late

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Arriving or happening after the expected time.

   The train was late again this morning.

2. 2
   adv

   After the usual or expected time.

   We stayed up late talking.

3. 3
   adj

   Near the end of a period of time or the day.

   It was getting late, so we went home.

4. 4
   adj

   Used to refer to someone who has died, especially recently.

   She inherited the house from her late husband.

Common collocations

• late night Adjective + noun
• late summer Adjective + noun

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. Cognates Cognate with Yola laate (“late”), North Frisian leed, leet, lääs (“late”), Saterland Frisian leet (“late”), Dutch, German Low German laat (“late, tardy”), Danish lad (“languid, lazy, indolent”), Faroese, Icelandic latur (“lazy”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lat (“lazy”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “lazy, slothful”).

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