lest

c. 1200, contracted from Middle English les te (“less that”), from Old English þȳ lǣs þe (“whereby less that”), from þȳ (instrumental case of demonstrative article þæt “that”) + lǣs (“less”) + þe (“that,” relative particle). The þȳ was dropped and the remaining two words contracted into leste.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /liːst/^[2]

lest (formal, literary)

1. For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.

   Synonym: (informal) before

   He won't go outside, lest he be eaten by those ravenous eagles.

   I brought my notes lest faulty memory lead me astray.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15, column 2:

     I thought to haue told thee of it, but I fear'd / Leaſt I might anger thee.

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 565:

     And then Robert Loo came out swiftly with the half-filled jar lest more be said.

   • 1967, “I Am a Lonesome Hobo”, in Bob Dylan (music), John Wesley Harding‎^[1]:

     Stay free from petty jealousies / Live by no man's code / And hold your judgment for yourself / Lest you wind up on this road

   • 2013 July 27, “Lunacy?”, in The Economist‎^[2], volume 408, number 8846:

     Lest any astrologer reading this result get cocky, Dr Cajochen does not believe that what he has found is directly influenced by the Moon through, say, some tidal effect. What he thinks he has discovered is an additional hand on the body’s clock-face.

2. (after certain expressions denoting fear or apprehension) that (without the negative particle; introduces the reason for an emotion.)

   There was danger/alarm lest the plan become known.

   I am afraid lest I revealed too much.

   • 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Lady Milborough as Ambassador”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 81:

     That you and I should be in the same house together and not able to speak to each other is in itself a misery, but this is terribly enhanced by the dread lest this state of things should be made to continue.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     [M]y ward, or rather my adopted son Leo Vincey and myself have recently passed through a real African adventure, of a nature so much more marvellous than the one which you describe, that to tell the truth I am almost ashamed to submit it to you lest you should disbelieve my tale.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

• This word has become archaic for many English speakers.
• lest is usually followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood in either the present or future tense.

For example:

Lest they be captured, the soldiers fled from the battlefield.

Let him attend the ceremony which commemorates the achievements of his ancestors, lest he forget.

In the future tense, when it is differentiated from the present, it is usually combined with should:

Let us get to the station early, lest we should miss our connection.

• SELT, let's, TESL, LETS, ELTs, TLEs, LTEs, lets, tels, elts

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lьstь, from Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (lists), from Proto-Germanic *listiz.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛst]

• Audio:

  (file)

lest f

1. trick, ruse
2. stratagem

• “lest”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “lest”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “lest”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

• slet

• Audio:

  (file)

lest

1. inflection of lessen:
   1. second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. (archaic) plural imperative

Inherited from Old French last, lest, from Old Dutch last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz.

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

• Audio:

  (file)

lest m (plural lests)

1. dead weight; ballast

• lâcher du lest
• lester

• “lest”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• tels

• IPA^(key): /leːst/

• Audio:

  (file)

lest

1. inflection of lesen:
   1. second-person plural present
   2. plural imperative

les +‎ -t

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛʃt]
• Hyphenation: lest
• Rhymes: -ɛʃt

lest

1. accusative singular of les

From Middle Low German last.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛst/
• Rhymes: -ɛst

lest f (genitive singular lestar, nominative plural lestir)

1. train, file, row, line
2. railway train
3. cargo hold
4. ton
5. (obsolete) cargo, burden, load

• (train, file): röð
• (railway train): járnbrautarlest
• (cargo hold): lestarrúm, vörurúm
• (ton): tonn
• (cargo, burden): byrði, farmur

• bílalest (“convoy of cars”)
• hraðlest (“high speed train”)
• járnbrautarlest (“railroad train”)
• neðanjarðarlest (“underground train”)
• rúmlest (“register ton”)
• skipalest (“convoy of ships”)
• smálest (“metric ton”)
• snarlest (“rapid transit train”)
• ulfaldalest (“convoy of camels”)

• lesta (“to load, to fill with cargo”)

• IPA^(key): /leːst/

lest

1. supine of lese

From Old Norse leistr, from Proto-Germanic *laistaz.

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

lest m (definite singular lesten, indefinite plural lester, definite plural lestene)

1. a last (a tool in the shape of a human foot, for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes)
2. (clothing) the foot-part of a stocking

• (non-standard since 2005) leist

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

lest (present tense lest, past tense lest)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by less

• “lest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• selt, slet, stel

From Old Norse leistr m,^[1] from Proto-Germanic *laistaz m (“track, trace; footprint”), from Proto-Indo-European *lóystos, from the root *leys- (“to trace, track”). Akin to English last, Swedish läst, and German Leisten.

• leist

lest m (definite singular lesten, indefinite plural lestar, definite plural lestane)

1. a last (a tool in the shape of a human foot, for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes)
2. (clothing) the foot-part of a stocking

• lesta, leste (verb)

From Old Norse lest f, from either Old English hlæst,^[2] Old Frisian hlest,^[2] or Middle Low German last.^[1] In any case, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz and Doublet of last m.

lest m (definite singular lesten, indefinite plural lester or lestar, definite plural lestene or lestane)

1. (historical) An old measure of volume, about 12 to 24 barrels.
2. (historical) An old measure of weight, about half up until a full dozen skippund.
3. (historical, nautical) An old unit of measure on the freight capacity of a ship.

• kommerselest m

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

lest

1. past of låst

From the verb leiste (“to grow over”).

lest m (definite singular lesten, indefinite plural lestar, definite plural lestane)

1. straws and grasses that grow close to each other
2. sprouting grasses and grains

• selt, stel

Borrowed from French lest.

lest n (plural lesturi)

1. ballast