Last gasp

This is literally the moment before death, the last breath but can also mean the last chance or opportunity to complete something before a deadline or before time is up. It is often used in a sporting context as in a ‘last gasp’ win or defeat. The phrase first appears in 1591 in Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part I, Act I, Scene II, “Fight till the last gasp.” It is not certain that Shakespeare actually coined it but it appears he was the first to use it in print. It also appears later in the King James Bible (1611) Maccabees II, 7:9 “When he was at the last gasp.”