level best

English

WOTD – 27 April 2023

Etymology

From level (“well balanced; even, steady”) +‎ best.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌlɛvl̩ ˈbɛst/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌlɛv(ə)l ˈbɛst/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Hyphenation: lev‧el best

Noun

level best (plural level bests)

1. (idiomatic) The very best that one can do.
   • 1885 September, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Solomon’s Road”, in King Solomon’s Mines, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 102:

     Then came a pause, each man aiming his level best, as indeed one is likely to do when one knows that life itself depends upon the shot.

   • 1920, John Galsworthy, “Dartie versus Dartie”, in In Chancery (The Forsyte Saga; 2), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part II, page 186:

     Val walked out behind his mother, chin squared, eyelids drooped, doing his level best to despise everybody.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 341:

     ―Say papa, baby. Say pa pa pa pa pa pa pa. / And baby did his level best to say it for he was very intelligent for eleven months everyone said and big for his age and the picture of health, a perfect little bunch of love, and he would certainly turn out to be something great, they said.

   • 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 12:20 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 November 2024:

     And, of course, a special credit has to go to those Royal Navy officers who saw the situation for what it truly was, and would do their absolute level best to stop it regardless of treaties or other political considerations, eventually forcing the British Parliament to catch up with their own morality.

   • 2022 October 16, Jenna Scherer, “An Enticing House of the Dragon Crowns Westeros’ New Ruler”, in The A.V. Club‎^[2], archived from the original on 2022-10-28:

     The king-to-be is sulking in a carriage beside his mother, who’s doing her level best to prepare her son for what’s to come.

Translations

very best that one can do

• Finnish: parhaansa
• Macedonian: на́јдобар (nájdobar)
• Welsh: gorau glas m (literally “blue best”)

See also

• personal best

References

• “one’s level best” under “level, adj. and adv.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2023.
• “level best, phrase” under “level, adj.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.