last word

Noun

last word (plural last words)

1. (idiomatic, often preceded by the and followed by in) The finest, highest, or ultimate representative of some class of objects.
   • Little Joe's mother's cake was the last word in cakes; [...]1917, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Captain Jim Crosses the Bar”, in Anne’s House of Dreams, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, published 1920, →OCLC, page 332
   • Michaelis was the last word in what was caddish and bounderish.1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter III, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   exemplar, paragon, ne plus ultra

2. (idiomatic) A concluding remark; final advice, instructions, or observation.
   • ["]I have got my leave, and that is all I want." / "You had better receive the last word from my mother," said the marquis. / "Very good; I will go and get it," said Newman; and he prepared to return to the drawing-room.1876 October, Henry James, Jr., chapter XII, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 205
   • [W]hen we had grasped hands for the last time and had said our last good-bye, he added this one more last word: "Of all the people I have ever known you are the only one I don't know."1918, W. H. Hudson, chapter 24, in Far Away and Long Ago
3. (in plural, often, sarcastic) The final statement uttered by a person before death.
   • Benjamin Franklin [...] pondered over his last words for as much as two weeks, and then when the time came, he said, "None but the brave deserve the fair," and died happy.1889 September 11, Mark Twain, “Last words of great men”, in Buffalo Express, Buffalo, N.Y.
   • This account I am transmitting down the river by canoe, and it may be our last word to those who are interested in our fate.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘To-morrow We Disappear into the Unknown’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 109
4. (idiomatic) A final decision or remark, or the right to make one.
   • have the last word
   • get the last word