most

det

1. (form-of, superlative)superlative degree of much.

   “The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.”

   “I spent most time in Rome because most of Venice is flooded.”

2. (form-of, superlative)superlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)

   “The team with the most points wins.”

3. (form-of, superlative)superlative degree of many: the majority of; more than half of (construed without the definite article)

   “Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.”

   “Winning was not important for most participants.”

adv

1. (not-comparable)Forms the superlative of many adjectives.

   “This is the most important example.”

   “Correctness is most important.”

   “Much the most common verb in complex-intransitive clauses is be.”

   “With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.”

   ““[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes[…]. And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]””

2. (not-comparable)To a great extent or degree; highly; very.

   “This is a most unusual specimen.”

   “Most cruel edict! Sure, thy generous soul, Septimius, abhors the dreadful task of persecution.”

   “A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!”

   “Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a most strange, as for me it was a most fortunate, thing.”

   ““His song is most unpleasant,” said the King rubbing his head, “pray bid him cease,” and off went the secretary to argue with the wind.”

3. (form-of, not-comparable, superlative)superlative degree of much

   “Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.”

4. (US, informal, not-comparable)Almost.

   “A well-daiquiried redhead eyed him from across the room at Jilly's one night in 1963 — although it could have been most any night ever […]”

   “"We walked there most every day after school."”

   ““Can't be all that bad if Luke likes it. Most everywhere has air-conditioning, he says.””

adj

1. (dated, not-comparable, slang)The greatest; the best.

   “PATTY:They announced this year's nominees for student council. And guess who's up for vice-president? Me! Isn't that the most to say the least?”

pron

1. The greater part of a group, especially a group of people.

   “Most want the best for their children.”

   “The peach was juicier and more flavourful than most.”

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)The greatest amount.

   “The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.”

2. (countable, uncountable, usually)The greater part.

   “Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.”

   “Most of the rice was spoiled.”

   “At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.”

   “The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.[…]The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.”

   “Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.”

3. (countable, usually)A record-setting amount.

   “Along with their massive size will come other “mosts”: they will likely be the longest living, the best educated, the wealthiest and the most wired/ wireless.”

   “Virginia had a number of "mosts” that made it appealing, if not representative of all Confederate states: the most citizens among the Southern states; the most slaves; the most men under arms; the most famous Southern generals; the most fighting within its borders; the most divided by the war (what other Southern state lost a quarter of its territory and saw a new state created out of that former territory?); and the most damaged by the war.”

   “The record of Elvis' achievement is truly remarkable; his list of “firsts” and “mosts” is probably without parallel in music and entertainment history.”