end noun [OE. & AS. ende; akin to OS. endi, D. einde, eind, OHG. enti, G. ende, Icel. endir, endi, Sw. ände, Dan. ende, Goth. andeis, Skr. anta. √208. 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 transitive verb [imperfect or past participle Ended; present participle or verbal noun 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 intransitive verb 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.

{ En′do-, End- }. [Gr. ἔνδον within, fr. in. See In.] A combining form signifying within; as, endocarp, endogen, endocuneiform, endaspidean.