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Mar 17, 2005
This week's theme
Words related to the number eleven

This week's words
undecennary
elevenses
hendecagon
eleventh hour
hendecasyllabic

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

eleventh hour

(i-LEV-uhnth our) Pronunciation RealAudio

noun: The last moment.

[From the parable in the Bible where laborers hired at the eleventh hour of the twelve-hour workday were paid the same as those hired earlier.]

World War I ended in 1918 when the armistice was declared on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

"It is understood the women's premier side pulled out at the eleventh hour alongside Nadi's Votualevu women's team."
Lautoka Women Miss Challenge; Fiji Times; Feb 24, 2005.

"Agriculture Minister Kipruto arap Kirwa, who was invited, failed to show up and is suspected to have developed cold feet at the eleventh hour."
Andrew Teyie and Martin Mutuak; Secret Plot to Purge Cabinet Graft Barons; East African Standard (Nairobi, Kenya); Feb 10, 2005.

See more usage examples of eleventh hour in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, / Who loved thee so fondly as he? / He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, / And joined in thy innocent glee. -Margaret Courtney, poet (1822-1862)

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