Word.ws English Dictionary

last gasps

last gasps is the plural of last gasp.

Meaning of last gasp

Noun

last gasp (plural last gasps)

  1. The final gasp or breath a person takes before death.
    • Now the murdered man is drawing his last gasp.1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer and Christen Jul, Vampyr
  2. (broadly) The point of death, or the last period of one's life.
    • Such as feare God shall be strengthened to stand against all assaults of Satan; yea they shal continue and stand stedfast vnto the end, euen to the last gasp.1585, Edwin Sandys, “Sermon 14”, in Sermons, page 247
  3. (figuratively) The point at which something disappears or is destroyed; a last-gasp moment, attempt, etc.
    • Me thinks, (my Lord) you are grown something solemn on the sudden; since your Monopolies and Patents, which made your purse swell like a wet spunge, have been reduc’d to th’ last gasp.1654, George Chapman (attr.), “Act I”, in Revenge for Honour, page 9

Questions about last gasps

What is last gasps the plural of?
Last gasps is the plural of last gasp.

Words near last gasps in the dictionary

  1. last fours
  2. last frontier
  3. last full measure
  4. last full measures
  5. last gasp
  6. last gasps
  7. Last Gospel
  8. last hired, first fired
  9. last honors
  10. last honours
  11. last hoorah

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: last gasps (page history and authors); last gasp (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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