Etimology
From Middle English ende, from Old English ende, from Proto-West Germanic *andī, from Proto-Germanic *andijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂entíos, from *h₂ent- (“front, forehead”). See also Dutch einde, German Ende, Norwegian ende, Swedish ände; also Old Irish ét (“end, point”), Latin antiae (“forelock”), Albanian anë (“side”), Ancient Greek ἀντίος (antíos, “opposite”), Sanskrit अन्त्य (antya, “last”). More at and and anti-. The verb is from Middle English enden, endien, from Old English endian (“to end, to make an end of, complete, finish, abolish, destroy, come to an end, die”), from Proto-Germanic *andijōną (“to finish, end”), denominative from *andijaz.
noun
end (plural ends)
The terminal point of something in space or time.
(by extension) The cessation of an effort, activity, state, or motion.
(by extension) Death.
The most extreme point of an object, especially one that is longer than it is wide.
Result.
A purpose, goal, or aim.
(cricket) One of the two parts of the ground used as a descriptive name for half of the ground.
(American football) The position at the end of either the offensive or defensive line, a tight end, a split end, a defensive end.
(curling) A period of play in which each team throws eight rocks, two per player, in alternating fashion.
(mathematics) An ideal point of a graph or other complex. See End (graph theory)
That which is left; a remnant; a fragment; a scrap.
One of the yarns of the worsted warp in a Brussels carpet.
(in the plural, slang, African-American Vernacular) Money.
Examples
they followed him... into a sort of a central hall; out of which they could dimly see other long tunnel-like passages branching, passages mysterious and without apparent end.
I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
At the end of the road, turn left.
At the end of the story, the main characters fall in love.
Is there no end to this madness?
He met a terrible end in the jungle.
I hope the end comes quickly.
Confound your hidden falsehood, and award / Either of you to be the other's end.
A safe companion and an easy friend / Unblamed through life, lamented in thy end.
Hold the string at both ends.
My father always sat at the end of the table nearest the kitchen.
All the ends of the woꝛld ſhall remember, and turne vnto the Lord: and all the kinreds of the nations ſhall woꝛſhip befoꝛe thee.
O that a man might know / The end of this day's business ere it come!
The end was that he was thought an archfool.
For what end should I toil?
The end of our club is to advance conversation and friendship.
Synonym: purpose
But, losing her, the End of Living lose.
When every man is his own end, all things will come to a bad end.
There is a long argument to prove that foreign conquest is not the end of the State, showing that many people took the imperialist view.
The Pavillion End
Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven […] .
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.
Don't give them your ends. You jack that shit!
Related words
synonyms
(final point in space or time): conclusion, limit, terminus, termination
See also Thesaurus:goal
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "final point of something"): beginning, start
hyponyms
big end
bitter end
living end
loose end
rear end
split end
the end
tight end
weekend
world's end
verb
end (third-person singular simple present ends, present participle ending, simple past and past participle ended)
(intransitive, ergative) To come to an end.
(intransitive) To conclude; to bring something to an end.
(transitive) To finish, terminate.
Examples
Is this movie never going to end?
The lesson will end when the bell rings.
The orchestra ended with a performance of Dvořák.
The referee blew the whistle to end the game.
And on the seventh day God ended his worke […]
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife
But play the man, stand up and end you, / When your sickness is your soul.
Ending civil wars is hard. Hatreds within countries often run far deeper than between them. The fighting rarely sticks to battlefields, as it can do between states. Civilians are rarely spared. And there are no borders to fall back behind.