eleventh hour

1. (idiomatic) A point in time which is nearly too late; the last minute.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630 ↗; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483 ↗:

     Highly providential was the appearance on the scene of Corny Kelleher when Stephen was blissfully unconscious but for that man in the gap turning up at the eleventh hour the finish might have been that he might have been a candidate for the accident ward {{...}

   • 2009, Tony Karon, "[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1882687,00.html Why Money Alone Will Not Fix Gaza]," Time, 3 March:

     Egypt had managed to bring the two sides to the brink of a deal two weeks ago, before internal political dynamics prompted the Israelis to back out at the eleventh hour.

• French: à la dernière minute
• Italian: all'ultimo minuto
• Russian: в после́днюю мину́ту
• Spanish: casi demasiado tarde (Argentina); último minuto