown-eyes x. 102 The cab is at the door; don't be late for the train.
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 29 Mar. 13/5 Owing to a big rockslide.., the G.T.P. passenger train from Prince Rupert is now twenty-four hours late.
a1940 ‘N. West’ Impostor in Novels & Other Writings (1997) 416 It was hard to get a table inside and the late arrivals were forced to sit out on the terrace.
1979 Working Mother July 35/1 You'll be late for school.
1980 J. B. Hilton Anathema Stone x. 102 Maybe they'd left it too late.
2001 N. Jones Rough Guide Trav. Health ii. 183 Your period may be late after treatment.
b. In attributive use. Of or relating to the late arrival of a person or thing; esp. designating a penalty or charge for lateness.Recorded earliest in late fee n. at Compounds 4.
ΚΠ
1840 Standard 23 Sept. At half-past 11 each letter is charged 6d. late fee, and all newspapers in a like proportion.
1935 Jrnl. Business Univ. Chicago 8 259 The borrower is assumed always to be prompt in paying.., so that no fines, late charges..or other similar adjustments can destroy the exact parallelism of the series of monthly payments.
1967 F. Conroy Stop-time (1977) x. 141 The new attendance taker in home room was above taking bribes and had doubtless included my name in the late list.
1983 M. Weinberg America's Econ. Heritage 264 If small stores are a little late in payment, he has a late penalty charge.
2009 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 21 July a3/4 My favorite thing, beyond the portability of downloadables, is that patrons never incur late fines.
3.
a. Of a season: arriving later in the year than usual.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > [adjective] > late > slow in developing or backward
latesomelOE
lateward1538
late1577
latewardly1580
latterward1582
serotine1598
backward1600
serotinous1656
1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 1865/1 The wynde contynued North, and East, till after the Ascention day,..whereby followed a late spring.
1645 J. Milton Sonnet vii, in Poems 49 My late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
1709 W. Dampier Contin. Voy. New-Holland i. 52 The Monsoon was very late this Year.
1739 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. II. at Avena The best time for sowing of Oats is in February or March, according as the Season is early or late.
1839 Farmer's Monthly Visitor 15 Apr. 55/3 This orchard had not apparently suffered from the severity of the late winters.
1886 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester Lat,..(2) backward; ‘A lat spring’.
1916 Oregon Teachers Monthly Nov. 168/1 All the seasons were late this year, but school boards conscientiously made an attempt to start school as early as possible.
1981 A. Sen Poverty & Famines (1982) vii. 105 The wet season was late and short.
2003 Canad. Geographic Mar. 44/2 Breeding numbers are down because of a late spring.
b. Of a crop, fruit, flower, etc.: growing, ripening, or blossoming after the expected or usual time.
ΚΠ
1612 J. Speed Theatre of Empire of Great Brit. i. xi. 21/1 The Autumne bringeth a somewhat late haruest.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Tulip Some of Spring Tulips that were before, after sowing become late Flowers.
1776 E. Topham Lett. from Edinb. xxxiii. 275 The plants are very late, and the girls extremely forward.
1832 Boston Herald 8 May 3/5 The shoot of Spring grass is also unusually late.
1887 T. Darlington Folk-speech S. Cheshire ‘My wuts bin very lat this 'ear.’
1912 Garden Mag. Oct. 120 Tulips were late, due as much to our cool spring as to the severe winter.
1949 Climatol. Data Nebraska (U.S. Dept. Commerce Weather Bureau) 54 162 Grain sorghums promised a large crop if they matured, but were very late.
2013 Guardian (Nexis) 20 Mar. 1 In the garden crocuses are late while snowdrops are still looking good.
c. Of land: causing crops to grow or ripen after the expected or usual time.
ΚΠ
1794 Mr. Green in R. Lowe Gen. View Agric. Nottingham App. xv. 109 The backwarder the land, the less the seeds should be eat: and upon very late land, I think should not be eat at all till in the spring pasturage.
1879 Leeds Mercury 9 Sept. 6/5 The little fine weather of the past week has cleared the meadows, except on very late land indeed.
1902 U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 154. 9 The superfluous water which tended to make the land cold, sour, and ‘late’ is removed, thus making the soil warmer and earlier.
1982 J. Seymour Lore of Land ii. 22 Wet land is late land.
4. Of an event or action: occurring later than is typical or usual (often without suggestion of tardiness).
ΚΠ
1615 A. Niccholes Disc. Marriage & Wiving v. 13 In these late marriages is seldome found..true comfort and happinesse.
1657 Bp. J. Taylor Συμβολον Ηθικο-πολεμικον: Coll. Disc 586 It is no strange thing that there are examples of late baptism.
1788 G. Colman Ways & Means i. ii. 16 We shall be at home time enough for a late breakfast.
1863 Sporting Gaz. 14 Nov. 868/1 And, lastly, back to camp, and a late lunch.
1881 ‘S. Tytler’ Hero of Hundred Fights xix. 296 Louisa's late motherhood..seemed to have turned her silly head.
1900 Med. Brief 28 687 An early puberty means a late menopause.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 28 Nov. 30 Perhaps it's something to do with late parenthood—today's 45-year-old is likely to have children who are not much more than 10.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wet weather > [adjective] > wet (of weather, place, or time)
wetc893
moista1398
waterya1398
moistya1500
waterish1545
washy1566
rotten1567
slabby1653
weety1658
late1673
fresh1790
slottery1790
soft1812
givey1829
juicy1837
sploshy1838
sposhy1842
slip-sloppya1845
splishy-splashyc1850
shabby1853
soppy1872
sappy1885
1673 J. Ray N. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 29 Lat weather; wet or otherwise unseasonable weather.
6. In predicative use. Of a woman: that has not started her menstrual period by the expected date. colloquial in later use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > discharge of menses > [adjective] > timing of
late1891
overdue1960
1891 Cincinnati Lancet-Clinic 21 Nov. 675/1 She has rarely menstruated for more than eighteen or twenty hours, and as a rule was from four to eight days late.
1962 J. Ludwig in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 255 Shirley, maybe you're late this month, eh, dollie?
1974 ‘D. Fletcher’ Lovable Man i. 21 Linda realised that she was late... It was impossible to consult her family doctor.
1999 A. Hadley Tough Choices 20 A few months earlier I had done a pregnancy test after being three weeks late.
II. Senses relating to advanced time.
7.
a. That occurs far on in the course of the day or night.
ΚΠ
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iv. met. v. l. 3798 Þe sterre boetes passeþ..and drencheþ his late flaumbes in þe see.
c1450 How Wise Man tauȝt Sonne (Lamb. 853) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 50 Of late walking comeþ debate.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) v. l. 244 ‘Quhat art thow walkis that gait?’ ‘A trew man schir, thocht my wiage be layt.’
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) v. v. 143 This is enough to be the decay of lust and late-walking through the Realme. View more context for this quotation
1632 G. Wither Psalmes of David cxxvii. 260 In vaine, is early stirring, In vaine, late watch wee keep.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 94 His little Children climbing for a Kiss, Welcome their Father's late return at Night. View more context for this quotation
1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. i. 480 The early feast, and late carouse.
1797 W. Drummond tr. Persius Satires v. 81 Shall I on her with midnight music wait, And hold late revels at a harlot's gate?
1847 O. S. Fowler Self-Culture (new ed.) 298 I solemnly protest against public balls, and late dances, as now conducted.
1870 A. C. Swinburne Ess. & Stud. 367 The stunted brushwood, the late and pale sky.
1911 A. Prescott Stairway on Wall v. 62 He was a riding groom returning leisurely from a late park lesson.
1989 O. Senior in S. Brown Caribbean New Wave (1990) 163 I usually fall asleep during the late show but Joyce watches everything until TV signs off.
2003 J. Mullaney We'll be Back 224 Most of the guys fancied a late drink and headed off into the night to the Irish Centre.
b. Far on in the course of the day; esp. well on into the evening or night. Frequently in predicative use, with non-referential it as subject, as it's late, it's getting late, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > [adjective] > late in the day or night
latea1425
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 1433 (MED) Now es arly, now es late, Now es day, now es nyght.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 5051 (MED) Þar logis he fra þe late niȝt till efte þe liȝt schewis.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) vii. 236 It wes weill lat of nycht be then.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vii. i. 34 In silence, al the lait nycht [L. sera sub nocte] rummesand.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. ccxl To se..how late it was in the nyght yer the footemen coulde get ouer London brydge.
1641 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 37 I took leave of..Antwerp, as late as it was, embarking for Brussels.
1695 W. Congreve Love for Love iii. i. 54 Mrs. F. I believe it's late. B... An you think so, you had best go to Bed.
1706 R. Estcourt Fair Example iv. i. 51 Well, my dear, it begins to grow late, and it's time I shou'd leave you.
1776 Trial Maha Rajah Nundocomar for Forgery 2/1 It being late, the Court adjourned till the next morning at seven o'clock.
1826 W. Scott Woodstock I. iii. 98 It wears late, and gets dark.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Vision of Sin in Poems (new ed.) II. 213 I had a vision when the night was late.
1881 Washington Post 13 Mar. 3/5 Often when it is found that a performance is dragging out its weary length to an intolerably late hour, the actors are requested to ‘come down to cues’.
1902 Munsey's Mag. 24 851/2 Well, I must be stepping... It's getting late.
1968 B. Dylan All Along Watchtower (song) in Lyrics 1962–85 (1987) 224 So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.
1997 K. O'Riordan Boy in Moon i. 7 It's late. You should be asleep. We've a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
c. Of a person: keeping late hours; rising or going to bed late. Also: (modifying an agent noun) that does the action specified late at night or late in the morning. Cf. late bird n. at Compounds 4, late bedder at bedder n.2
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > night > [adjective] > nocturnal or active at night > keeping late hours (of people)
latea1637
a1637 B. Jonson Tale of Tub i. vi. 11 in Wks. (1640) III Late Watchers are no early Wakers, Madam. View more context for this quotation
1637 J. Milton Comus 7 The rudenesse, and swill'd insolence Of such late Wassailers.
1824 C. R. Maturin Albigenses III. xvii. 324 On the bridal night, when some late revellers still loitered in the hall.
1897 ‘Ouida’ Massarenes xiv. 185 We are all of us very late people.
1898 Daily News 30 June 6/3 His friend was what might be called a late man.
1918 R. Pertwee Our Wonderful Selves (1919) viii. vii. 344 ‘Isn't it getting late?’ ‘Is it? I don't know—I'm a late person.’
1989 J. Updike Self-consciousness i. 4 Since childhood I have been a late sleeper, preferring to let others get the world in order before I descend to it.
2006 ‘L. Child’ Hard Way vii. 33 There was sometimes a short intermission after the late folk had rolled home and before the early people had gotten up.
8. Of a plant, fruit, etc.: flowering or ripening late in the year, or later than other plants of the same variety.late Newington, Late Orleans: see the final element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by age or cycles > [adjective] > ripe or ripened > ripening or becoming ripe > ripening or flowering late
late1440
late-flowering1577
late-coming1598
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 288 Late frute, sirotinus.
1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. cxi. 1284 The fruite is..not fit to be eaten, and a late fruite, which is not ripe till after the Autumne æquinoctiall.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole 145 The late Pineapple Moly.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 127 The late Narcissus. View more context for this quotation
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Flower Autumnal, or Late Flowers, those of September and October.
