lowest, a. (n.) and adv.
(ˈləʊɪst)
Forms: 3 Orm. laȝhesst, 4 lauest, louwest, 5 lagh-, lau-, law-, lowist, -yst, 5–6 lawest, Sc. -ast, 6 Sc. leuchest, 3– lowest.
[f. low a. + -est.]
A. adj.
1. a. The superlative of low a. in its various senses.
| c 1200 Ormin 15276 Þiss follc iss laȝhesst. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2437 Þe mone lowest is. a 1300–1400 Cursor M. 357 (Gött.) Þe lauest [Cott. neþermast] þan es water and erde. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 115 Lucifer louwest liȝth of hem alle. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love i. iv. 8 Slyke soþly ar moste haly, & ȝit of men ar haldyn laghyst. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V 33 b, The lowest sorte of the vile and rusticall people. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 89, I sall mak..the hiest stone the leuchest. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 383 You would sound mee from my lowest Note to the top of my Compasse. 1681 J. Flavel Right Man's Refuge 179 When things have been brought to the lowest ebb. 1780 Cowper Table T. 419 Perjury..Sells oaths by tale and at the lowest price. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. iii. 247 The lowest atmospheric strata. 1862 Building News 23 May 1/2 The Board do not bind themselves to accept the lowest or any Tender. 1900 J. G. Frazer Pausanias, etc. 46 The lowest fetish-worshippers of Western Africa. |
b. In partitive concord: The lowest part of. poet.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. v. 2 But, when she list, it raught Downe to her lowest heele. 1611 Bible Ps. lxxxvi. 13. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 882 That the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus. |
2. Comb. Forming superlatives to the combinations of low a.
| a 1640 Earl Stirling Anacrisis in Wks. of Drumm. of Hawth. (1711) 160 In a more abject manner than the lowest minded man could have descended to conceive. |
B. absol. or as n.
1. The lowest part, position or pitch. Obs. exc. with at.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 14 Þe engles..þe seoð ham lihten swa lah of so swiðe heh, from þe heste in heouene to þe laheste in helle. 1388 Wyclif Matt. xxvii. 51 And lo! the veil of the temple was to-rent in twey parties, fro the hiest to the lowest. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione ii. x. 53 Put þe euer atte lowist, and þe hyest shal be ȝoven to þe; for þe hiest may not stonde wiþoute þe lowist. 1640 tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. III. xxxvii. 156 When a man thinks them at the lowest of the wheele, hee shall be sure to find them on the top. 1659 Hammond On Ps. cvii. 39–41 Paraphr. 546 Just when they are brought to the lowest. 1860 Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 140/1 Men who had been brought up to their duties, and had fulfilled them for many years, at lowest without disgrace. 1897 C. Headlam Sel. Brit. Satirists 64 When taste was almost at its lowest in England. |
2. He who or that which is lowest.
| 1785 Cowper Task iv. 588 The rich, and they that have an arm to check The licence of the lowest in degree. 1830 R. Hardie Hoyle made Familiar 62 [Cassino.] When three persons play..the two lowest subtract their points from the highest. 1843 Pusey Serm. Holy Euch. 15 Lowest is joined on with highest, earth with heaven..man with God. |
C. adv. The superlative of low adv. in its various senses; also in Comb.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 65 Whanne he berth lowest the Seil, Thanne is he swiftest to beguile The womman. 1759 Hume Hist. Eng. (1834) III. xxiii. 231 The period in which the people of Christendom were the lowest sunk in ignorance. 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 725/1 In 1799 the salary of our lowest-paid Judges was {pstlg}1000. 1926 Daily Chron. 13 May 1/7 Any such agreement should..not adversely affect in any way the wages of the lowest-paid men. 1974 Guardian 24 Jan. 4/3 His scheme would help the lowest paid. 1975 Times 8 Mar. 7/7 East..invited a switch to the lowest-ranking suit. |