1. The
extreme or
recent point or
part of any
material thing considered lengthwise (the
extremity of breadth
being side); hence, extremity, in common; the concluding part; termination; close; limit; as, the
end of a field, line, pole, road; the
end of a year, of a discourse; put an
end to pain; opposed to beginning, when used of anything having a
first part. "Better is the
end of a thing than the beginning thereof." (Eccl. Vii. 8)
2. Point beyond which no procession can be made; conclusion; issue; result, whether successful or otherwise; conclusive event; consequence. "My
guilt be on my head, and
there an end." (Shak) "O that a
man might know The
end of
this day's
business ere it come!" (Shak)
3. Termination of being; death; destruction; extermination; also,
reason of
death or destruction. "Unblamed
through life, lamented in thy end." (Pope) "Confound your
hidden falsehood, and award
either of you to be the other's end." (Shak) "I shall
see an
end of him." (Shak)
4. The
object aimed at in any
effort considered as the close and
effect of exertion; ppurpose; intention; aim; as, to
labour for personal or popular ends. "Losing her, the
end of living lose." (Dryden) "When each
man is
his own end, all things
will come to a
bad end." (Coleridge)
5. That which is left; a remnant; a fragment; a scrap; as,
odds and ends. "I clothe my
naked villainy With
old odd ends stolen out of
holy writ, And seem a saint, when most I
play the devil." (Shak)
6. One of the yarns of the worsted
warp in a Brussels carpet. An end. On end; upright; erect; endways. To the end; continuously.
End bulb, one of the two plates of a jewel in a timepiece; the part that limits the pivot's end play. Ends of the land, the remotest regions of the land. In the end, finally. On end, upright; erect. To the end, in order. To create both ends meet, to live within one's income. To put an end to, to destroy.
Origin: OE. & AS. Ende; akin to OS. Endi, D. Einde, eind, OHG. Enti, G. Ende, Icel. Endir, endi, Sw. Ande, Dan. Ende, Goth. Andeis, Skr. Anta. Cf. Ante-, Anti-, Answer.
Source: Websters Vocabulary