1796 C. Marshall Gardening (1813) 405 Sow annuals of all sorts for a late blow.
1837 W. Macgillivray Withering's Brit. Plants (ed. 4) 332 Late Spider Orchis..Early Spider Orchis.
1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 4/1 Sow in hot-bed for early, and in open ground for late plants.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1405 The well-known garden pea has many varieties, short and tall, early and late.
1999 BBC Gardeners' World Apr. 70/2 Fiesta—Excellent new late dessert apple.
9.
a. Belonging to the latter part of a particular historical, cultural, or developmental period.See also Late Modern English at Modern English n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adjective] > late or well-advanced
highOE
late1583
onwarda1586
deep1601
far gone1607
advanced1653
tardive1905
1583 W. Fulke Def. Transl. Script. iii. 114 The late pettie Prelates of the seconde Nicene Councell.
1665 J. Ogilby tr. Homer Odysses xix. 286 (side-note) This story is otherwise related here then amongst the late Greek and Roman Writers.
1720 N. Dubois & G. Leoni tr. A. Palladio Architecture IV. ii. xxi. 4 The architrave, frize and cornice, are not extraordinarily well wrought, which persuades me that this Temple was not built in the good times, but rather under some of the late Emperors.
1781 W. Cowper Retirem. 31 Looked for at so late a day, In the last scene of such a senseless play.
1852 D. Rock Church our Fathers III. i. ix. 194 The ‘Dome’, or last judgment, is shown in late but beautiful Flemish stained glass at Fairford.
1868 W. K. Parker Monogr. Struct. & Devel. Shoulder-girdle & Sternum Vertebrata 185 The ossification of the sternum in the Hemipods is very late, as compared with the Fowl.
1930 A. U. Pope Introd. Persian Art p. viii This point of view is largely a reaction against the romantic effusions of the late Victorians.
1977 G. Clark World Prehist. (ed. 3) x. 439 The final emergence of urban as distinct from ceremonial centres defined the Late Intermediate phase of Andean prehistory.
2004 New Literary Hist. 35 591 A conventional story of a decadent late Rome falling to clean-living barbarians.
b. Designating the latter part of a season, period, age, etc.
ΚΠ
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum i. 9 This Sprouting is chiefly in the late Spring, or early Sommer.
1675 N. Grew Compar. Anat. Trunks ii. i. 43 The Third part by which the Sap ascends is the Bark, as may be observed in almost any Branch, cut cross in the late Spring and Summer.
1772 W. Jones tr. Mesihi in Poems 112 Late gloomy winter chill'd the sullen air.
1848 Cultivator Feb. 65/1 In winter and in late autumn and early spring, manure may safely lie at or near the surface.
1867 J. F. Hurst Hist. Rationalism (rev. ed.) vi. 114 That devoted spirit which had shined so brightly in his early youth, and which, in late life, he was not ashamed to confess.
1895 G. Saintsbury Corrected Impressions 173 It was not easy to reconcile these two laws in the late seventies and early eighties with regard to Mr. Anthony Trollope.
1930 V. G. Childe Bronze Age vi. 192 The Late Bronze Age was an epoch of turmoil and migration.
1939 Speculum 14 153 The full-page miniature was a familiar phenomenon in late antiquity.
1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 22 July 151/2 By tradition, the use of the diagnosis ‘apoplexy’ is generally restricted to middle and late life.
1986 C. Hope Hottentot Room iii. 35 A young boy and a girl in their late teens.
2000 N.Y. Times 9 Apr. ii. 9/2 The late 60's and early 70's were a heady time for pop music.
c. Of a creative work: produced in the latter part of the creator's career. Also designating a creative artist at this stage of his or her career.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > [adjective] > late
later1604
late1851
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [adjective] > qualities of work of art
uniforma1552
sweet1662
stiff1779
chargeda1806
late1851
ineffective1858
detailed1867
schematic1868
rhythmical1880
functional1881
late-period1927
engaged1947
engagé1955
retardataire1958
society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [adjective] > near end of career
late1851
later1958
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [adjective] > composed in words > near end of career
later1604
late1851
society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > composer > [adjective] > specific period
late1951
1851 Musical Times 4 223 In some late works of the master, his genius appears to be opening into new tracks.
1879 F. J. Furnivall Chaucer's Minor Poetry 419 This late poem composed of two Terns and an Envoy.
1928 H. H. Furness Tragedie of Coriolanus p.vii The Tragedie of Coriolanus is classed among the late plays.
1951 Music Rev. 12 52 A regrettable tendency to speak of early, middle and late Beethoven as though they were practically three different composers.
1995 N.Y. Times 10 Dec. iv. 14/4 Austen's allegiance is with Elinor, but in her late novel, ‘Persuasion’ (1818), a change is evident.
2004 J. Esty Shrinking Island 252 David McWhirter notes some of the resonances between late Woolf and late Eliot.
10. Occurring or taking place towards the end of a particular event, process, etc.; that is far on in the course of proceedings.
ΚΠ
1690 W. Temple Ess. Gardens of Epicurus 26 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt. Gardens..seem to have made late Entrance..in those [empires].
1753 Considerations on Bill preventing Clandestine Marriages 3 Those who were absent during that late period of the sessions, when this most important question was..proposed.
1779 Parl. Reg. 1775–80 XIII. 64 Ministers..were now.., in a late stage of the examination.
1826 Times 20 Feb. 2/4 Let Government, even at this late moment of the crisis, strike off..half a million from the civil list.
1848 T. H. Matteson in J. L. Ridgely & P. Donaldson Odd-fellows' Offering 1848 204 We resume the narrative at a late point.
1910 Stud. in Hist., Econ. & Publ. Law 36 197 Some expressed the fear that a..late change of the plans would create uncertainty and division.
1997 Sunday Times 26 Oct. (Sport section) 6/4 Ray Harford's side lost to a late goal to..Nottingham Forest.
2012 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 9 Apr. (Features section) 28 It was such a late addition to the schedule that..[they] had to work against the clock to get it finished in time.
III. Senses relating to recent time.
11.
a. Of a person: that was alive not long ago, but is not now; recently deceased.
(a) attributive. Chiefly with the or possessive adjective. Cf. the late lamented at lamented adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective] > recently dead
latea1422
new-dead?a1425
umquhile1431
deceased1490
that wasa1500
feu1813
a1422 Petition (P.R.O.) 117.5842 Elizabeth, ye Wyfe of ye seid late Erle.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Boke yf Eneydos vi. sig. Cj Her swete and late amyable husbonde.
1565 in E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. (1866) 60 All the popishe ornamentes that remaynid in the Church of Calsterworth at anie tyme sens the deathe of the late Quene Marie.
1571 G. Buchanan Admonitioun Trew Lordis sig. A.2v The murther of the lait King Henry.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. vii. §7 The late learned Rabbi Manasse Ben Israel.
a1691 R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) 189 His late Majesty..doing me one day the honour to discourse about several marine observations.
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. iii. 86 Our late Friend Jonathan.
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho II. xii. 457 I did nothing but dream I saw my late lady's ghost.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. i. vi. 46 I always call the late Lord Vargrave my father.
1865 Local Preachers' Mag. 15 183/2 A bequest by a late friend.
1915 J. Turner Let. 15 July in C. Warren Somewhere in France (2019) 17 He..is a personal friend..of the late Robert Hugh Benson.
1927 A. Conan Doyle Case-bk. Sherlock Holmes 277 The place belonged to her late husband, Sir James.
1989 Q Dec. 149/1 The late, great talent scout John Hammond.
2012 Independent 30 July 21/1 A musical tribute to the late Amy Winehouse.
(b) In southern Africa (among second-language speakers of English): in predicative use.
ΚΠ
1979 M. Matshoba My Friend, the Outcast in Call me not Man 3 ‘There's no father. Only the old lady. The old man is late.’ Vusi felt a tightening in his chest as he remembered how many years ago..their father had committed suicide.
1982 Staffrider 4 No. 7 37 My father was John Piliso and my mother's name was Emily. Both are late.
2007 A. McCall Smith Good Husband of Zebra Drive vi. 72 She wept..for her father, that great man, Obed Ramotswe, now late.
b. attributive. That was recently, but is no longer, the thing specified; former.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > antecedence or being earlier > [adjective]
ererc888
fernOE
oldOE
oldOE
formerc1160
ratherc1330
before-goingc1384
formerc1384
forenexta1400
formea1400
while1399
antecedentc1400
precedentc1400
anteceding?a1425
late1446
whilom1452
preceding?a1475
forne1485
fore1490
heretofore1491
foregoing1530
toforegoing1532
further1557
firster1571
then1584
elder1594
quondam1598
forehand1600
previant1601
preallable1603
prior1607
anterior1608
previal1613
once1620
previous1621
predecessivea1627
antecedaneous?1631
preventive1641
prior1641
precedaneous1645
preventional1649
antegredient1652
senior1655
prevenient1656
precedential1661
antecedental1763
past-gone1784
antevenient1800
aforetime1835
one-time1850
onewhile1882
foretime1894
erstwhile1903
antecedane-
ere-
1446 in C. Rogers Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 125 Item the..altarage of the Kyrk of South Alveth to our laeyt tenand Johne Wil[ȝ]amson for all the dayis of hys lyfe.
1537 in T. A. Beck Annales Furnesienses (1884) App. 64 Pastures with Agistament and brusyng..occupied to thuse of the said late Monastery for the sustentacyon of ther catell.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. ccxl At the late Freers walle all men alyghted savyng the Kyng.
1689 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 313 A late Roman Catholic schoolmaster..hath embraced his former persuasion, viz. protestancy.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. vi. 90 My late dwelling.
1795 Ld. Nelson Let. 26 Dec. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 123 My late First-Lieutenant is now a Captain.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. i. 51 All the splendid furniture of his late residence had been sold.
1876 A. Trollope Prime Minister IV. xviii. 300 ‘I wish you to come with me to the Duke's house in St. James's Square,’ said the late Prime Minister.
1967 A. J. Toynbee Between Maule & Amazon 1 Brasilia, the reigning capital of Brazil, is only about 600 miles from the late capital, Rio de Janeiro.
2013 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 9 Feb. 36 Funeral on Sunday leaving his late residence at 11.15 a.m.
12. Chiefly in attributive use. Of, belonging to, or occurring in a past period of time comparatively near to the present; recent in date, origin, or completion.See also the late unpleasantness at unpleasantness n. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > recency > [adjective] > of a time or date
latterc1405
late1433
recent1697
1433 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. July 1433 §42. m. 5 Please hit to the wysydome..of the worshipfull communes..to consider a grete myschief in late dayes begonne.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 118 Neuere saue in late daies was eny clok telling the houris..bi peise and bi stroke.
c1475 (a1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 332 What meued þis late popes to make furst þis lawe..and god meued not crist ne hise vikers to sue it.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. clxviijv The kynge..was than scarcely amended of a late disease.
1573 J. Davidson Breif Commendatioun Vprichtnes xl. 210 Of lat ȝeiris.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V ii. ii. 60 Who are the late Commissioners?
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 113 Ill matching words and deeds long past or late . View more context for this quotation
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. 1 Tim. iii. 6 Not a late young Convert.
1711 E. Budgell Spectator No. 161. ⁋1 My late going into the Country has encreased the Number of my Correspondents.
1770 E. Burke Let. 23 Sept. in Corr. (1960) II. 161 I have lately read a good part..of a Pamphlet on the late Verdicts... They give it to Lord Cambden.
