last-ditch attempt / effort
idiom

- an effort or attempt which is made at the end of a series of failures to solve a problem, and is not expected to succeed

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

—
PHRASE ORIGIN

There are two main origin theories:

1. Military Trenches: from the idea of a literal last trench on a battlefield. Soldiers would make a final stand in this final defensive position, hence the desperation associated with the term.

2. A 17th Century Vow: from a vow by William of Orange in the 17th century. He supposedly declared he would fight to the death, defending the Dutch Republic from France and Britain, by "dying in the last ditch”.

Whichever theory holds weight, the term "last ditch" eventually evolved to describe any desperate and final attempt.

—
SUCCESSFUL LAST DITCH EFFORTS

- Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's Summit of Everest (1953): Reaching the summit of Mount Everest was considered an impossible feat for decades. Exhausted after a treacherous climb, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made a final, risky push through the "death zone" near the summit, ultimately becoming the first climbers to stand on top of the world.

- The Apollo 13 "Houston, We Have a Problem" (1970): The Apollo 13 mission to the moon was almost a disaster after an oxygen tank exploded. With limited resources and a crippled spacecraft, NASA engineers on Earth worked tirelessly to create a makeshift solution, guiding the crew back to Earth safely in what became known as a "successful failure".

- The "Miracle on the Hudson" US Airways Landing (2009): US Airways Flight 1549 lost both engines after a bird strike shortly after takeoff. With no time for an emergency landing at an airport, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger made the daring decision to land the plane on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people on board.

—
SYNONYMS

all-or-nothing, desperate gambit, do-or-die effort, eleventh-hour, final attempt (gamble, push, resort), eleventh-hour effort, Hail Mary pass, in extremis, LAST-DITCH (attempt, effort), last gasp (stand), last-minute attempt, one last shot (throw of the dice), scrape the bottom of the barrel, shot in the dark, wild card

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“A LAST-DITCH effort, although unlikely to succeed, is sometimes better than no effort at all.”

—
Every month, my family and I spend evening and weekend hours researching and writing your daily OWAD. It remains FREE, AD-free, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers. If you aren’t already, please also consider supporting us - even a small donation, like the cost of a cup of coffee per month, can assist us in covering expenses for mailing, site hosting, and maintenance. Just head over to our secure DonorBox page:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-5-3

or bank transfer to:
Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40
and please state as ‘Verwendungszweck’: “OWAD donation” and the email address used to subscribe to OWAD.

Thanks so much,

Paul Smith
(OWAD-Founder)

New Seminar! 1-day “Intelligent English" with Paul & Helga Smith: https://owad.de/intelligent-english