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eleventh
at the eleventh hour
At the last possible moment or opportunity. I was shocked that they reached an agreement at the eleventh hour after weeks of squabbling.
at the eleventh hour
Fig. at the last possible moment. (Just before the last clock hour, 12) She always turned her term papers in at the eleventh hour. We don't worry about death until the eleventh hour.
eleventh-hour decision
Fig. a decision made very late in a process, or at the last possible moment. Eleventh-hour decisions are seldom satisfactory. The president's eleventh-hour decision was made in a great hurry, but it turned out to be correct.
at the eleventh hour
almost too late Negotiators reached agreement at the eleventh hour, just in time to avoid a strike.
eleventh hour
The latest possible time, as in We turned in our report at the eleventh hour. This term is thought to allude to the parable of the laborers (Matthew 20:1-16), in which those workers hired at the eleventh hour of a twelve-hour working day were paid the same amount as those who began in the first hour. [Early 1800s]