1838 T. B. Macaulay Let. 20 July in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay (1876) II. vii. 10 His late articles, particularly the long one in the April number, have very high merit.
1893 W. P. Courtney in Academy 13 May 412/3 The public appetite for the consumption of memoirs has been wonderfully sharpened of late years.
1922 J. Skinner Prophecy & Relig. vi. 89 A new spirit was at work, which was resolved that the lesson of the late crisis should not be lost.
1972 J. Belfrage in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. vi. 115 Second-hand car dealers who..beg you to take as-new late models off their hands at absurdly low prices.
2002 Financial Times 31 Dec. 14/6 The late war in Afghanistan and the pending war with Iraq will do little to defeat terrorism.
Phrases
P1. it is too late (to do something): the opportunity to do something has passed; it is no longer possible to do something.
ΚΠ
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 2568 He priked him forþ out atte gate–Forsoþe it was almost to late.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 878 (MED) He gan his Slowthe forto banne, Bot it was al to late thanne.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Reeve's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 276 It hadde been to late for to crie.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxiijv She aunswereth that it is to late nowe to examyne the licence, whiche so longe synce they had allowed.
a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 116 Thei begane to suspect, (albeit it was to lett).
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost i. i. 108 So you to studie now it is too late . View more context for this quotation
1619 J. Taylor Kicksey Winsey Ded. sig. A5 It is too late to put old omittings to new Committings.
1691 J. Harris Mistakes i. 5 Hear me before your rashness makes it quite too late To hear.
c1710 Advice to True Representatives Old Eng. (single sheet) Remove all the Remoras e're it's too late.
1781 S. Johnson Prior in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VI. 37 Of his behaviour in the lighter parts of life, it is too late to get much intelligence.
1835 Norwich Mag. 1 Mar. 86 She was betrayed. He continued to amuse her by fair promises and honey-mouthed excuses till it was too late.
1883 W. Black Shandon Bells I. iii. 76 He resolved that it was now too late for doubt.
1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music vi. 249 I was a very slow developer. By the time I started to wake up and think for myself, it was too late.
1963 Phi Delta Kappan 45 116/1 It is not too late to stamp out teen nightclubs, ‘training bras’, and ‘open house’ party-crashing.
1982 N.Y. Times 22 Apr. a6/3 The argument has been, co-opt the left before it's too late.
1993 C. MacDougall Lights Below 131 ‘It's not too late to change your mind,’ she said.
P2. late in the day: at a late stage in proceedings; esp. too late to be useful.In some instances late is an adverb.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > [adjective] > late
lateOE
latefulc1384
tediousc1485
overlate1574
tarde1609
tardy1667
belated1670
sero1682
late in the day1689
slack1694
1689 J. Flavel Englands Duty iv. 124 You never began to live till Christ gave you life, and that was late in the day with many of you.
1700 T. Tryon Lett. iv. 32 Foreseeing the Inconveniences that attend such things, though it be too late in the day.
1797 G. Washington Let. 15 July in Writings (1892) XIII. 411 It is too late in the day for me to see the result.
1824 Ld. Byron Deformed Transformed ii. iii. 155 A sage reflection, But somewhat late i' the day.
1861 C. J. Lever Day's Ride xlvii, in All Year Round 23 Mar. 568/1 Rather late in the day, I take it, to ask who Bob Rogers is!
1912 A. Huxley Let. 16 June (1969) 44 They are also on the point of putting up a war memorial, though none of the people who were in the war want it and it is now a little late in the day.
1972 P. A. Whitney Listen for Whisperer ii. 22 ‘I've brought her something from my father.’..‘It's a bit late in the day for such a message.’
2002 M. Figgis Coll. Screenplays 1 294 We dropped it altogether from the film and then, quite late in the day, I put it back in as the opening shot.
P3. at this late date: see date n.2 Phrases 1. it is never too late to mend: see mend v. 4c. to run late: see run v. Phrases 2s. too late a week: see week n. Phrases 4d.
Compounds
C1. With agent or verbal nouns, as late learner, late coming, etc.These combinations are based on the use of late as an adverb modifying the verb from which the agent or verbal noun is derived, e.g. late sleeper from to sleep late.
ΚΠ
1509 Longe Paruula (de Worde) sig. A.iij The mayster rebuked his scolers for theyr late comynge to scole to daye.
1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke ii. 105 The olde proverbe is true; that as soone sowing sometime deceaveth, so late sowing is alway naught.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 160 For it is true that late learners cannot so well take the plie.
1737 J. Campbell tr. J. Dumont Mil. Hist. Prince of Savoy & Duke of Marlborough II. 308 The Misfortunes..were entirely owing to the late coming of his Troops into the Field.
1804 T. Trotter Ess. Drunkenness (ed. 2) p. xxx Pernicious fashions such as tight-laced corsets, late rising, lack of exercise and so forth.
1844 M. Howitt My Own Story x. 101 The old squire was a late lier in bed.
1971 L. Beckwith About my Father's Business (1973) xiii. 153 The street was quiet again save perhaps for the swift patter of leather-soled shoes as some late sleeper raced to beat the factory clock.
1993 Times 17 Sept. 27 We apologise for the late running of this service due to a shortage of platforms at Liverpool Street.
C2. In noun phrases used attributively.
a. With the sense ‘of, belonging to, or in the latter part of the time, season, period, etc., specified by the second element’, as late-autumn, late-century, etc. (cf. sense 9).
ΚΠ
1668 T. Watson Doctr. Repentance ix. 116 The Lord would not have any of the late Autumn fruits offered to him.
1772 Monthly Rev. Feb. 126 Mr. Peters laughs at Mr. Young for recommending burnet as a late spring food for sheep.
1877 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener, & Country Gentleman 25 Oct. 322/1 The late-summer or autumn flowers have not made their appearance.
1902 Louisiana Planter & Sugar Manufacturer 14 June 382/3 It will never entirely recover from the effects of..this late-spring and early-summer drouth.
1920 Indianapolis Star 2 Nov. (advt.) It isn't sensible to wear summer underwear in late fall weather.
1954 PMLA 69 10 The most influential in creating a late-century fad of Persian poetry were amateurs like Edward Fitzgerald.
1962 Financial Times 18 Oct. 2/3 Only a late-month flurry of new orders can prevent November from being a disappointing month.
1999 Poets & Writers Sept. 47/3 The late-millennium version of a lifestyle—work 12 hours a day, spend your leisure time at the gym, and forgo sleep.
2002 D. Aitkenhead Promised Land ix. 91 The beach had been refashioned into a late-eighties warehouse party, with..strobes raking the sand.
b.
late-afternoon adj.
ΚΠ
1855 C. McIntosh Bk. Garden II. ii. 50/2 Some draw their lines obliquely, fancying thereby to secure the early morning and late afternoon sun in its greatest vigour.
1971 P. Purser Holy Father's Navy xxii. 109 We got them on to the late-afternoon plane to Zagreb.
2009 N. Cave Death Bunny Munro (2010) xxii. 189 The late-afternoon traffic.
late-evening adj.
ΚΠ
1621 G. Markham Hungers Preuention viii. 60 The skilfull Fowler must vnderstand that these Engines..are fitter for the early morning Stalke or the late euening Stalke, then at any other time of day.
1711 W. Whiston Primitive Christianity Reviv'd (1712) III. iv. 146 The ordinary short early Morning, and late Evening Service..are omitted in Justin.
1813 Lady's Monthly Museum Aug. 118 (heading) Sonnet, written during a late evening walk.
1956 Life 2 Apr. 56/2 (advt.) Serve in generous wedges for TV nibbling and late-evening party fare.
2004 M. Brundle & M. Hamilton Working Wheel (2005) 217 Everyone was thinking about getting to the airport for the late-evening flight.
late-morning adj.
ΚΠ
1808 R. Reece Pract. Dict. Domest. Med. at Health Sleep..should be enjoyed at an early evening hour, and not made a late morning refreshment.
1906 R. W. Chambers Fighting Chance vi. 162 The unusual stillness of the house in the late morning sunshine.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 Nov. e13/1 Columbia University students and neighborhood loafers are lining up for late-morning coffee.
late-period adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [adjective] > qualities of work of art
uniforma1552
sweet1662
stiff1779
chargeda1806
late1851
ineffective1858
detailed1867
schematic1868
rhythmical1880
functional1881
late-period1927
engaged1947
engagé1955
retardataire1958
1927 Illustr. London News 5 Feb. 236/1 Each programme contains an early, a middle, and a late period quartet.
1970 ‘R. Crawford’ Kiss Boss Goodbye i. iv. 28 A late-period Gaugin..is presumably recorded somewhere.
2005 Wire Dec. 53/2 The bizarre experimentalism and off-kilter humour of late period Led Zeppelin.
late-stage adj.
ΚΠ
1909 Trans. Section Pathol. & Physiol. Amer. Med. Assoc. 90 Of these, the early cases were not uniformly positive. The late-stage cases were more nearly so.
1989 M. Miyoshi in M. Miyoshi & H. D. Harootunian Postmodernism & Japan 148 Citizens simply live—produce and consume, buy and sell—in late stage capitalism.
2010 Daily Tel. 17 Feb. 2/7 Docetaxel..[is] the only approved chemotherapy drug known to benefit late-stage patients.
C3. Combining with adjectives to form adjectives, as late-Victorian, late-Georgian, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > [adjective] > final phase of a period
late1837
the world > time > relative time > the past > historical period > [adjective] > late or posterior to
late1837
1837 Lit. Gaz. 18 Mar. 180/2 We do not..agree with him, that the late Tudor, or Elizabethan style, consisted of the ‘perverted use of forms received from Greece and Rome’.
1842 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 5 27/2 The superimposed orders of the late Elizabethan, or early Italian school.
1856 J. P. Lesley Man. Coal & its Topogr. iii. 157 Acquainted with the look of the exit gorges of the Alleghany Mountain in the New World, cut down through nearly horizontal late Silurian and Devonian rocks.
1905 R. Munro Archæol. & False Antiq. i. 13 We have positive evidence of the existence of objects of the ‘Late Celtic’ civilisation in the lake village of Glastonbury.
1913 W. J. Locke Stella Maris iii. 26 Risca's room was transformed from late-Victorian solidity into early-Georgian elegance.
1972 E. Berckman Fourth Man on Rope i. 19 The table was undoubtedly late Georgian.
2012 Church Times 1 June 32/3 A fine late-medieval Brussels wood carving.
C4.
late adopter n. a person or group that is slow to start using a new product or technology; spec. (chiefly Marketing) a type of consumer considered to be in the last two of five categories, gauged in terms of their readiness to adopt an innovation; also in extended use; cf. early adopter n. at early adj. and n. Compounds 2, late adapter n. at adapter n. 3.
ΚΠ
1949 Rural Sociol. June 150/1 The hypotheses being tested are that the above listed factors differentiating early and late adopters of hybrid seed also discriminate between the accepters and non-accepters of approved hog sanitation practices.
1983 E. M. Rogers Diffusion of Innovations (ed. 3) iii. 106 Late adopters and laggards are often most likely to be individually blamed for not adopting an innovation and/or for being much later in adopting than the other members of their system.
2006 Esquire Sept. 113/3 With the incidence of male pattern baldness..on the increase, you're either a late adopter or you're set to enjoy a full head of hair for the rest of your days.
