late

From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let.

• IPA^(key): /leɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

1. Near the end of a period of time.

   The seedlings appeared to be coming along nicely until a late frost killed them.

2. Specifically, near the end of the day.

   It was getting late and I was tired.

3. (usually not comparable) Associated with the end of a period.

   Late Latin is less fully inflected than classical Latin.

4. Not arriving or occurring until after an expected time.

   The flowers were late in blooming because of the prolonged cold weather.

   Panos was so late that he arrived at the meeting after Antonio, who had the excuse of being in hospital for most of the night.

5. Levied as a surcharge on a payment which has not arrived by a specified deadline.

   The power company suspended late fees during the pandemic.

6. Not having had an expected menstrual period.

   I'm late, honey. Could you buy a test?

   • 1992 February 5, Larry Charles, Elaine Pope, “The Fix-Up”, in Seinfeld, spoken by Cynthia (Maggie Wheeler):

     I am very worried. I am never late.

7. (not comparable, euphemistic) Deceased, dead: used particularly when speaking of the dead person's actions while alive. (Generally must be preceded by a possessive or an article, commonly "the"; see usage notes. Can itself only precede the person's name, never follow it.)

   Her late husband had left her well provided for.

   The piece was composed by the late Igor Stravinsky.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 181:

     To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.

   • 1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):

     This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!

   • Order 3(ca)(i), Public Order (Prohibited Areas) Order 2009 (G.N. S 490/2009)

     The following public assemblies and public processions are excluded from the prohibition in paragraph 2: […] any public assembly or public procession in an open space that is held primarily to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew […]

   • 2022 December 14, Nadia Khomami, quoting Iman, “‘He’s not my “late” husband’: Iman speaks of grief over death of David Bowie”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     “He is not my ‘late husband’. He is my husband,” she said, before discussing how the couple had managed to retain their independent identities while together.

8. Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.

   the late bishop of London

   the late administration

   • 1640, Edvvard Reynoldes, A Treatise of the Passions and Facvlties of the Soul of Man. With the severall Dignities and Corruptions thereunto belonging., London: […] R. H. for Robert Bostock, […]:

     By Edvvard Reynoldes, late Preacher to the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inne: And now Rector of the Church of Braunſton in Northamptonſhire.

9. Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1:

     OLd Iohn of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaſter,
     Haſt thou according to thy oath and band
     Brought hither Henry Herford thy bold ſon:
     Heere to make good yͤ boiſtrous late appeale,
     Which then our leyſure would not let vs heare,
     Againſt the Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Mowbray?

   • 1914, Robert Frost, “A Hundred Collars”, in North of Boston:

     Lancaster bore him—such a little town, / Such a great man. It doesn't see him often / Of late years, though he keeps the old homestead / And sends the children down there with their mother […]

10. (astronomy) Of a star or class of stars, cooler than the sun.

• (deceased): Late in this sense qualifies named individuals (in phrases like the late Mary Smith). In this sense, it generally is confined to usage with the person's full name, or a title, relationship, etc., that would be adequate by itself to identify the person: the late Mary Smith; the late queen; his late wife; the late Mary, Queen of Scots; but in most cases not the late Mary.

late (plural lates)

1. (informal) A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
   • 2007, Paul W Browning, The Good Guys Wear Blue:

     At about 11 pm one night in Corporation Street my watch were on van patrol and Yellow Watch were on late as usual.

• early

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

1. After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.

   We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late.

2. Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.

   Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.

   The Hendersons will all be there / Late of Pablo Fanque's Fair / What a scene!

4. Not long ago; just now, recently.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 181, column 1:

     He ſhall doe this, or elſe I doe recant / The pardon that I late pronounced heere.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XIII, page 20:

     Tears of the widower, when he sees
     ⁠A late-lost form that sleep reveals,
     ⁠And moves his doubtful arms, and feels
     Her place is empty, fall like these; […]

• (past a designated time): belatedly; see also Thesaurus:belatedly
• (formerly): erenow; see also Thesaurus:formerly
• (not long ago): freshly; see also Thesaurus:recently

• 2009 April 3, Peter T. Daniels, "Re: Has 'late' split up into a pair of homonyms?", message-ID <bdb13686-a6e4-43cd-8445-efe353365394@l13g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, alt.usage.english and sci.lang, Usenet.

