Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Lest

Lest (lĕst), v. i. To listen. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser.

Lest, n. [See List to choose.] Lust; desire; pleasure. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Lest, a. Last; least. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Lest, conj. [OE. leste, fr. AS. ðȳ lǣs ðē the less that, where ðȳ is the instrumental case of the definite article, and ðē is an indeclinable relative particle, that, who, which. See The, Less, a.] 1. For fear that; that . . . not; in order that . . . not.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Prov. xx. 13.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor. x. 12.

2. That (without the negative particle); — after certain expressions denoting fear or apprehension.

I feared Lest I might anger thee. Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article.