Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of End?

\End\, 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. ????. Cf. {Ante-}, {Anti-}, {Answer}.] 1. 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. 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, 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. 4. 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. 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. (Carpet Manuf.) One of the yarns of the worsted warp in a Brussels carpet. {An end}. (a) On end; upright; erect; endways. --Spenser (b) 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.
\End\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ended}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Ending}.] 1. To bring to an end or conclusion; to finish; to close; to terminate; as, to end a speech. ``I shall end this strife.'' --Shak. On the seventh day God ended his work. --Gen. ii. 2. 2. To form or be at the end of; as, the letter k ends the word back. 3. To destroy; to put to death. ``This sword hath ended him.'' --Shak. {To end up}, to lift or tilt, so as to set on end; as, to end up a hogshead.
\End\, v. i. To come to the ultimate point; to be finished; to come to a close; to cease; to terminate; as, a voyage ends; life ends; winter ends.