■ determiner & pronoun
1》 greatest in amount or degree.
2》 the majority of; nearly all of.
■ adverb
1》 to the greatest extent.
2》 forming the superlative of adjectives and adverbs, especially those of more than one syllable.
3》 extremely; very.
4》 N. Amer. informal al~.
Phrases
at ( the ) ~ not more than.
be the ~ informal be the best of all.
for the ~ part in ~ cases; usually.
make the ~ of use or represent to the best advantage.
Origin
OE māst , of Gmc origin.