Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

die in the last ditch

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.87 in modern English

Syllables
die in the last ditch
IPA
27
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
1
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To fight till death; to die rather than surrender.

Etymology

Popularized from an 1847 translation by Agnes Strickland of a quote attributed to William of Orange during the French invasion of 1672 on his being advised to surrender Holland to Louis XIV: "No, I mean to die in the last ditch."

Inflected Forms

dies in the last ditch (present, singular) dying in the last ditch (participle, present) died in the last ditch (participle, past) died in the last ditch (past)

Phrases

last-ditch

Frequently Paired Words

last-ditch

Questions

What does die in the last ditch mean?
To fight till death; to die rather than surrender.
Where does die in the last ditch come from?
Popularized from an 1847 translation by Agnes Strickland of a quote attributed to William of Orange during the French invasion of 1672 on his being advised to surrender Holland to Louis XIV: "No, I mean to die in the last ditch."

How to pronounce die in the last ditch

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “die in the last ditch”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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