bring up the rear

Idioms and Phrases

Be last in a line or sequence, as in As a slow walker, I'm used to bringing up the rear , or In test results Tom always brought up the rear . This term almost certainly came from the military but the earliest citation given by the Oxford English Dictionary is from a 1643 religious treatise by Sir Thomas Browne: “My desires onely are . . . to be but the last man, and bring up the Rere in Heaven.”

Related Words

• chase
• fall behind
• falter
• lag
• pull