most

views updated May 17 2018

most / mōst/ • adj. & pron. 1. superlative of many, much.2. greatest in amount or degree: [as adj.] they've had the most success | [as pron.] they had the most to lose. ∎  the majority of; nearly all of: [as adj.] most oranges are sweeter than these. | [as pron.] I spent most of the winter on the coast. • adv. 1. superlative of much.2. to the greatest extent: the things he most enjoyed what she wanted most of all. ∎  forming the superlative of adjectives and adverbs, esp. those of more than one syllable: the most important event of my life sandy plains where fire tends to spread most quickly.3. extremely; very: it was most kind of you that is most probably correct.4. inf. almost: most everyone understood.PHRASES: at (the) most not more than: the walk took four minutes at the most.be the most inf. be the best of all; be the ultimate.for the most part in most cases; usually: the older members, for the most part, shun him.make the most of use to the best advantage: he was eager to make the most of his visit. ∎  represent at its best: how to make the most of your features.

Most

views updated May 29 2018

MOST

MOST (Ger. Bruex ), city in N.W. Bohemia, Czechoslovakia (town no longer exists). A Jewish moneylender is recorded in Most in 1393; there was a Jewish street situated near the monastery in the 14th century. When the Jews were expelled in 1453 most of them settled in *Litomerice. One Jew was allowed to settle in Most in 1839, and after 1848 some Jews from the surrounding villages moved to the city. There were 15 Jews in 1861, when a congregation was established; the synagogue was dedicated in 1872. Some of the rabbis of Most later became eminent: Alexander *Kisch (1874–77), Joseph Samuel *Bloch (1877–79), and Gotthard *Deutsch (1884–91). In 1930 there were 662 Jews in Most (2.4% of the total population). The community owed its importance and affluence to the development of lignite mining by the *Petschek and Weimann firms. During the Sudeten crisis the community dispersed, and the synagogue was destroyed on Nov. 10, 1938. The congregation was reestablished in 1945, mainly by Jews from *Subcarpathian Ruthenia, under the administration of the *Usti nad Labem community. In 1975 Most was evacuated to make way for open-cut mining and ceased to exist. The German-Jewish poet Yermiyahu Oskar Neumann (1894–1981), subsequently of Be'er Toviyyah, Israel, was born in Most.

bibliography:

M. Halberstam, in: H. Gold (ed.), Die Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens (1934), 70–77; J.C. Pick, in: Jews of Czechoslovakia, 1 (1968), 374–5; R. Iltis (ed.), Die aussaeen unter Traenen… (1959), 25; G. Deutsch, Scrolls, 2 (1917), 321–40; Bondy-Dworský nos. 180–1, 191, 194–5, 198, 200, 202–8, 214, 216–7, 229, 234, 236–8, 240, 246–7, 254, 266, 271, 277. add. bibliography: J. Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (1991), 194.

[Jan Herman]

most

views updated May 17 2018

most greatest OE.; greatest amount of XIV; adv. in the greatest degree OE. The present form repr. partly OE. māst, which is recorded only from late Nhb., partly a modification of ME. mēst, OE. mǣst, by assim. to MORE; OE. māst = OS. mēst (Du. meest), (O)HG. meist, ON. mestr, Goth. maists :- Gmc. *maistaz, f. base of *maiz (see MORE) + *-ista- -EST.
Hence mostly XVI.

MOST

views updated May 14 2018

MOST (mɒst) Electronics metal-oxide-silicon (or -semiconductor) transistor
• Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope