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Last legs

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Last legs refers to something or someone near collapse or the end of functionality; poetically, it evokes imagery of decay, exhaustion, or impending failure, often used metaphorically to describe declining institutions, relationships, or physical states.

Detailed Definition
Last legs refers to a state of exhaustion, decline, or near failure, as though a body, machine, institution, season, or life can barely continue. In poetry, the idiom is useful for ageing, illness, fading empires, worn-out relationships, dying fires, or depleted landscapes. It gives decline a physical form, emphasising weakness in movement and support. The phrase can be comic when applied to shabby objects, but elegiac when applied to living beings or ideals approaching their end.
Example
Example in poetry:
An elegy might say the old empire is on its last legs, banners faded and drums out of tune; In comic verse, a donkey on its last legs still refuses to leave the fair; The phrase last legs means near exhaustion, failure, or death; A poet can use it for people, machines, seasons, or ideas.
Additional Notes
Last legs describes something or someone near collapse, failure, or death. The idiom imagines life, machinery, institutions, or efforts as bodies struggling to stand. In poetry, it can be used for old age, dying seasons, worn-out machines, exhausted empires, relationships, or fading traditions. Students should notice the pathos of movement nearly ending. It pairs well with knees, crutches, roads, dusk, rust, and winter.
Also Known As
near end
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