last-ditch defense/effort
last-ditch defense/effort
A desperate final measure. In military terminology of the seventeenth century the “last ditch” was the ultimate line of defense. By the eighteenth century the term was being used figuratively, as in Thomas Jefferson’s description, “A government driven to the last ditch by the universal call for liberty.”
See also: defense, effort
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- the turn of the century
- the turn of the century/year
- turn of the century
- fin de siècle
- century
- century note
- drunk as a lord/skunk
- all in the/a day's work
- an apple a day (keeps the doctor away)
- bark is worse than one's bite