2009 Independent 16 Sept. (Life section) 7/3 Often, late adopters are happy with what they already own.
late bird n. colloquial a person who is accustomed to rise or go to bed late; a keeper of late hours; cf. early bird n. 2.
ΚΠ
1831 Ladies' Museum Oct. 148/1 He found the star in a flowered silk dressing-gown, sitting at breakfast—(your player is a late bird)—with his handsome wife beside him.
1969 V. C. Clinton-Baddeley Only Matter of Time 9 He had never been a late bird... He was seldom out after twelve.
1996 K. A. Albert Get Good Night's Sleep (1999) i. 36 Some ‘late birds’ have cured their insomnia by arranging work schedules to allow them to come into work later.
late book n. (in a school) a book in which the names of pupils arriving late are recorded.
ΚΠ
1889 J. H. Skrine Mem. E. Thring i. 9 Excluded wretches..entered, and..wrote their names in the late-book.
2009 A. Roston Fellows in Arms ii. 57 They'd come straggling in, desultorily sign the late book.
late blight n. a disease of potatoes, tomatoes, and other plants of the family Solanaceae caused by a parasitic fungoid microorganism (oomycete), Phytophthora infestans, that attacks leaves, fruits, and tubers, causing them to rot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > associated with crop or food plants > potatoes
potato blight1845
potato disease1845
potato murrain1845
potato rot1845
potato curl1887
late blight1893
black scab1908
wart disease1915
black wart1950
1893 L. R. Jones in 6th Ann. Rep. Vermont State Agric. Exper. Station 1892 68 We have found the terms ‘early blight’ and ‘late blight’ very helpful. It would be better if we could re-name these diseases to apply the name ‘potato-mildew’ to the Phytophthora disease, and the name ‘leaf-spot disease’ to the Macrosporium.
1933 F. D. Heald Man. Plant Dis. (ed. 2) xvi. 419 The late-blight attacks and kills the tops of the potato plant and invades the tubers, causing either a dry or a wet rot.
2006 Metro 24 Aug. (London ed.) 21/1 Genetically modified potatoes..could help destroy the fungal disease ‘late blight,’ which caused the Irish potato famine of the 1800s.
late bloomer n. (a) a plant which flowers relatively late, typically in late summer or early autumn (cf. early bloomer n. (a) at early adj. and n. Compounds 2); (b) figurative a person who displays talent, develops skills or interests, or achieves success at a relatively late stage (cf. early bloomer n. (b) at early adj. and n. Compounds 2).
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1827 R. Sweet Brit. Flower Garden II. Pl. 151 As it is a late bloomer, the seeds should be sown early in Spring.
1887 J. H. Walworth Southern Silhouettes xxi. 286 The Blue Lick boys call Miss Margery ‘a late bloomer’, because, after leading the most secluded and innocuous girlhood, she suddenly effloresced into a determined and merciless woman with a mission.
1994 F. Tenenbaum et al. Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening 354/1 Late bloomers need more hours of darkness to initiate buds.
2000 New Republic 10 July 45/2 Intellectually, Hegel was a late bloomer.
late capitalism n. [after German Spätkapitalismus (1898 or earlier)] (chiefly in Marxist thought) the latest or current stage in the development of capitalism, esp. capitalism since the end of the Second World War (1945), seen as characterized by the dominance of multinational corporations, globalization, and consumerism, and as having permeated all areas of social and cultural life.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > specific political theories or doctrines > [noun] > capitalism > type of
late capitalism1912
welfare capitalism1924
neocapitalism1930
anarcho-capitalism1969
1912 Weekly People (N.Y.) 7 Sept. 6/6 The program of the Plutocracy is feudalic Autocracy, translated late Capitalism.
1928 Times 16 Mar. 20/5 (headline) A new economic era. Professor Sombart on late Capitalism.
1942 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 50 811 In the..transitional stage between ‘late capitalism’ and ‘early socialism’ the structure of capitalist enterprise will continue to exist, but it will be harnessed to the purposes of the state.
1973 J. Habermas in Social Res. 40 643 The expression ‘late capitalism’ implicitly asserts that, even in state-regulated capitalism, social developments are still passing through..crises.
1988 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Dec. 1349/3 According to Mandel, it is possible to comprehend the forms of economic organization..in late capitalism in a manner..compatible with Marx's basic concepts.
2009 S. Wagg et al. Key Concepts in Sports Stud. 174 Fredric Jameson suggests that postmodernity is the epoch of ‘late capitalism’..—the hitherto unsurpassed extension of the market into every aspect of social life.
late cut n. Cricket a cut (cut n.2 10a) made with a delayed action so as to send the ball to the off side behind the wicket.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > types of stroke
long ball1744
nip1752
catch1816
no-hit1827
cut1833
short hit1833
draw1836
drive1836
square hit1837
skylarker1839
skyer1840
skyscraper1842
back-cut1845
bum1845
leg sweep1846
slog1846
square cut1850
driver1851
Harrow drive1851
leg slip1852
poke1853
snick1857
snorter1859
leg stroke1860
smite1861
on-drive1862
bump ball1864
rocketer1864
pull1865
grass trimmer1867
late cut1867
off-drive1867
spoon1871
push1873
push stroke1873
smack1875
Harrow drive1877
pull-stroke1880
leg glance1883
gallery-hit1884
boundary-stroke1887
glide1888
sweep1888
boundary1896
hook1896
leg glide1896
backstroke1897
flick1897
hook stroke1897
cover-drive1898
straight drive1898
square drive1900
edger1905
pull-drive1905
slash1906
placing stroke1907
push drive1912
block shot1915
if-shot1920
placing shot1921
cow-shot1922
mow1925
Chinese cut1937
haymaker1954
hoick1954
perhapser1954
air shot1956
steepler1959
mishook1961
swish1963
chop-
1867 Daily News 6 Aug. 6/5 Mr. Wilkinson made a late cut for four off Mr. Lipscomb.
1906 A. E. Knight Compl. Cricketer ii. 77 Cuts are generally termed forward cuts, late cuts, and square cuts.
1999 S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) ii. 27 His trademark stroke was a lazily executed, and therefore alarming, but still highly effective late cut.
late cut v. Cricket transitive to hit a ball delivered by (the bowler) with a late cut; to hit (the ball) with a late cut; also intransitive.
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1888 Bristol Mercury 11 Aug. 6/3 W. G. by on driving Lyons made his first quartet this innings, but he soon gave it a companion by late cutting Ferris.
1912 J. B. Hobbs Recov. Ashes 124 An off ball gave Mr. Trumper a chance to late cut one nicely to the cycle path.
1974 Observer 9 June 24/7 When Underwood came on, Gavaskar danced out to drive him straight, then lay back to late cut through the slips.
1992 Daily Tel. 24 July 32/4 Pringle managed..to offer Miandad the chance to late cut him superbly for four.
late-day adj. designating semi-formal clothing suitable for late afternoon or early evening wear.
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1948 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) 2 Oct. 19/7 (advt.) Beaded embroidery for your late day suit.
1951 Times 19 Nov. 3/6 (advt.) Late-day suit for cocktails and restaurant wear in black lamé ottoman.
1996 P. Stecker Fashion Design Man. (2006) ii. 28/1 Black taffeta late-day dress.
late developer n. a person who develops or matures at a relatively late stage; cf. developer n. 5.
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1912 Spectator 5 Oct. 502/1 Even if he has no buried vein of brilliance, but is merely a late developer, he may pass in accomplishment the hothouse flowers of the academic system who had utterly outclassed him in boyhood.
1929 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 16 Feb. 312/1 A relatively small number of late developers who..will be found to be as worthy of further school opportunity as some of those who had been previously selected.
1953 R. Fuller Second Curtain vi. 103 How frightful I must have been at thirteen... I was a late developer.
1999 Times 16 July 38/3 Macy Gray, 29, is a late developer who has enjoyed getting a life before a proper record deal.
late dinner n. (a) a meal eaten late in the afternoon or evening; (b) (esp. in Victorian society) the main evening meal, held later than the children's dinner (now rare).
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the world > food and drink > food > meal > [noun] > evening meal or supper
supperc1300
collationc1305
mid-dinnera1500
Sunday suppera1580
supper1598
evening meal1620
late dinner1649
ordinary suppera1661
petit souper1751
souper1787
ball supper1794
tray supper1825
kitchen supper1837
bump supper1845
evenmeat1848
tea-dinner1862
luncheon1903
1649 T. Shepard Theses Sabbaticæ iii. lx. 20 This invitation..was probably to some repast..after high noon; possibly to a late Dinner.
1775 F. Gentleman Modish Wife i. 16 Five o'clock to dinner—well, that's not amiss neither, for a late dinner may save a supper.
1838 E. C. Gaskell Let. 2 Dec. (1966) 38 Mr Bradford coming home to late dinner and so agreeable.
1873 L. Troubridge Jrnl. in Life amongst Troubridges (1966) 11 Mrs Quick is the cook... She makes very good things for late dinner but not for our [sc. the children's] dinner.
1885 A. Edwardes Girton Girl I. vi. 136 The dinner-hour at Tintajeux was five, the ‘late dinner’ of Andros Bartrand's youth.
1941 M. B. Lowndes I, too, have lived in Arcadia xviii. 350 Even now the presence of a child at late dinner would certainly occasion surprise, to almost any guest of that child's parents.
2006 Cruise Trav. Apr. 6/3 Later we saw her at late dinner, talking on the phone, alone.
late fee n. a fee charged for the late arrival or delivery of something; spec. an increased or additional fee paid in order to secure the dispatch of a letter posted after the advertised time of collection, a late-letter fee (now rare).
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1840 Standard 23 Sept. At half-past 11 each letter is charged 6d. late fee, and all newspapers in a like proportion.
1896 Phonetic Jrnl. 23 May 334/1 After the 30th June applications will only be exceptionally received on payment of an additional late fee of 5s.
1949 R. K. Narayan Mr. Sampath i. 26 [He] ran with his burden to the post office at the railway station, where it could always be posted without late fee till 8 p.m.
1999 Chicago Tribune 22 Feb. i. 7/4 Late fees and credit action against those who fail to pay their bills have been waived.
late-harvest adj. [after German Spätlese Spätlese n.] designating any of various types of wine, esp. sweet white wine, made from grapes gathered later than the general harvest.
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1962 Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gaz. 23 Aug. 6/4 They..came up with a new type of wine now known as Spatlese (late harvest) wine.
1970 Winnipeg Free Press 9 May 26/4 In particular, I enjoyed the late-harvest wine that is strong and very different from the usual Fendant.
2007 N. MacLean Red, White, & Drunk all Over (rev. ed.) x. 289 Go straight for the sweeter ones: late-harvest chenin blanc, gewurztraminer, and riesling all have the required richness and flavor.
late heavy bombardment n. (also with capital initials) Astronomy an event suggested as having occurred during the early history of the solar system, when an exceptionally large number of asteroids may have collided with the terrestrial planets as they were being formed.This event is dated to about 4 billion years ago, a time late in the accretion period of the solar system (though not in the history of the solar system as a whole).
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1975 G. W. Wetherill in Proc. 6th Lunar Sci. Conf. II. 1540 In addition to the ‘early heavy bombardment’ which more or less accompanied the accretion of the planets, there was thus a ‘late heavy bombardment’ which continued for hundreds of millions of years.
