What is "bitter end"

Bitter \Bit"ter\, n. [See Bitts.] (Naut.) AA turn of the cable which is round the bitts.

Bitter end, that part of a cable which is abaft the bitts, and so within board, when the ship rides at anchor.

In lexicons of sea language going back to 1759, the bitter end is the part of a cable which is round about the bits (two great timbers used to belay cables) when the ship is at anchor.\n\nBitter end of the Cable, the End which is wound about the Bitts.

["The News-Readers Pocket-Book: Or, a Military Dictionary," London, 1759]

\nSee bit (n.1). So, when a cable is played out to the bitter end, there is no more left to play. The term began to be used c.1835 in non-nautical use and with probable influence of bitter (adj.).

n. 1 (context nautical English) that part of an anchor cable which is abaft the bitts and thus remains inboard when a ship is riding at anchor 2 (context idiomatic English) The end of a long and difficult process. 3 (context nautical English) the final six fathoms of anchor chain before the point of attachment in the chain locker of modern U.S.naval vessels, with these six fathoms often painted blue, white and red to warn deck hands of the end of available anchor chain.

1. n. the final extremity (however unpleasant it may be); "he was determined to fight to the bitter end"

2. (nautical) the inboard end of a line or cable especially the end that is wound around a bitt

Bitter end may refer to:

• Bitter end, the part of a rope used to form a knot
• The Bitter End, a club in New York City
• Bitter End, Tennessee

Bitter End was the second single released off 'Love/Hate' on 8 October 2007 by Manchester band Nine Black Alps.

"Bitter End" is the first Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, originally published in the November 1940 issue of The American Magazine. The story is a re-working of Stout's Tecumseh Fox story Bad for Business, published later that year.

"Bitter End" first appeared in book form in the posthumous limited-edition collection Corsage: A Bouquet of Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe edited by Michael Bourne, published in 1977 by James A. Rock & Co., Publishers. It subsequently appeared in Death Times Three, published by Bantam Books in 1985.