[large] See: AT LARGE, BY AND LARGE.

[large as life] See: BIG AS LIFE.

[large-eyed] See: ROUND-EYED.

[large order] <n. phr.> Difficult job; a difficult task to fulfill. * /It is a large order to educate three children in college at the same time./ Compare: TALL ORDER.

[lash] See: TONGUE LASHING.

[lash out] <v.> 1. To kick. * /The horse lashed out at the man behind him./ 2. To try suddenly to hit. * /The woman lashed out at the crowd with her umbrella./ 3. To attack with words. * /The senator lashed out at the administration./ * /The school newspaper lashed out at the unfriendly way some students treated the visiting team./

[last] See: AT LAST, EVERY LAST MAN, EVERY SINGLE or EVERY LAST, FIRST AND LAST, HE LAUGHS BEST WHO LAUGHS LAST, HAVE THE LAST LAUGH, ON ONE'S LAST LEGS, TILL THE LAST GUN IS FIRED or UNTIL THE LAST GUN IS FIRED.

[last but not least] <adv. phr.> In the last place but not the least important. * /Billy will bring sandwiches, Alice will bring cake, Susan will bring cookies, John will bring potato chips, and last but not least, Sally will bring the lemonade./

[last ditch] <n.> The last place that can be defended; the last resort. * /They will fight reform to the last ditch./

[last-ditch] <adj.> Made or done as a last chance to keep from losing or tailing. * /He threw away his cigarettes in a last-ditch effort to stop smoking./ Compare: BACK TO THE WALL.

[last-ditch effort] See: LAST DITCH.

[last lap] <n. phr.> The final stage. * /Although the trip had been very interesting, we were glad that we were on the last lap of our tiring journey./ See: LAST LEG.

[last laugh] See: HAVE THE LAST LAUGH.

[last leg] <n. phr.> 1. Final stages of physical weakness before dying. * /The poor old man was on his last leg in the nursing home./ 2. The final stage of a journey. * /The last leg of our round-the-world trip was Paris to Chicago./ See: LAST LAP.

[last out] <v.> 1. To be enough until the end of. * /There is enough food in the house to last out the snowstorm./ * /Our candies won't last out the night./ 2. To continue to the end of; continue to live after; live or go through. * /The old man is dying; he won't last out the night./ * /This car will never last out the winter./ Compare: HOLD OUT.

[last stand] <n. phr.> See: LAST DITCH.

[last straw] or [straw that breaks the camel's back] <n. phr.> A small trouble which follows other troubles and makes one lose patience and be unable to bear them. * /Bill had a bad day in school yesterday. He lost his knife on the way home, then he fell down, and when he broke a shoe lace, that was the last straw and he began to cry./ * /Mary didn't like it when the other girls said she was proud and lazy, but when they said she told fibs it was the straw that broke the camel's back and she told the teacher./

[last word] <n.> 1. The last remark in an argument. * /I never win an argument with her. She always has the last word./ 2. The final say in deciding something. * /The superintendent has the last word in ordering new desks./ 3. <informal> The most modern thing. * /Mrs. Green's stove is the last word in stoves./

[latch on] or [hitch onto] <v.>, <informal> 1. To get hold of; grasp or grab; catch. * /He looked for something to latch onto and keep from falling./ * /The football player latched onto a pass./ 2. <slang> To get into your possession. * /The banker latched onto a thousand shares of stock./ 3. <slang> To understand. * /The teacher explained the idea of jet engines until the students latched onto it./ Syn.: CATCH ON. 4. <informal> To keep; to hold. * /The poor woman latched onto the little money she had left./ 5. <slang> To stay with; not leave. * /Marie and Dick wanted to go to the movies by themselves, but Mane's little brother latched onto them./

[latch string] <n.> 1. A string that opens an old-fashioned door by lifting a small bar. * /The early settlers kept the latch string outside the door when they were working around the house, but at night they pulled it to the inside./ 2. <informal> A warm welcome; a friendly greeting.
– Used in such phrases as "the latch string is out." * /Mary has her latch siring out for everyone who comes./ Syn.: WELCOME MAT(2).

[late] See: BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, OF LATE.

[lately] See: JOHNNY-COME-LATELY.

[later] See: SOONER OR LATER.

[later on] <adv.> Later; not now. * /Finish your lessons. Later on, we may have a surprise./ * /Bill couldn't stand on his head when school started, but later on he learned how./

[lather] See: IN A LATHER.

[laugh] See: HE LAUGHS BEST WHO LAUGHS LAST, HAVE THE LAST LAUGH.

[laugh all the way to the bank] <v. phr.> To have made a substantial amount of money either by lucky investment or by some fraudulent deal and rejoice over one's gains. * /If you had done what I suggested, you, too, could be laughing all the way to the bank./

[laughing matter] <n.> A funny happening; a silly situation. Usually used with "no". * /John's failing the test is no laughing matter!/ * /We were amused when our neighbor's cat had five kittens, but when our own cat had six kittens it was no laughing matter./

[laugh in one's beard] See: LAUGH UP ONE'S SLEEVE.

[laugh in one's sleeve] See: LAUGH UP ONE'S SLEEVE.

[laugh off] <v.> To dismiss with a laugh as not important or not serious; not take seriously. * /He had a bad fall while ice skating but he laughed it off./ * /You can't laugh off a ticket for speeding./ Compare: MAKE LIGHT OF.