1989 Nature 12 Oct. 514/1 The Noachian martian valleys probably formed before the end of late heavy bombardment.
2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 2 Dec. d1/2 Scars on the surface of the Moon record a hail of impacts during what is called the Late Heavy Bombardment.
late-houred adj. occurring at a late hour; characterized by or keeping late hours.
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1824 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 16 329/1 Captain Switchem..making an immediate retreat to his cabin to a very late-houred dinner.
1908 Daily Chron. 10 Jan. 4/6 The pantomime crowd is a very good crowd after all, late-houred and not without failings, perhaps, but generous..to a fault.
2012 G. Pevere Donald Shebib's Goin' down Road iii. 55 A&A's, the long-closed, late-houred, multi-levelled record store.
late hours n. (a) the hours after most people have gone to bed, esp. when spent socializing; (b) hours spent working late.Recorded earliest in to keep late hours at keep v. 13.
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the world > time > day and night > night > [noun] > late hours
late hours1633
1633 J. Shirley Bird in Cage iv. i. sig. G3v They never kept late houres, though they all weare feathers, there's not a Rorer amongst em.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. ii. xiii. 102 Without Love, and Wine, and Play, and late hours, we hold Life not to be worth living.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair xlv. 407 He was killing himself by late hours and intense application.
1884 Bread Winners 76 Drunkenness, late hours, and botchy work.
1960 C. Beaton Diary Feb. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xxii. 322 I am not good at pubs, drinking clubs and late hours.
1995 Minnesota Monthly Feb. 20/1 Now sixty, she has no plans to retire. Sometimes the late hours are tiring.
late inning n. Baseball (a) (frequently in plural) any one of the innings towards the end of a game, esp. the seventh or a later inning; also attributive, as late inning home run, late inning rally, etc.; (b) figurative the closing stages of a process; the last minute.
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1893 Arizona Weekly Citizen (Tucson) 24 June 1/1 The Montezumas won on a late inning of the home nine, but Ben thinks they will be lost in a cloud of dust when the Cockleburrs take the bat.
1902 Omaha Daily Bee 17 Apr. 2/4 The Omahans..never really came out of their trance till along in the late innings.
1905 Washington Post 17 Aug. 8/3 A late inning rally, which the Nationals showed so well against Detroit and Chicago.
1931 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 13 Aug. 15/4 In a late inning Manager Al Sothoron decided he needed a pinch hitter.
1966 N.Y. Times 20 Apr. 52/6 Joe DiMaggio..provided the winning margin with a late inning home run.
1976 J. Morgan & J. H. Cohen Baseball my Way 30 You don't want to give up a double or triple in the late innings, so from the seventh inning on, you would always play closer to the line.
1984 Pop. Mech. May 80/1 Their effort to pinpoint the planes seems to have paid off, thanks to a late-inning technological rescue.
1996 C. E. Quirk Sports & Law (1999) Pref. p. xxiii Mary K...provided valuable assistance during the late innings of the editorial process.
2009 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 8 Apr. s1 Some late-inning heroics provided them with an unlikely 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
late-late adj. very late; esp. occurring at a very late hour.
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1897 ‘F. H. Williams’ Matin Bells ii. 72 It was Easter eve in a late late year.
1955 ABA Jrnl. 41 649/1 [She] had promised a city magistrate to forgo the late-late television movie.
1956 ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues xv. 141 Unless you go to bed early these nights, you're liable to see me on the late-late show in a movie I made..in 1946.
1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Nov. 63/1 (advt.) Manhattan widow in late-late fifties.
1997 Independent on Sunday 8 June (Travel & Money section) 5/5 Newfoundlanders have a tradition of a late-late meal, a second supper, begun around 11pm.
Late Latin n. and adj. (also with lower-case initial in the first element) [after German Spätlatein (1834 or earlier)] (a) n. the Latin language of the period c200–600 a.d.; (b) adj. of, relating to, or designating the Latin language of this period.Scholars differ over the date range of this period. Present-day linguists prefer to regard the period following classical Latin as a continuum, and to use the designation post-classical Latin.
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1845 T. D. Woolsey tr. W. Freund Wörterbuch der Lateinischen Sprache in Bibliotheca Sacra & Theol. Rev. 2 96 We have given the title of Late Latin [Ger. die Bezeichnung des Spätlateins] to the language of the fourth and fifth centuries, as contrasted with the less irregular and barbarous post-classical style, taken in a narrower sense.
1854 G. Long in W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Geogr. I. 794/2 Cauchie or Chaussée is a corruption of the late Latin form ‘Calceia’.
1904 Jrnl. Philol. 29 32 In Late Latin ŭ became o (cf. Ital. mondo for Lat. mundus).
1935 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 July 447/2 Logi stands for the genitive of Logium, a late Latin word meaning a house or shelter.
1998 A. Dalby Dict. Langs. 229/1 Their language had some influence on the late Latin of Spain.
2011 J. N. Adams in J. Clackson Compan. to Lat. Lang. xvi. 259 Change happens gradually.., and..we should not expect to find many sharp distinctions between Classical and Late Latin.
late letter n. now historical and rare a letter posted after the advertised time of collection; chiefly in late-letter fee (cf. late fee n.).
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1833 21st Rep. Commissioners auditing Public Accts. Ireland 296 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 102) XVII. 1 Fees on late letters.
1843 Rep. Select Comm. Postage App. viii. 32 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 564) VIII. 1 The Returns of 1840 give a total of late-letter fees exceeding those of 1837 by nearly 40 per cent.
1922 Red Bk., 1922–23 (E. Afr. Standard, Ltd.) 316 The amount of the ordinary late letter fee is 12 cents.
1991 D. S. Virk Indian Postal Hist., 1873-1923 43 A P.M.G. was authorised to reduce late letter fee at particular stations.
late licence n. a licence allowing a public house, nightclub, etc., to serve alcohol beyond the usual hours.The expression is not used in North America.
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society > trade and finance > specific types of trade > [noun] > trade in provisions > in liquor > license or permission
late licence1873
propination1886
off-licence1891
on-licence1891
extension1923
1873 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Apr. 13/2 (advt.) Extraordinary attraction. All the London Stars... Prices as usual. Special late licence.
1935 Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania) 16 Jan. 9/1 The Police Magistrate said the privilege of a late licence was exceptional, and everybody must know that they must be off a hotel by midnight.
1972 M. Gilbert Body of Girl xix. 170 There's two pubs and one drink shop with a late licence.
2008 S. Armitage Gig (2009) 235 The venue has a late licence.
late-life adj. of, relating to, or occurring relatively late in a person's life (cf. mid-life adj.).
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1937 Psychoanalytic Q. 6 308 (heading) Psychoanalysis in late-life depression.
1953 Titusville (Pa.) Herald 22 July 4/3 His [sc. Churchill's] great late-life desire to be known as a leader for peace.
1978 N.Y. Times 1 Dec. b8/2 Otto Kallir, the art dealer who launched the late-life career of Grandma Moses.
1996 Orange Coast Mag. Aug. 24/2 I'll get back to you in 30 years when my late-life crisis kicks in.
2014 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 20 July 21 Late-life romance is all the rage in Britain, with..a big rise in marriages among the over-60s.
late mark n. a mark made beside a pupil's name in a register to indicate that he or she has arrived late.
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1859 Wisconsin Jrnl. Educ. Feb. 237 The last day of the term I intend reading off the number of late marks each pupil has received during the term.
1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings I. xv. 237 They escaped the ‘late’ mark.
1999 K. Reid Truancy & Schools (2003) viii. 144 A pupil arriving more than ten minutes late will be given a late mark.
late-model adj. (esp. of a car) of a recent make or model.
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1857 Message President to Congr. II. 550 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (35th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 2, Pt. 2) II Machinery..used for manufacturing the late model musket.
1917 G. Ade Let. 26 Apr. (1973) 63 Our own majestic work of art..has more late-model cars parked around it.
1993 Sound & Vision Apr. 8/4 A few late-model VCRs offer built-in head cleaners.
2000 A. Bourdain Kitchen Confid. (2001) 146 A late-model Buick would pull up out front.
late night n. and adj. (a) n. a night on which a person goes to bed late; an instance of staying up late; (b) adj. occurring or taking place late at night; open late at night.
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the world > time > day and night > night > [adjective] > taking place at night
night-going1639
late night1764
1764 London Chron. 5 Jan. 19/2 Raking and late nights, and hard drinking..at length pulled down the pride of his youth.
1828 C. White Almack's Revisited III. i. 61 As we are sure to have a late night at Crockford's, I shall take the liberty of going to sleep.
1838 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Jan. 31/2 Its [sc. the Senate's] members were exhausted with late night sittings.
1885 ‘M. Twain’ in Cent. Mag. Dec. 202/2 The damp, earthy, late-night smells.
1934 Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner 22 Apr. 19/3 Others had dark rings under their eyes from too many late nights.
1957 J. Osborne Entertainer iii. 31 He plays the piano in one of these late-night drinking places.
1991 Transpacific July 62/2 Open late every night. Perfect for a late-night snack.
2014 P. Pernicano Using Trauma-focused Therapy Stories xviii. 153 I had a late night and my head is killing me.
late-onset adj. (of a medical condition) occurring relatively late in life, esp. in relation to a different form of the same condition; of, relating to, or affected by such a condition.
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1935 Lancet 17 Aug. 358/2 The important point is that late onset paraplegia is rarely found except in cases with gross deformity.
1988 Q. N. Myrvik & R. S. Weiser Fund. Med. Bacteriol. & Mycol. (ed. 2) x. 171 Early-onset disease within the first 7 days of life usually results from vaginal organisms carried by the mother, whereas, late-onset disease arising after the 7th day usually results from nursery sources.
2005 Weekend Austral. (Brisbane) 9 Apr. 19/2 Late-onset diabetes, or Type 2, is also a result of diet, age and a sedentary lifestyle.
late riser n. a person who habitually gets up from sleep or rest at a late hour of the morning.
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1762 A. Fisher Pract. New Gram. 124 Irony... He is an early (meaning a late) Riser.
c1770 Earl of Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. (1844) I. 56 He is indolent, a late riser, and a great procrastinator.
1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life x. x. 387 The late-risers are rebels and sinners—in this respect—to a man.
1989 P. D. James Devices & Desires xxxvii. 275 It was an early hour to telephone, and he knew that his mother-in-law...was a late riser.
late shift n. (a) a shift (shift n. 12b) which begins during the latter part of the day, esp. in the late afternoon or evening; (b) (with singular or plural agreement) the employees who work such a shift, viewed collectively.
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1842 Children's Employm. Comm.: 1st Rep.: Mines 96 in Parl. Papers XV. 1 [I] work sometimes on the morning shift, at others the late shift.
1875 Birmingham Daily Post 27 Dec. 7/3 It is Saturday night, and this is a last bout of work by one of the late shifts.
1922 Southern Engineer May 61/1 He is put on the late shift, which is from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
1949 Pop. Sci. Monthly Aug. 161/2 The late shift of plant guards came on duty at midnight.
1997 S. Chin Below Line 78 When she had to work the late shift.., the three-to-eleven, she would get home at midnight.
2013 G. Crisp Be Careful what you wish For i. 11 The late shift will be here in half an hour, so we need to get handover sorted.
late tackle n. Rugby and Association Football an illegal tackle against an opponent who is no longer in possession of the ball.
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1935 Times of India 24 Aug. 18/1 There was only one foul in the whole game and that was caused by a late tackle rather than a deliberate infringement of the rules of fair play.
