Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Either extremity of something that has length.
  • noun The outside or extreme edge or physical limit; a boundary.
  • noun The point in time when an action, event, or phenomenon ceases or is completed; the conclusion.
  • noun A result; an outcome.
  • noun Something toward which one strives; a goal. synonym: intention.
  • noun The termination of life or existence; death.
  • noun The ultimate extent; the very limit.
  • noun Slang The very best; the ultimate.
  • noun A remainder; a remnant.
  • noun A share of a responsibility or obligation.
  • noun A particular area of responsibility.
  • noun A warp end.
  • noun Football Either of the players in the outermost position on the line of scrimmage. Offensive ends are eligible to catch passes.
  • intransitive verb To bring to a conclusion.
  • intransitive verb To form the last or concluding part of: synonym: complete.
  • intransitive verb To destroy.
  • intransitive verb To come to a finish; cease.
  • intransitive verb To arrive at a place, situation, or condition as a result of a course of action. Often used with up.
  • intransitive verb To die.
  • idiom (at the end of (one's) rope/tether) Out of energy or patience; exhausted or exasperated.
  • idiom (at the end of the day) When everything is considered; in the final analysis.
  • idiom (end it all) To commit suicide.
  • idiom (in the end) Eventually; ultimately.
  • idiom (no end) A great deal.
  • idiom (on end) Having one end down; upright.
  • idiom (on end) Without stopping.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the terminal points or parts of that which has length, or more length than breadth; the part which lies at one of the extremities of a line, or of whatever has longitudinal extension: as, the end of a house or of a table; the end of the street; each end of a chain or rope.
  • noun One of the extreme or furthermost parts of an extended surface; especially, the part or limit furthest away from the speaker, or from a customary point of view: as, the ends of the earth; the southern end of the Atlantic ocean; she is at the end of the garden.
  • noun The point at which continuity or duration ceases or terminates; the close or termination of a series, or of whatever has continuity or duration; conclusion: the opposite of beginning: as, the end of time; the end of a controversy or of a book; the end of the year or of the season.
  • noun Used absolutely, the close of life; death.
  • noun A cause of death, destruction, or ruin: as, this cough will be the end of me.
  • noun A remnant or portion left over; a fragment: as, candle-ends.
  • noun That for which anything exists or is done; a result designed or intended; ultimate object or purpose: as, “the end justifies the means.”
  • noun A necessary termination or consequence; an inevitable issue or conclusion; especially, in logic, a result toward which the action of anything tends, in such a manner that if its attainment in one way is prevented some other action tending to the same result will be set up, or so that there is some tendency to such substitution of one means for another.
  • noun In archery, the number of arrows shot from one end of the range, before proceeding to shoot from the other.
  • noun Nautical, entirely: said of running ropes, cables, etc., when entirely run out of the blocks or the hawsehole.
  • noun In coal-mining, at right angles to the cleat, or most distinctly marked set of joint-planes: said of a mode of working a mass of coal: opposed to face on.
  • noun Without end or limit; infinitely; extremely.
  • noun Resting or standing on one end; upright: as, place the log on end.
  • noun In immediate sequence or succession; continuously.
  • noun To get the better part of; have the advantage in: as, to get the better end of a bargain.
  • noun To bring about the end; effect the termination or conclusion: with of.
  • noun Confess them … to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same.
  • noun Book of Common Prayer, Exhortation to Confession of Sins.
  • noun Synonyms See extremity.
  • To bring to an end or a close; make an end of; terminate: as, to end a controversy; to end a war.
  • Specifically To bring the life of to an end; kill; destroy; put to death.
  • To furnish the end of, as for protection or embellishment: as, to end a cane with an iron ferrule.
  • To set on end; set upright.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ende, from Old English; see ant- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English enden, endien, from Old English endian ("to end, to make an end of, complete, finish, abolish, destroy, come to an end, die"), from Proto-Germanic *andiōnan (“to finish, end”), from Proto-Indo-European *ant- (“forehead, end, limit”). Cognate with Dutch einden ("to end"), German enden ("to end"), Icelandic enda ("to end").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ende, from Old English ende, from Proto-Germanic *andijaz (compare Dutch einde, German Ende, Swedish ände), from Proto-Indo-European *antios (compare Old Irish ét ("end, point"), Latin antiæ ("forelock"), Albanian anë ("side"), Ancient Greek ἀντίος (antios, "opposite"), Sanskrit antyas 'last'), from *h₂enti 'opposite'. More at anti.

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