Brewer's: Bitter End

(The ). A outrance; with relentless hostility; also applied to affliction, as, “she bore it to the bitter end,” meaning to the last stroke of adverse fortune. “All Thy waves have gone over me, but I have borne up under them to the bitter end.” Here “bitter end” means the end of the rope. The “bitter-end” is a sea term meaning “that part of the cable which is ‘abaft the bitts.’ When there is no windlass the cables are fastened to bitts, that is, pieces of timber so called; and when a rope is payed out to the bitter-end, or to these pieces of timber, all of it is let out, and no more remains.” However, we read in Prov. v. 4, “Her end is bitter as wormwood,” which, after all, may be the origin of the phrase.

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language