1992 Daily Mail 17 Aug. 41/3 Botha's opposite number, Sean Fitzpatrick, roughed him up with a late tackle which left his victim muttering: ‘Is that the way we play the game now.’
late-tackle v. Rugby and Association Football transitive to tackle (an opponent) illegally, when he or she is no longer in possession of the ball; also intransitive.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > play football [verb (transitive)] > actions or manoeuvres
place-kick1845
punt1845
dribble1863
head1871
tackle1884
mark1887
foot1900
boot1914
rumble1954
late-tackle1957
dummy1958
crash-tackle1960
to pick up1961
nod1965
slot1970
welly1986
1957 Observer 17 Nov. 23 Refusing to select for representative matches any players who habitually late-tackle.
1959 Observer 22 Feb. 28 Though shamefully late tackled his kick ahead ended in a scramble under the posts.
2002 Sunday Times (Nexis) 9 June (Sport section) Inside the first minute he late-tackled Sol Campbell.
late tackling n. Rugby and Association Football the action or practice of illegally tackling an opponent who is no longer in possession of the ball.
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1953 Manch. Guardian 5 Mar. 9/6 Most of the laws that could be broken, particularly those relating to off-side,..late tackling, dangerous kicking, and foot-up were broken before the end.
2006 Observer (Nexis) 2 July (Sport section) 7 Barber applauds referees' courage and consistency in penalising diving, late tackling and time-wasting.
late-term adj. designating the latter part of pregnancy (esp. the third trimester of a human pregnancy) or a fetus at this stage of gestation; of, relating to, or occurring in this part of pregnancy; cf. near-term adj. 2.
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1933 Science 30 June 632/1 The source of the inhibitors tested was the late term mouse placenta.
1944 Amer. Midland Naturalist 32 410 The ovaries of a large female [harbor seal] carrying a late-term fetus.
1996 Daily Tel. 15 May 12/3 She believes the President's recent veto of a Bill to ban the disturbing late-term, ‘partial birth’ abortion procedure could backfire on him.
2008 D. Cavallucci & Y. Fulbright Your Orgasmic Pregnancy 121 We are certain, however, that the prospect of late-term sex usually thrills couples.
latewood n. the portion of the annual growth of a tree which is formed later in the growing season and is typically denser and harder than the rest of the wood (cf. spring wood n. 2).
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the world > plants > part of plant > part of tree or woody plant > wood > [noun] > ring or layer > formed earlier or later
summer wood1783
spring wood1840
autumn wood1863
latewood1872
early wood1893
1872 Gardeners' Chron. 30 Mar. 427/1 The pruning is more likely to produce gross and late wood in the most vital part of the tree than to ripen.
1972 Sci. Amer. May 92/1 Effect of smog on a Jeffrey pine that was growing in a forest near Los Angeles may be indicated by the narrowed rings and a reduced amount of latewood in the last nine years of the tree's life.
2004 Family Handyman Mar. 76 (caption) A board with tight, straight grain holds paint well. Wide bands of darker ‘latewood’ lead to peeling.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† lateadj.2
Obsolete.
Broad, wide.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [adjective] > having great breadth or width
broadOE
wideOE
largec1300
straight?a1366
spacious1506
basin-wide1591
late1597
broad-backed1651
1597 in D. Yaxley Researcher's Gloss. Hist. Documents E. Anglia (2003) 86 One fustian blankett, Long 3 yards di', lat 2 yards j qrter.
1657 R. Tomlinson tr. J. de Renou Medicinal Materials i, in Medicinal Dispensatory sig. Qq4 Leaves..long, late [L. lata], mucronated, hispid.
1657 R. Tomlinson tr. J. de Renou Medicinal Materials i, in Medicinal Dispensatory sig. Ccc2 Medlers, which are of a moderate magnitude, with late [L. lato] heads.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
lateadv.
/leɪt/, U.S. /leɪt/α. Old English late, Old English læt- (in compounds), Old English (rare)–early Middle English læte, early Middle English leate (south-west midlands), early Middle English lete (south-west midlands), Middle English lat, Middle English latte; Scottish pre-1700 lat, pre-1700 latt, pre-1700 let.
β. Middle English laat, Middle English laite, Middle English lata (perhaps transmission error), Middle English layte, Middle English (1800s Irish English (Wexford)) laate, Middle English– late; Scottish pre-1700 lait, pre-1700 laite, pre-1700 laitt, pre-1700 layt, pre-1700 layte, pre-1700 leat, pre-1700 leit, pre-1700 leitt.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > slowness of action or operation > [adverb]
lateeOE
latelyOE
heavilyc1000
hoolya1340
slowlyc1384
slowa1398
sluggedlyc1450
tarryingly1530
loiteringly1547
sluggishly1565
languishingly1579
limpingly1579
lingeringly1589
tarde1598
unnimbly1607
longsomelyc1610
tardilya1616
languidly1655
heavy1701
slack1854
snailishly1889
tharfly1894
pole pole1902
weedy-slow1921
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xvi. 196 Late mylt hryþeres flæsc, gæten & hiorota.
OE Phoenix 316 Nis he..swar ne swongor, swa sume fuglas, þa þe late þurh lyft lacað fiþrum, ac he is snel ond swift ond swiþe leoht.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1536 Late þeo he up fusde.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 691 Grim thoucte to late þat he ran Fro þat traytour.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 288 Late, not redyly, tarde.
2. After the proper, right, or expected time; at a later stage than usual; after delay.In quot. 1897 in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > [adverb] > late or too late
lateOE
behindc1330
overlatea1400
lately?1440
arrear1477
behindhandc1550
tarde1557
lateward1572
tardy1586
too-late1620
out of time1760
tardily1821
not before time1837
postponedly1851
about time1856
belatedly1896
OE Cynewulf Juliana 444 Ic þæt sylf gecneow to late micles, sceal nu lange ofer þis, scyldwyrcende, scame þrowian.
OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 363 Þa cwæð se casere him to, Hwi come þu swa late [c1175 Bodl. 343 læte]?
a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 128 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 167 (MED) Wel late he latheð uuel werc þe ne mei hit don ne mare.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 695 (MED) Fair his tale bi gan Rohand, þei he com lat.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §300 Whan he comth by thilke encheson to late to chirche.
c1480 (a1400) St. Mary of Egypt 1483 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 339 Þocht at I lat turne me to þe, dere laydy, ȝet þu succure me.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xiij Then shal we bewaile our bondage all to late.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §419 To make Roses, or other Flowers come late..The Seuenth [Meanes] is, the Girding of the Body of the Tree about with some Pack-threed.
a1657 W. Mure Misc. Poems in Wks. (1898) I. i. 127 In tyme tak heid then, least too lait thou mourne.
1703 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote III. vii. 64 I'll trust no longer to rewards that mayhaps may come late, and mayhaps not at all.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. ii. 14 But too late I discovered that he was most violently attached to the contrary opinion.
1862 W. M. Thackeray Adventures of Philip III. vi. 125 Philip had come late to dinner.
1897 W. C. Hazlitt Four Generations Lit. Family II. 155 Byron said, her costume began too late, and ended too soon.
1935 W. de la Mare Early One Morning 552 Aments..begin to talk late, have certain special defects, are sluggish of thought.
1940 G. Barclay Diary 3 Sept. in Fighter Pilot (1976) 46 The squadron was off the ground.., but they were scrambled too late to intercept.
1964 in R. D. Abrahams Deep down in Jungle ii. v. 208 You keep coming late. The girls are gone, but we got George upstairs.
2005 B. Keating & S. Keating Blood Sisters (2006) xix. 417 She arrived at the restaurant a few minutes late.
3. At or until a time far into the day or night; at or until a (relatively) late hour.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > [adverb] > late or till late in the day or night
lateOE
forth in with evena1300
latesome1843
OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Hatton) (1900) ii. xii. 126 Hi wurdon geneadode to wunianne oð ða lætran tide... Ða þa hi eft late [L. iam tardius] gecyrdon to mynstre, þa bædon hi þæs halgan fæder bletsunge.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 685 (MED) On an euen late Þe Deuel sche tauȝt hir biȝate.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 189 (MED) Herwiþ þou schalt anoynte hir face at euen late.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 60 Sum lait at ewin bringis in the moryis.
1540 Bible (Great) Psalms cxxvii. 2 It is but loste laboure that ye haste to ryse up early, and so late take reste [1611 King James to sit vp late].
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 40 Euill lykand was the Kyng it nichtit him sa lait.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 210 They continue singing till late in the night.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 128 Late returning home he supp'd at ease. View more context for this quotation
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 74 It is dangerous to walk late for fear of falling into the Hands of those..Rascals.
1716 J. Addison Free-holder No. 22. ⁋3 We sat pretty late over our punch.
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho II. ii. 46 After supper, her aunt sat late.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxvi. 396 I was up very late last night.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 380 The coach sometimes reached the inn so late that it was impossible to get supper.
1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 49/3 (advt.) One night last June when you were working late at the office.
1985 S. Hastings Nancy Mitford ii. 44 The day after a dance, Nancy was allowed to sleep late.
2003 Independent 2 July (Review section) 6/2 Coming home stressed, eating late and then expecting to get a good night's sleep.
4. Relatively near the end of a period of time, season, event, etc.; at a late stage.
ΚΠ
eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 867 Hie late on geare to þam gecirdon þæt hie wiþ þone here winnende wærun.
OE Wulfstan Outline of Hist. (Hatton) (1957) 151 Mænig ungelæred man..wile þencan hu þæt beon mæg þæt se ðe gescop on fruman ealle gesceafta, þæt he wearð þus late geboren.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 753 Þatt teȝȝ swa late mihhtenn child I mikell elde streonenn.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. lxv. 956 Som corn is soone ysowe and som late, for wynter seed is soone ysowe and somer seed is late ysowe.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 88v, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Late Þe wounde schal not be chaunged neþer remued but as late as a man maye in goode maner.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxviiv If a swarme be cast late in the yere they wolde be fedde with honny in wynter.
1604 Abp. G. Abbot Reasons Dr. Hill Vnmasked 396 The very Church of Rome it selfe..so late as Socrates lived..kept it [sc. Lent] but three weekes.
1671 F. Philipps Regale Necessarium iii. 198 As late as the raign of their King Francis the first,..a valet de Chambre to the king was appellatio honorifica an honourable title.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iv. xii. 197 Although it be hard for a Man late in life to remove old Habits.
1764 J. Murray Hist. Relig. (ed. 2) I. 69 The authority of the pope, so late as the year 669, was a matter of dispute.
1823 H. W. Longfellow in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1891) I. iii. 33 I am rather sorry that the Exhibition falls so late in the year.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 22 Some faint traces of the institution of villenage were detected by the curious so late as the days of the Stuarts.
1882 Ballou's Monthly Mag. July 54/1 Many of them..had roved about,..only settling down to domestic felicity late in life.
1905 Outing May 218/2 A 90 foot motor yacht was launched late last season.
1960 A. S. Neill Summerhill i. 3 Some children come to Summerhill at the age of five years, and others as late as fifteen.
