Last resort
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Resort \Re*sort"\ (r?*z?rt"), n. [Cf. F. ressort jurisdiction.
See {Resort}, v.]
1. The act of going to, or making application; a betaking
one's self; the act of visiting or seeking; recourse; as,
a place of popular resort; -- often figuratively; as, to
have resort to force.
[1913 Webster]
Join with me to forbid him her resort. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. A place to which one betakes himself habitually; a place
of frequent assembly; a haunt.
[1913 Webster]
Far from all resort of mirth. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
3. That to which one resorts or looks for help; resource;
refuge.
[1913 Webster]
{Last resort}, ultimate means of relief; also, final
tribunal; that from which there is no appeal.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
LAST RESORT. A court of last resort, is one which decides, definitely,
without appeal or writ of error, or any other examination whatever, a suit
or action, or some other matter, which has been submitted to its judgment,
and over which it has jurisdiction.
2. The supreme court is a court of last resort in all matters which
legally come before it; and whenever a court possesses the power to decide
without appeal or other examination whatever, a subject matter submitted to
it, it is a court of last resort; but this is not to be understood as
preventing an examination into its jurisdiction, or excess of authority, for
then the judgment of a superior does not try and decide so much whether the
point decided has been so done according to law, as to try the authority of
the inferior court.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
44 Moby Thesaurus words for "last resort":
action, ad hoc measure, answer, artifice, contrivance, countermove,
coup, course of action, demarche, dernier ressort, device, dodge,
effort, expedient, gimmick, hope, improvisation, jury-rig,
jury-rigged expedient, last expedient, last shift, makeshift,
maneuver, means, measure, move, pis aller, recourse, resort,
resource, shake-up, shift, solution, step, stopgap, stratagem,
stroke, stroke of policy, tactic, temporary expedient, trick,
trump, working hypothesis, working proposition
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