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bitter end

noun

Etymology

The figurative usage is influenced by bitter (“unpleasant, arduous”). Indeed, the phrase has been reinterpreted by most today as bitter + end—compare bitter cold.

Definitions

  1. That part of an anchor cable which is abaft the bitts and thus remains inboard when a…

    That part of an anchor cable which is abaft the bitts and thus remains inboard when a ship is riding at anchor.

    • pay out a rope to the bitter end (pay out all of the rope)

  2. The final six fathoms (11 m) of anchor chain before the point of attachment in the chain…

    The final six fathoms (11 m) of anchor chain before the point of attachment in the chain locker of modern US naval vessels.

  3. The end of a long and difficult process.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bitter end. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA