The Collaborative International Dictionary
End \End\ ([e^]nd), n. [OE. & AS. ende; akin to OS. endi, D. einde, eind, OHG. enti, G. ende, Icel. endir, endi, Sw. ["a]nde, Dan. ende, Goth. andeis, Skr. anta. [root]208. Cf. Ante-, Anti-, Answer.]
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The extreme or last point or part of any material thing considered lengthwise (the extremity of breadth being side); hence, extremity, in general; 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. -
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. -
Termination of being; death; destruction; extermination; also, cause 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. -
The object aimed at in any effort considered as the close and effect of exertion; ppurpose; intention; aim; as, to labor for private or public ends.
Losing her, the end of living lose.
--Dryden.When every man is his own end, all things will come to a bad end.
--Coleridge. -
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. -
(Carpet Manuf.) One of the yarns of the worsted warp in a Brussels carpet. An end.
On end; upright; erect; endways.
--Spenser-
To the end; continuously. [Obs.]
--Richardson.End bulb (Anat.), one of the bulblike bodies in which some sensory nerve fibers end in certain parts of the skin and mucous membranes; -- also called end corpuscles.
End fly, a bobfly.
End for end, one end for the other; in reversed order.
End man, the last man in a row; one of the two men at the extremities of a line of minstrels.
End on (Naut.), bow foremost.
End organ (Anat.), the structure in which a nerve fiber ends, either peripherally or centrally.
End plate (Anat.), one of the flat expansions in which motor nerve fibers terminate on muscular fibers.
End play (Mach.), movement endwise, or room for such movement.
End stone (Horol.), one of the two plates of a jewel in a timepiece; the part that limits the pivot's end play.
Ends of the earth, the remotest regions of the earth.
In the end, finally.
--Shak.On end, upright; erect.
To the end, in order.
--Bacon.To make both ends meet, to live within one's income.
--Fuller.To put an end to, to destroy.
Usage examples of "an end".
Pender then went on to describe life aboard the ship for all of the hands, pleading with the admiral to intercede and put an end to this tyranny.
I could not approve of her, but I was disinclined to condemn, for that would have meant an end to our acquaintance and, despite everything, her company pleased me.
I even told him of my enchantment by Sarah Blundy and my determination to bring our contest to an end once and for all.
Dozens at least, and I had hoped that quieter times had put an end to them, but it was not apparently, the case.
But they were the means to an end, and that end was the means to a beginning.
The rain put an end to his hopes of another ride with Anna, even if he did have to take those blasted children along.
I was envisioning my own death, yet I now wonder if I foresaw an end that awaited .
After the dinner, which was a very elaborate one, was at an end, and the guests were discussing their tobacco-pipes, Martha Hilton glided into the room, and stood blushing in front of the chimney-place.
Do not forget that the trade is a legitimate form of commerce that only an Act of Parliament can put an end to.
Hanover Square soon became a hive of activity, with an end, less stream of visitors.
When their discussion came to an end I pulled back, let Vance Colby through without him seeing me, and after he was out and in his car I went inside to where Miles was hunched up behind his desk, his face looking like he had just been whipped.
Every impulse he possessed impelled him to take her into his arms, to kiss her, possess her--to put an end to her silly game.
He lay beside her and loved her but their spiralling need soon spelled an end to such play.
Lamartine, over Espronceda and Quintana, to give her hand a fervent squeeze, before time ran out, and there was Tia Ana out of breath in the doorway, her long shadow like old Father Time himself come to put an end to lessons from that day on.
Archbishop Merifio had recently issued another pastoral urging an end to schools without God, especially those that educated girls.