bitter end
nounEtymology The figurative usage is influenced by bitter (“unpleasant, arduous”). Indeed, the phrase has been reinterpreted by most today as bitter + end—compare bitter cold.
1
Nautical, Transport 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)
3
Idiomatic The end of a long and difficult process.
- Derived terms
- bitter-ender
- Related terms
- bitts, fight to the finish, last gasp, the end of one's rope, until the bitter end, to the bitter end, to the bitter end and beyond