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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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