• teal, tael, et. al, atel-, TEAl, Elta, TEAL, et al, Teal, tale, tela, leat, EATL, ETLA, et al.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaːtə/

• Audio:

  (file)

late

1. inflection of laat:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive

late

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of laten

late

1. inflection of latar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative
2. inflection of latir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈla.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: là‧te

late

1. feminine plural of lato

• alte, tale, tela

From Proto-Finnic *lat'ëk, borrowed from Proto-Norse *ᚠᛚᚨᛏᛃᚨ (*flatja), from Proto-Germanic *flatją. Cognates include Finnish lattia and Livvi late.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑte/
• Hyphenation: la‧te

late (genitive lattien, partitive latetta)

1. floor

• P. M. Zaykov et al. (2015) “пол”, in Venäjä-Viena Šanakirja [Russian-Viena Karelian Dictionary], →ISBN

lātē (comparative lātius, superlative lātissimē)

1. broadly, widely
2. extensively
3. far and wide, everywhere
4. lavishly, excessively

• lātus

• “late”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “late”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the twigs are shooting out, spreading: rami late diffunduntur
    
  • to have a wide extent: late patere (also metaphorically vid. sect. VIII. 8)
    

From Proto-Finnic *lat'ëk, borrowed from Proto-Norse *ᚠᛚᚨᛏᛃᚨ (*flatja), from Proto-Germanic *flatją. Cognates include Finnish lattia and Karelian late.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑtʲe/
• Hyphenation: la‧te
• Rhymes: -ɑtʲe

late (genitive lattien, partitive latettu)

1. floor

• Tatjana Boiko (2019) “late”, in Suuri Karjal-Venʹalaine Sanakniigu (livvin murreh) [The Big Karelian-Russian dictionary (Livvi dialect)], 2nd edition, →ISBN

From Old English læt, from Proto-West Germanic *lat.

• laite, latte, lete, leate

• IPA^(key): /laːt/, /lat/

late

1. slow, sluggish, reluctant.

• latly

• English: late
• Geordie English: lyet
• Scots: late
• Yola: laate

• “lāt(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old English late.

• lata, laite, latte, lete, læte, leate

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaːt(ə)/

late

1. slowly, reluctantly

• English: late
• Yola: laate

• “lāt(e, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old Norse lát (“conduct, demeanour, voice, sound”, literally “let, letting, loss”) (from Proto-Germanic *lētiją (“behaviour”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēid-, *lēy- (“to leave, let”). Cognate with Middle Low German lāt (“outward appearance, gesture, manner”), Old English lǣtan (“to let”). More at let.

late

1. Manner; behaviour; outward appearance or aspect.
2. A sound; voice.
   • c 1275-1499, King Alexander

     Than have we liking to lithe the lates of the foules.

late

1. definite singular and plural of lat

From Old Norse láta.

late (imperative lat, present tense later, passive lates, simple past lot, past participle latt, present participle latende)

1. to seem, appear
2. (also late som) to pretend

• årelate

• “late” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /²lɑːtə/

late

1. inflection of lat:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

late (present tense lèt, past tense lét, past participle late, passive infinitive latast, present participle latande, imperative lat)

1. Alternative form of la

From Old Norse láta.

• lata

• IPA^(key): /²lɑːtə/

late (present tense lèt, past tense lét, past participle late, passive infinitive latast, present participle latande, imperative lat)

1. to seem, appear
2. (also late som) to pretend

• årelate

• “late” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Adverbial form of læt, composed with the suffix -e.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑ.te/

late (comparative lator, superlative latost)

1. slow(ly)
2. late

• Rhymes: -ati

late

1. inflection of latir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

late

1. inflection of latir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

late

1. definite natural masculine singular of lat

• leta