1977 Times of India 11 Jan. 12 Maharashtra scored late to snatch a 2-1 victory.
2011 Daily Tel. 12 Jan. 29/1 Woodall further upset them late in 1980 by backing Denis Healey for the party leadership.
5.
a. Recently, of late; in recent times. Also with †before. Cf. late ago at ago adv. Now archaic and poetic.Recorded earliest in now late at now adv. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > recency > [adverb]
neweneOE
newlyeOE
unyoreeOE
noweOE
newOE
lateOE
yesterdaya1300
freshlya1387
of newa1393
anewa1425
newlingsa1425
latewardc1434
the other dayc1450
lately?c1475
erst1480
latewards1484
sith late1484
alatea1500
recently1509
even now1511
late-whiles1561
late ygo1579
formerly1590
just now1591
lastly1592
just1605
low1610
this moment1696
latewardly1721
shortsyne1768
sometime1779
latterly1821
OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. xxii. 292 Ualentius wæs swiðe arwyrðes lifes wer, se nu late wæs in þissere Romebyrig mid me, swa swa þu sylfa wast, Petrus, þæt he heold min mynster.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) 417 (MED) He lihte nulate of heouenliche leomen.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 126 Seint Ieromie nu lete seið bihim seoluen. Quociens inter homines fui minus homo recessi.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 1576 We seiȝen..heraboue Ouer ous a sky houe Þat ous schewed þe biȝate Of swi[che] a þing on erþe late.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iii. l. 105 Ichaue a Kniht hette Concience com late from bi-ȝonde.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 7917 Twey men were late in londe A pore and a riche wononde.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 149 He regnes after him, & late had þe coroune.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 916 She asked hym if he had ete ony mete late. ‘Nay, madam, truly I yeete no mete nyghe thes three dayes.’
1490 W. Caxton in tr. Boke yf Eneydos Prol. sig. Aj A lytyl booke in frenshe, whiche late was translated oute of latyn.
a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 44/2 The great obloquy in which hee was soo late before.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 76 Noght long sithen but late.
1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Giijv Their vertue lost, wherein they late exceld. View more context for this quotation
1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius De Rebus Belgicis 625 The Castle..which he had late before rendred to the people of Cleves.
1677 W. Mountagu in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 325 The sickness late upon her.
1772 W. Jones Poems 21 The bow'r, which late outshone the rosy morn.
1783 J. Hoole tr. L. Ariosto Orlando Furioso III. xxvi. 288 For this but late before I wag'd the strife, And late refrain'd to touch thy forfeit life.
1814 Ld. Byron To Ianthe in Childe Harold: Cantos I & II (ed. 7) i. 3 Those climes where I have late been straying.
1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 89 He had a fever late.
1883 R. W. Dixon Mano i. viii. 20 Gazing the sky which late thou seemedst to shun.
1906 A. Austin Door of Humility 173 Lilies tall, and white, and fair, So like to those I late had seen.
2011 P. Pontac Codpieces 22 I late have been in Scotland, and I fear Macbeth is dead.
b. Not long ago (but not now); recently, but no longer. Now frequently followed by an of-phrase indicating a person's residence or affiliation. Cf. late adj.1 11.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [adverb]
erea822
fernOE
whileOE
erera1000
whilereOE
onceOE
somewhile1154
whilomc1175
herebeforec1200
somewhilesa1250
yorea1250
orc1275
rather?a1300
erewhilec1305
sometimea1325
sometimec1330
at or in sometime1340
in arrear1340
heretoforea1375
fernyear1377
once upon a timec1380
behinds1382
beforetimea1393
of olda1393
erenow1393
umquhilea1400
erst14..
fornec1400
yore whilec1400
of before1402
late1423
abefore1431
beforetimes1449
whilesc1480
sometime1490
aforrow?a1513
behind1526
quondamc1540
in foretime(s?c1550
erstwhile1569
erstwhiles1569
aleare1581
erewhiles1584
sometimes1597
formerly1599
anciently1624
olim1645
somewhile since1652
quondamly1663
forepassed1664
sometimea1684
backward1691
historically1753
time back1812
had-been1835
when1962
1423 Petition in Fenland Notes & Queries (1907–9) 7 307 (MED) John ffordham, late bisshop of Ely, arrayned an assise of novel disseisin ayenst John Baldwar.
1435 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 103 (MED) Thys is the will o Isabell Dove, lat the wyf of Thomas Dove.
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) ii. v. 70 Iohn the monke late cardynall of rome.
1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 10 The Domynyons..that late were to Edwarde Courteney.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. iii. sig. Ee4 Late king, now captiue, late lord, now forlorne.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. i. 283 His brother, archbishop late of Canterburie. View more context for this quotation
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet ii. ii. 510 A clout vppon that head Where late the Diadem stood. View more context for this quotation
1669 (title) The mute Christian under the smarting rod..By Thomas Brooks late preacher of the word at St. Margarets New Fish-street, London.
1706 London Gaz. No. 4249/4 John Barton, late of London, Clothdrawer.
1762 S. Derrick Battle of Lora 19 Three Paces round out-measure now thy Grave, O Morar! late the Mighty and the Brave.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond I. xiv. 314 As Esmond crossed over to his own room, late the chaplain's.
1895 J. Conrad Let. 17 Sept. (1956) 39 It is my painful duty to inform you of the sad death of Mr Peter Willems late of Rotterdam and Macassar.
1902 Outlook 15 Nov. 635 The goldenrod stands gray with age and grief, Where late she mocked the sunshine with her gold.
1967 L. Forrester Girl called Fathom xii. 148 Commandant Daniel Jules Delavigne, late of the Paras.
1995 Prairie & City (Western Manitoba) 10/1 (advt.) Mo Karrouze (late of London, England) and his staff..invite you to experience the most advanced permanent waving technology.
Phrases
P1. Coupled with early or soon (formerly also †ere or †rathe). See also early and late at early adv. Phrases 1. Cf. sooner or later at soon adv. 9c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > frequency > infrequency > [adverb] > never
neverOE
ne'erc1275
late?a1439
naya1547
Latter Lammas1559
when the devil is blind1645
on (at) the Greek Calendsa1649
Queen Dick1652
tomorrow come never1660
nowhena1767
on Tib's Eve1785
OE Blickling Homilies 59 Hi ne besceawiaþ no hu late hi on þysne middangeard acennede wurdon, & hu raþe hi him eft of gewitan sceolan.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 6242 Beon ar. & late onn ȝunkerr weorrc.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 250 Oðer ich hit do ungledliche. oðer to earliche oðer to lete.
a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 68 Er ant late ybe þy foo.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. x. l. 13 (MED) Dobet..serueþ þat ladi lelly boþe late and raþe.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iii. l. 335 Glad Pouert, late nouther soone, With thi richessis hath nothyng to doone.
a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) viii. l. 4997 Cum I are, cum I lat.
1578 in J. G. Dalyell Scotish Poems 16th Cent. (1801) II. 152 Thow art keiper lait and aire.
1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor ii. ii. 301 Better an houre too soone, then a minit too late.
c1640 J. Shirley Contention Ajax & Ulisses (1659) 128 Early or late, They stoop to fate.
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. v. 144 My fate Comes on too soon, and I repent too late. Fair Queen, forgive.
1792 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 652 He paidles out, an' he paidles in, An' he paidles late and early, O.
1796 H. Macneill Waes o' War ii. 18 Baith ear' and late, Will in briny grief lay steeping.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV clxxi. 88 A weight..which crushes soon or late.
1892 F. E. W. Harper Iola Leroy ii. 19 De overseer used to cruelize dem so bad, an' drive dem to work late and early.
1986 J. Viorst Necessary Losses i. 31 Expecting to be disappointed, we make certain that, soon or late, we are disappointed.
1991 S. Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek 138 Late or early, sooner or later, you're just asking for it. Know what I mean?
P2. late on [after early on at early adv. Phrases 2 and later on at later adv. 3] : at a late stage.
ΚΠ
1829 J. Major Treat. Insects 58 Those which appear late on in the season remain in their cell through the winter.
1861 All Year Round 19 Jan. 348/1 The old woman..who now, late on in the morning, had been found dead in her bed.
1892 R. W. Cochran-Patrick Mediæval Scotl. i. 9 This rent..is mentioned late on in the fifteenth century, and is found later still in Atholl.
1920 P. J. Fryer Insect Pests & Fungus Dis. Fruit & Hops xix. 316 This may be applied quite late on without injury.
1938 T. Pape Newcastle-under-Lyme in Tudor & Early Stuart Times i. 2 Late on in the Commonwealth period.
1994 H. Dunmore Burning Bright (1995) xiv. 138 It was late on in June, and there was clover in the grass.
P3. Proverb. better late than never and variants. [Compare classical Latin potiusque sero quam nunquam obviam eundum audaciae temeritatique ‘and it was better that they should oppose their rashness and temerity late than never’ (Livy 4. 2), Greek κρεῖττον ἐστὶν ἄρξασθαι ὀψὲ τὰ δέοντα πράττειν ἤ μηδέποτε ‘it is better to start doing what must be done late than not at all’ (Dionysius of Halicarnassus Antiquitates Romanae 9. 9), Middle French, French il vaut mieux tard que jamais (c1400 or earlier).]
ΚΠ
c1390 Ancrene Riwle (Vernon) (2000) 121 Betere is late þen neuere.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Canon's Yeoman's Tale (Ellesmere) (1875) l. 1410 For bet than neuere is late.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) l. 1204 He seyde Vyce to forsake ys bettyr late then neuer.
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xlii Syth that late is better then neuer.
1708 S. Ockley Conquest of Syria 276 Whilst he was murdering the unhappy Aleppians, Caled, (better late than never) came to their Relief.
1852 C. M. Yonge Two Guardians xviii. 364 She obtained from Agnes some admiration for Caroline's conduct, though in somewhat of the ‘better late than never style’.
1876 G. H. Lewes Let. 10 Jan. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1956) VI. 211 I think that in the next number at any rate a bill might be inserted with effect—better late than never!
1950 G. Greene Third Man ix. 77 Oh, Mr. Dexter, we have been so anxious, but better late than never.
1954 A. Huxley Let. 16 Sept. (1969) 711 I am sorry your holiday will have to be postponed so long; but better late than never.
1995 P. McCabe Dead School (1996) 261 It was a pity the barman hadn't made his suggestion sooner. But no matter. Better late than never.
Compounds
Modifying a participial adjective (frequently hyphenated). C1.
a. With the sense ‘after the proper or expected time, at a late hour or stage’, as late-acquired, late-arriving, late-begun, late-departing, late-discovered, late-lingering, late-opening, late-ripening, late-running, etc.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.
ΚΠ
OE Prudentius Glosses (Corpus Cambr. 223) in H. D. Meritt Old Eng. Glosses (1945) 28/2 Sero..aeuo : lætcumen[re] yl[de].
1615 T. Worthington Whyte dyed Black i. i. 12 He opposeth on the contrary side our late begon renouation, or newnes of lyfe, to the merites of the Sonne of God.
1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. vi. 75 A..late-begun repentance.
1683 J. Dryden & N. Lee Duke of Guise iii. iii. 35 O Villain, Slave, wert thou my late born Heir, Giv'n me by Heav'n, ev'n when I lay a dying.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Kalendar 97 Late Blowing Tulips, Anemonies, Ranunculus's, Pinks of several sorts.
1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 211 The frequent and late-protracted ball.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 50 An early-chosen, late-lamented home.
1821 J. Brettell Country Minister (1825) vii. 82 Faint, pale, beams of his late-lingering light Cheer'd the dark shadows of approaching night.
