pay one's last respects verb1 •To visit the place where the remains of a dead person has been prepared for burial or cremation, either as a private act of remembrance or as a public display to others.The persons that attended funerals were the friends and relations of the deceased, who thought themselves obliged to pay their last respects to the dead. — 1827 formspaid one's last respects · paying one's last respects · pays one's last respects