greatest, a. (n.) and adv.
(ˈgreɪtɪst)
Forms: 3–5 grettest, (5 -yst, -ist, -ust), 4 gratest, 4–5 grattest, -ist, gretest, Sc. -ast, (5 grattes, -us), 6– greatest. β. 3–5 greste.
[f. great a. + -est; app. not recorded in OE.]
A. adj.
1. a. The superlative of great in various senses.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 220/17 Nou is þe se [of] Occean grettest and mest al-so. 1340 Ayenb. 44 Huanne me..beggeþ be þe gratteste wyȝtes, oþer be þe gratteste mesures, and zelleþ by þe leste. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 398 One of þo grattest synnes of alle. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 134 The gretteste clerkes ben noght the wysest men. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. ii. (1495) 598 The grettest tree synkyth not in water though it be heuy. c 1420 Sir Amadas (Weber) 306 The grattes maysters yede hym beforne. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xii. (1885) 138 Whan any rysinge hath be made..the pouerest men þeroff haue be þe grettest causers and doers therin. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. xx. 67 Birds faile in their flight, yea, those of the greatest wing, vpon the passage of so great a Gulph. 1683 A. D. Art Converse 40 The greatest swearers are commonly the greatest liars. 1834 Sir H. Taylor Artevelde i. i. v, The world knows nothing of its greatest men. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus xlix. 1 Greatest speaker of any born a Roman, Marcus Tullius. 1895 Ld. Esher in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 701/2, I have the greatest respect and admiration for American decisions. |
| β a 1225 Ancr. R. 66 Ower greste, & ower lodlukeste sunnen. c 1315 Shoreham 8 Of alle other sacramens Thes sevene beth the greste. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. st. 490 In my greste nede. |
b. greatest part: the largest amount or proportion (of); the majority (cf. greater A. 1 b).
| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxxiii. 300 In many partes of the Indies, and I thinke in the greatest part, small cattell do not increase and profite well. 1644 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 133 The greatest part of the Romish Doctors. 1648 Ld. Byron in Hamilton Papers (Camden) 166 The greatest part of Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 3 The greatest part of our company were reprobate persons. 1741 Johnson Debates in Parlt. (1787) I. 358 Both inn-holders and soldiers are, for the greatest part, of this rank and temper. 1771 T. Hull Sir W. Harrington (1797) I. 180 It attracted his eyes greatest part of the evening. a 1774 Goldsm. Grecian Hist. I. 194 He died..aged threescore and five years, the greatest part of which he had spent in the intrigues and bustles of active employment. |
c. greatest happiness of the greatest number (see happiness 2 b). d. greatest common measure (see measure).
† 2. Eldest. (Cf. greater A. 2.) Obs.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xviii. 17 Saul sayde vnto Dauid: Beholde my greatest [Wyclif, more, A.V. elder] doughter Merob wyl I geue the to wyfe. |
3. absol. and ellipt. (quasi-n.)
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 1196 He slou six of þe grettes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1006 The grettyst of Grise gremyt þerat. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxxiii, My nome is Syr Galrun..The grattus [Douce MS. grettest, Thornt. MS. gretteste] of Galway, of greuys and of gillus. 1450–70 Golagros & Gaw. 1168 Al the gretest Of gomys that grip has. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 133, Vij score thai led off the gretast that thai fand Off ayris with thaim. 1602 Dekker Satire mastix A 4 b, Ad Lectorem..It shall not be amisse..first to beholde this short Comedy of Errors and where the greatest enter to giue them in stead of a hisse, a gentle correction. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 163 Mecha (neere which..is buried their greatest Mahomet). 1784 Cowper Task ii. 168 Since from the least The greatest oft originate. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 29 Our greatest yet with least pretence. 1946 Jazzways I. 104/1 ‘Duke's the greatest’ is certainly the easiest cliché tossed around swing circles. 1954 Time 8 Nov. 70 A term of high approbation in the swing era..is ‘the greatest’. 1964 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 Nov., Joe Kapp and Willie Fleming swung in a jubilant jig, and Kapp hollered, ‘Baby, you're the greatest.’ 1970 New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/1 Everything about this broad spelled class,..she was the greatest. |
† B. adv. Most greatly or highly; most. Obs.
| 1553 in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. 369 Articles..gathered..by the greatest learned men of the bishops. |
______________________________
▸ Greatest Generation n. U.S. (also with lower-case initials) the generation of Americans reaching adulthood during the Second World War (1939–45).
| 1998 T. Brokaw Greatest Generation p. xxx, I said, ‘I think this is the *greatest generation any society has ever produced.’ 2001 N.Y. Mag. 1 Oct. 42/1 When we say war and think war, we're invoking it in a grander more classic, Greatest Generation sense—that is, to occupy, subjugate, and, ultimately, reform. 2004 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 15 Jan. vi. 8 No one can stick a ‘greedy geriatrics’ label on the Greatest Generation without acknowledging that the Me Generation will be demanding far more than a free cup of Starbucks coffee. |