1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 19/2 We happen to know several persons who have vowed destruction on their late ripening grapes, and have determined to fill their places with the earlier sorts.
1865 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 27 That yield That I may win with late-learnt skill uncouth.
1882 M. Arnold in 19th Cent. Jan. 1 Hither he came, late-born and long desired.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 16 Oct. 10/1 Only a few stragglers—most of them birds with their late-hatched broods—are left.
1933 Mind 42 279 The physiological and psychological processes which cause it to be given may be as complex and as late-acquired as you please.
1952 Robesonian (Lumberton, N. Carolina) 23 Dec. 7/1 Hotels and night clubs in Boston advertised the fact that late departing guests would be served hot coffee ‘on the house’.
1963 E. Wilson Jrnl. in Sixties: Last Jrnl. (1993) 207 Some party in New York, at which late-arriving guests had been surprised..to find everybody sitting in silence.
1996 J. Brown Hong Kong & Macau: Rough Guide (ed. 3) 76 They're all late-opening..and mostly frequented by expats and well-to-do Chinese yuppies.
1998 Independent on Sunday 13 Dec. i. 6/5 Frustration at late-running trains.
2002 J. Valk et al. Magn. Resonance in Dementia 343/2 A relatively late-discovered midline tumor.
b.
late-coming adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by age or cycles > [adjective] > ripe or ripened > ripening or becoming ripe > ripening or flowering late
late1440
late-flowering1577
late-coming1598
1598 F. Rous Thule i. iii. sig. C4v Amongst those birds was I caught in the net, Layd to entrap the frayiltie of youth, And at a little price my soule did set, Now all bedewd into late comming ruth.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §421 A Late-Comming Fruit.
1883 H. James Portraits of Places i. 2 This queer, late-coming prose of Mr. Ruskin.
1991 Prorodeo Sports News 7 Aug. 6/1 Mendes..appeared to have bucked off before a late-coming eight-second buzzer sounded.
late-flowering adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by age or cycles > [adjective] > ripe or ripened > ripening or becoming ripe > ripening or flowering late
late1440
late-flowering1577
late-coming1598
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry f. 189v There is good store of late flowring hearbs, as Tyme, wylde Marierum, and Sauery.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole 61 The late flowring Tulipa.
1815 W. Wordsworth White Doe of Rylstone iv. 70 Late-flowering woodbine.
1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic Hist. Introd. iii. 13 That noble language which her late-flowering literature has rendered so illustrious.
1963 Times 23 May 5/2 A late-flowering passion for one of her husband's authors.
2004 Independent 2 Oct. (Mag.) 53/4 Ornamental grasses and late-flowering perennials.
late-maturing adj.
ΚΠ
1846 Standard 14 Dec. The continuation at the south of mild and propitious weather for the picking of the late maturing crop.
1936 W. H. Auden Look, Stranger! 29 On their behalf guard all the more This late-maturing Northern shore.
1992 Harrowsmith Aug. 8/2 The plants reach as tall as six feet, but they are slow-growing and late-maturing.
c.
late-bottled adj. designating port wine which is matured for longer before bottling than vintage port; frequently in late-bottled vintage (abbreviated LBV).Unlike vintage port, late-bottled vintage port (typically aged four to six years in wood) requires no further ageing once bottled.
ΚΠ
1859 Review: Country Gentleman’s Jrnl. 12 Mar. 582/2 (advt.) Ports... Sandeman's, late bottled, 1847, 28s per doz.
1920 G. Saintsbury Notes on Cellar-bk. (1921) 228 The admirable late-bottled '73..was, almost certainly, that shipper's.
1931 Fortn. Rev. Sept. 330 Certain Tawny Ports and some Late-Bottled Ports.
1959 Times 21 Dec. 9/3 Rutherfords claim that their Quinto do Noval 1954 L.B.V. (late-bottled vintage) is ready to drink now.
1963 Observer 17 Nov. 31/5 Cockburns is shipping its '57 as a late-bottled vintage after six years in cask.
2012 Irish Times (Nexis) 22 Dec. (Mag. section) 27 Vintage port needs to be aged in a bottle, and will keep 20 years or more. Its little brothers, ruby and late-bottled vintage, are released ready-to-drink.
late-gathered adj. (of fruit or crops, esp. grapes) gathered later than the general harvest; (of wine, esp. sweet white wine) made from such grapes; = late-picked adj.
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1824 A. Henderson Hist. Wines ii. ii. 148 The white wine of Château-Chalons..was made with much care from late-gathered grapes.
1910 Breeder's Gaz. 13 Apr. 928/2 The early-gathered and well-saved seed-corn germinated..over 9 per cent better than the late-gathered seed-corn.
1959 Spectator 3 Apr. 478/3 I am looking forward to meeting the so-called ‘Tigermilk’, a rich, sweet, late-gathered dessert wine.
1989 Guardian (Nexis) 19 Aug. The Australian host of my B&B wanted to share..a glass of his country's superb late-gathered Muscats.
1998 Stars & Stripes (Germany) 24 Sept. (Mag. section) 10/2 A sun-ripened Auslese wine made from the choicest late-gathered grapes.
2004 Winnipeg Free Press 17 Mar. d7/2 The Burgundies, on average, retail for 5.84 times the price of the late-gathered Rieslings.
late-picked adj. (a) designating fruit, crops, etc., picked or harvested relatively late in the season, esp. grapes picked later than the general harvest; (b) designating any of various types of wine, esp. sweet white wine, made from late-picked grapes (cf. late-harvest adj. at late adj.1 Compounds 4).
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1784 Ann. Agric. 2 77 The late picked hops are always succeeded by far the best crop the following year.
1861 Trans. Amer. Inst. N.Y. 1860–61 250 in Docs. Assembly State N.Y. (84th Session, Doc. No. 138) VII This year the late picked apples..are about one-fourth larger than those picked early.
1938 C. B. Hutchison & S. B. Freeborn Toward Better Agric. vi. 103 Overripe grapes are comparatively low in acidity, which explains the prevalence of spoilage during fermentation of late-picked grapes.
1955 Country Life 10 Nov. 1087/3 Its German rival from the Rhine, the Johannisberg, is similarly a late-picked wine.
1999 Daily Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 28 Apr. f14 Sweet whites made from late-picked, almost overripe grapes..are just the ticket for this type of dessert.
2007 Daily Mail (Electronic ed.) 13 Jan. (Weekend section) 84 The..sweet spice and wild honey notes on this late-picked marsanne are incredible.
d.
late-blooming adj. (a) (of a plant) blooming relatively late in the growing season, typically in late summer or early autumn; (b) figurative that develops or occurs relatively late in a person's life; (of a person) developing a skill, interest, etc., later in life; cf. late bloomer n. at late adj.1 Compounds 4.
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1628 T. May tr. Virgil Georgicks iv. 117 How the late blooming Daffodils [L. sera comantem narcissum] do grow.
1823 C. Harrison Treat. on Culture & Managem. Fruit Trees iii. 11 Apples, Morella and May Duke Cherries, with any of the late blooming kinds of Plums.
1878 Libr. Table 25 May 262/2 A late blooming love promised a resurrection of the heart that surprised himself as much as anyone.
1898 Garden 12 Nov. 389/2 It is about the smallest Chrysanthemum I know. It is late blooming.
1953 Princeton Alumni Weekly 16 Jan. 24/3 Ted is a desk man on the ‘Worcester Telegram’... Also a late-blooming golfer.
1999 Along Huron (Dept. Parks & Recreation, Ann Arbor, Mich.) 27 The spectacular season is the fall when..late-blooming wildflowers are in full colour.
2008 M. Hammond & E. Heltzel Between Covers vi. 182 At eighty-six, she sold an article..to the St. Petersburg Times. That article led to a late-blooming career as a monthly columnist.
late-breaking adj. (of a news story) that becomes public or breaks (see break v. 39b) close to or after the print or broadcast deadline for a newspaper, newscast, etc.; (in extended use) very recent, up-to-date, last-minute.
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1925 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 21 Jan. 9/1 In the afternoon until my page was made up..I kept the telephone busy to make sure no late-breaking sensation got away.
1949 Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald 15 July 4/7 We got caught yesterday between an early column deadline and a late-breaking story.
1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 9 Sept. Barring a late-breaking miracle, Metro's 7,000 transit workers will begin their strike at 6 a.m. Monday morning.
1996 Managing Office Technol. (Electronic ed.) July 39 Thousands of companies across the US use fax-on-demand to provide speedy late-breaking information to their customers.
2008 J. Kern Sound Reporting xiv. 248 Late-breaking news can force you to completely reconstruct the show just minutes before it goes on air.
C2. With the sense ‘recently’, as late-coined, late-come, late-enfranchised, late-gone, late-lost, late-taken, etc.
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1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ii. sig. G And so late met, that I feare, we parte not yeet, Quoth the baker to the pillory.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. 25v When the kyng had thus appeased and asswaged that late begonne commocion, he sent his son the prince of Wales.., to encounter with the Scottes.
1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 169 The late founde Ilandes.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. xii. sig. H2 Remembring that it was late-taken loue, which had wrought this new course.
1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Fij As one on shore Gazing vpon a late embarked friend. View more context for this quotation
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. M2v Who like a late sack't Iland vastlie stood.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. iv. 59 Like bubbles in a late disturbed streame. View more context for this quotation
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie ii. vi. sig. E8 Muto..with his late kist-hand my booke dooth grace.
1606 R. Knolles tr. J. Bodin Six Bks. Common-weale i. v. 43 These late enfranchised men fell againe into their slauerie.
1614 T. Godwin Romanæ Historiæ Anthologia i. ii. iv. 25 Novi..late-coyned nobles or vpstarts.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iii. v. 41 As sure as in this late betrayed Towne, Great Cordelions Heart was buryed. View more context for this quotation
1631 G. Chapman Warres Pompey & Caesar ii. sig. E In our late-met Senate.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre ii. xxix. 81 The late-come Pilgrimes.
1709 London Gaz. No. 4535/3 An excellent late-built dwelling House.
1711 Light to Blind in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 126 Many regiments of his late raysed army.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. x. 532 Mean-while the Goddess with indulgent cares And social joys, the late-transform'd repairs.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. x. 488 Around them throng With leaps and bounds their late-imprison'd young.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xiii. 20 A late-lost form that sleep reveals. View more context for this quotation
1883 R. W. Dixon Mano i. iv. 8 Whilst our late found advantage all is ceased.
1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 43 At the head of a late filled Grave.
1920 Shipping (N.Y.) 25 Apr. 44/1 Two of the late-built Maine four-masted schooners have just secured good paying charters.
1925 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Criminal Law & Criminol. 16 419 The drinking and narcotic habit, which to apply the late-coined phrase.., puts a ‘kick’ in life.
1937 E. Blunden Elegy 30 Child of late-gone gale.
1953 G. Heyer Cotillion xi. 175 One must bear in mind, however, the late-disturbed times in France.
1997 Times 29 Dec. 13/1 Some are even blaming the outbreak on the late-departed British.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.OE
adj.1eOE
adj.21597adv.eOE- interval issue
- interval land
- interval man
- interval music
- interval of time
- interval prose
- interval running
- interval signal
- interval time
- interval training
- interval way
- intervale
- intervaled
- intervales
- intervallary
- intervallic
- intervalling
- intervallum
- intervalometer
- intervalometers
- intervals
- intervalve
- intervalvular
- intervarietal
- intervarsity