From Middle English most, moste, from Old English mǣst, māst, from Proto-Germanic *maistaz, *maist. Cognate with Scots mast, maist (“most”), Saterland Frisian maast (“most”), West Frisian meast (“most”), Dutch meest (“most”), German meist (“most”), Danish and Swedish mest (“most”), Icelandic mestur (“most”).
most
The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.
The team with the most points wins.
Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.
Winning was not important for most participants.
majority of
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most (not comparable)
This is the most important example.
Correctness is most important.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071, page 77:
With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.
1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest[1]:
“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes […] . And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”
This is a most unusual specimen.
1750, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music), “'Theodora'”[2]:
Most cruel edict! Sure, thy generous soul, Septimius, abhors the dreadful task of persecution.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Ship”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 77:
A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!
1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, OCLC 4701980, page 162:
Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.
2013 August 3, “Boundary Problems”, in The Economist[3], volume 408, number 8847:
Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
superlative of many
superlative of much
forming the superlative
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highly
most
Most want the best for their children.
The peach was juicier and more flavourful than most.
most (usually uncountable, plural mosts)
The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.
Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.
Most of the rice was spoiled.
1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619, page 46:
At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, OCLC 483591931, page 249:
The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.
2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:
Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.
2001, George Barna, Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, →ISBN, page 15:
Along with their massive size will come other “mosts”: they will likely be the longest living, the best educated, the wealthiest and the most wired/ wireless.
2002, John Gregory Selby, Virginians at War: The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates, →ISBN, page xvii:
Virginia had a number of "mosts” that made it appealing, if not representative of all Confederate states: the most citizens among the Southern states; the most slaves; the most men under arms; the most famous Southern generals; the most fighting within its borders; the most divided by the war (what other Southern state lost a quarter of its territory and saw a new state created out of that former territory?); and the most damaged by the war.
2007, Joe Moscheo, The Gospel Side of Elvis, →ISBN:
The record of Elvis' achievement is truly remarkable; his list of “firsts” and “mosts” is probably without parallel in music and entertainment history.
Reduction of almost.
most (not comparable)
2011, Charlotte Maclay, Wanted: A Dad to Brag About, →ISBN:
“Can't be all that bad if Luke likes it. Most everywhere has air-conditioning, he says.”
most m (plural mosts or mostos)
From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).
most m inan
Declension
most m (uncountable, diminutive mostje n)
most m (plural mosts)
From the earlier ma (“now”), which in modern Hungarian means “today” + -st. For the suffix, compare valamelyest.[1]
most
It can be suffixed from its variant mostan: mostantól (“from now on”), mostanra (“by now”), mostanig (“until now”), or the latter more commonly formed with -a-, mostanáig (“until now”).
most m (diminutive mosćik)
Declension of most
most
most
From Middle Low German most, must, from Latin mustum
most m (definite singular mosten, indefinite plural moster, definite plural mostene)
From Middle Low German most, must, from Latin mustum
most m (definite singular mosten, indefinite plural mostar, definite plural mostane)
most m
From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).
most m inan
Declension of most
From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).
mȏst m (Cyrillic spelling мо̑ст)
Declension of most
From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).
most m (genitive singular mosta, nominative plural mosty, genitive plural mostov, declension pattern of dub)
Declension of most
From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).
mọ̑st m inan
Declension of most (irregular)
| Masculine inan., hard o-stem | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nom. sing. | móst | ||
| gen. sing. | mósta | ||
| singular | dual | plural | |
| nominative | móst | mósta | mósti |
| accusative | móst | mósta | móste |
| genitive | mósta | móstov | móstov |
| dative | móstu | móstoma | móstom |
| locative | móstu | móstih | móstih |
| instrumental | móstom | móstoma | mósti |
most (nominative plural mosts)
