Lasts

/læsts/ verb, noun

Definition

Third person singular of 'last' (to continue or endure); or plural noun for the wooden foot-shaped forms used to shape shoes during manufacturing.

Etymology

Verb from Old English 'læstan' meaning to perform or endure; noun from Old Norse 'lestr' meaning wooden form. Both meanings entered English before 1000.

Kelly Says

A 'shoe last' is such a specific tool that most people have never heard of it, yet shoemakers have used the exact same word for this wooden form for over a thousand years without change.

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