The eleventh hour
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
The latest possible time before a deadline or decisive event. Often used before a noun with a hyphen, as in an eleventh-hour deal. Regional use: Late Middle English biblical translation; now widespread.
Origin
In Matthew 20, a landowner hires workers at successive times of day, including the eleventh hour. The Wycliffe Bible uses that phrase in Middle English. In the ancient daylight reckoning of the parable, the eleventh hour was late in the working day, not literally 11 p.m. The general at-the-last-possible-moment sense developed from that scriptural setting.
Research Sources
Variants
- At the eleventh hour
Usage Examples
- Funding arrived at the eleventh hour.
- An eleventh-hour amendment delayed the vote.
- They found a replacement speaker at the eleventh hour.