Amusing Stories Behind Common Expressions

2. Why is a final effort called last ditch(沟渠)?
Anyone who fought in a war has probably hoped that the trench(深沟，战壕) he was in was the "last ditch" he would ever see. Most of us would guess that the ditch referred to in last ditch is a military trench rather than a farmer's irrigation(灌溉) ditch, but few realize that this expression predates(比……早) the two world wars.

The first recorded use of last ditch was in Bishop Gilbert Burnet's memoirs, History of My Own Time, published in the early eighteenth century: "There was a sure way never to see it [Holland] lost, and that was to die in the last ditch." The earliest use of last ditch was a literal one, signifying a last stand, a last defense against an aggressive enemy. The first American citation(引用) was in a proclamation(公告) issued by the citizens of Westmoreland, Virginia, in 1798: " … but one additional Obligation, To Die in the Last Ditch or uphold our nation."

Thomas Jefferson was perhaps the first to use the phrase figuratively (1821): "A government … driven to the last ditch by the universal call for liberty."