late

• IPA^(key): /leɪt/

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• Rhymes: -eɪt

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

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

1. Near the end of a period of time.

   It was late in the evening when we finally arrived.

2. Specifically, near the end of the day.

   It was getting late and I was tired.

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

   Late Latin is less fully inflected than classical Latin.

4. Not arriving until after an expected time.

   Even though we drove as fast as we could, we were still late.

   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. Not having had an expected menstrual period.

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

6. (not comparable, euphemistic) Deceased, dead: used particularly when speaking of the dead person's actions while alive. (Often used with "the"; see usage notes.)
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

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

   Her late husband had left her well provided for.

   The piece was composed by the late Igor Stravinsky.

7. 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

8. Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.
   • 1914, Robert Frost, North of Boston, "A Hundred Collars":

     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 […]

• (deceased): Late in this sense is unusual among English adjectives in that it qualifies named individuals (in phrases like the late Mary) without creating a contrast with another Mary who is not late. Contrast hungry: a phrase like the hungry Mary is usually only used if another Mary is under discussion who is not hungry.

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!

3. Not long ago; just now.
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV scene i:

     He shall do this, or else I do recant / The pardon that I late pronounced here.

• 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.

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

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late

1. Inflected form of laat

late

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of laten

late

1. Feminine plural of adjective lato.

Akin to Finnish lattia.

late (genitive lattien, partitive latettu)

1. floor

lātē (comparative lātius, superlative lātissimē)

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

• 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, 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 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 of lat
2. plural form 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. definite singular of lat
2. plural form of lat

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑte/

late

1. late

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈla.t͡ʃi/

late

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of latir
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of latir

late

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of latir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of latir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of latir.

late

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of lat.