lest

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lest"

English

Etymology

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]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /liːst/^[2]
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /lɛst/, /lɛːst/^[3]

Conjunction

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:

     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, 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.

Usage notes

• 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.

Translations

for fear that

Arabic: خِيفَةَ أَنَّ (ḵīfata ʔanna), مَخَافَةَ أَن (maḵāfata ʔan) Bikol Central: harambili Bulgarian: от страх да не (ot strah da ne) Chinese: Mandarin: 以免 (zh) (yǐmiǎn) Czech: ze strachu, že ..., v případě, že ... Danish: af frygt for Dutch: uit angst dat Esperanto: pro timo ke Finnish: siltä varalta, että (+ conditional); siinä pelossa, että; sen pelossa, että; ettei (fi); jottei (fi) French: de peur que, sans quoi (fr) Galician: non sexa que Georgian: რათა არ (rata ar) German: fürchtend, dass; in der Furcht, dass Gothic: 𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌹 (ibai) Greek: Ancient: μή (mḗ), μήποτε (mḗpote) Hebrew: פֶּן (he) (pen) Hungarian: nehogy (hu) Irish: ar eagla go Italian: per paura che Japanese: しないように (shinai yō ni) Khmer: ក្រែង (km) (kraeŋ) Maori: kei tūpono Old English: þȳ lǣs Polish: ze strachu, że Portuguese: para que (pt), a fim de que ... não Romanian: în caz că Russian: из страха, что Serbo-Croatian: iz straha da ne, da ne bi Slovene: da ne bi Spanish: no (es) + subjunctive, no vaya a ser que Sundanese: bisi Turkish: bundan korkarak Ukrainian: боячи́сь, що (bojačýsʹ, ščo)

that [...] not

Bengali: পাছে (bn) (pache) Bulgarian: да не (da ne), за да не (za da ne) Czech: aby ... ne Dutch: opdat ... niet Finnish: ettei (fi), jottei (fi) French: pour que (fr) (+ ne ... pas + verb in subj. mood) German: bevor (de), auf dass nicht Greek: Ancient: μή (mḗ), μήποτε (mḗpote) Hungarian: nehogy (hu) Latin: nē (la) Maori: kei Old English: þȳ lǣs Polish: żeby nie Russian: чтобы не, и́на́че (ru) (ínáče) Serbo-Croatian: da ne (sh), kako ne ... (sh) Spanish: no (es) + subjunctive Swedish: så att inte (literally) Turkish: bunun üzerine değil, daha önce Ukrainian: аби́ ... не (abý ... ne), щоб ... не (ščob ... ne), щоби ... не (ščoby ... ne)

that (without the negative particle)

Finnish: että (fi) (alternatively expressed with a participial phrase) Latin: nē (la) Romanian: care (ro) Ukrainian: що (uk) (ščo)

See also

• in case
• lest we forget

 

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “lest”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
2. “Lest” in John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1791, →OCLC, page 325.
3. Dobson, E. J. (1957) English pronunciation 1500-1700‎, second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 8, page 471.

Anagrams

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

Czech

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛst]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

lest f

1. trick, ruse
2. stratagem

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	lest	lsti
genitive	lsti	lstí
dative	lsti	lstím, lstem
accusative	lest	lsti
vocative	lsti	lsti
locative	lsti	lstích, lstech
instrumental	lstí	lstmi

Declension of lest (mixed i-stem [type 'pěst'] feminine reducible)

Derived terms

• lstivý

 

Further reading

• “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)

Anagrams

• slet

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

lest

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

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

lest m (plural lests)

1. dead weight; ballast

Derived terms

• lâcher du lest
• lester

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• tels

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leːst/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

lest

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

Hungarian

Etymology

les +‎ -t

Pronunciation

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

Noun

lest

1. accusative singular of les

Icelandic

Etymology

From Middle Low German last.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛst/
• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

lest f (genitive singular lestar, nominative plural lestir)

1. train, file, row, line

   Synonym: röð

2. railway train

   Synonym: járnbrautarlest

3. cargo hold

   Synonyms: lestarrúm, vörurúm

4. ton

   Synonym: tonn

5. (obsolete) cargo, burden, load

   Synonyms: byrði, farmur

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lest	lestin	lestir	lestirnar
accusative	lest	lestina	lestir	lestirnar
dative	lest	lestinni	lestum	lestunum
genitive	lestar	lestarinnar	lesta	lestanna

Declension of lest (feminine)

Derived terms

• 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”)

Related terms

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leːst/

Verb

lest

1. supine of lese

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

Noun

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

Alternative forms

• (non-standard since 2005) leist

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛst/

Verb

lest (present tense lest, past tense lest)

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

References

• “lest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• selt, slet, stel

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

lest

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

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.

Alternative forms

• leist

Noun

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

Derived terms

• lesta, leste (verb)

• berrlesta
• bli ved sin lest
• hoselest
• labbelest
• på lestane
• skjera alle over same lest
• skolest
• sokkelest
• strømpelest

 

Etymology 2

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.

Noun

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.

Derived terms

• kommerselest m

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

lest

1. past of låst

Etymology 4

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

Noun

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

References

1. “lest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
2. Compare with (Norwegian Bokmål) “lest” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Anagrams

• selt, stel

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French lest.

Noun

lest n (plural lesturi)

1. ballast

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	lest	lestul		lesturi	lesturile
genitive-dative	lest	lestului		lesturi	lesturilor
vocative	lestule			lesturilor