"bring up the rear" meaning in English

See bring up the rear in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-bring up the rear.ogg Forms: brings up the rear [present, singular, third-person], bringing up the rear [participle, present], brought up the rear [participle, past], brought up the rear [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|bring<,,brought> up the rear}} bring up the rear (third-person singular simple present brings up the rear, present participle bringing up the rear, simple past and past participle brought up the rear)
  1. (idiomatic) To be last in a moving line of people, to walk or go behind others in a line. Tags: idiomatic Translations (to be last in a moving line of people): 墊後 (Chinese Mandarin), 垫后 (diànhòu) (Chinese Mandarin), olla hännillä (Finnish), fermer la marche (French), das Schlusslicht bilden (German), das Schlusslicht sein (German), być na końcu [imperfective] (Polish), cerrar la marcha (Spanish)
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "lead the way"
    },
    {
      "word": "take up the running"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brings up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bringing up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bring<,,brought> up the rear"
      },
      "expansion": "bring up the rear (third-person singular simple present brings up the rear, present participle bringing up the rear, simple past and past participle brought up the rear)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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          "kind": "other",
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "As for the guides, they were debarred from the pleasure of discourse, the one being placed in the van, and the other obliged to bring up the rear.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 1:",
          "text": "Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet;",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be last in a moving line of people, to walk or go behind others in a line."
      ],
      "id": "en-bring_up_the_rear-en-verb-tL-viciQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "last",
          "last"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be last in a moving line of people, to walk or go behind others in a line."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "墊後"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "diànhòu",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "垫后"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "olla hännillä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "fermer la marche"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "das Schlusslicht bilden"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "das Schlusslicht sein"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "być na końcu"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
          "word": "cerrar la marcha"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "audio": "en-au-bring up the rear.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/En-au-bring_up_the_rear.ogg"
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  ],
  "word": "bring up the rear"
}
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  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "lead the way"
    },
    {
      "word": "take up the running"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brings up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bringing up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought up the rear",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bring<,,brought> up the rear"
      },
      "expansion": "bring up the rear (third-person singular simple present brings up the rear, present participle bringing up the rear, simple past and past participle brought up the rear)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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          "ref": "1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "As for the guides, they were debarred from the pleasure of discourse, the one being placed in the van, and the other obliged to bring up the rear.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 1:",
          "text": "Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet;",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be last in a moving line of people, to walk or go behind others in a line."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "last",
          "last"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be last in a moving line of people, to walk or go behind others in a line."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bring up the rear.ogg",
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  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "墊後"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "diànhòu",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "垫后"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "olla hännillä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "fermer la marche"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "das Schlusslicht bilden"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "das Schlusslicht sein"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "być na końcu"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to be last in a moving line of people",
      "word": "cerrar la marcha"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bring up the rear"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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