to the bitter end
Preserved but no longer current.
See BITTER. West end, East end. The quarter or part of a town west or east of the central part. In Lon- don, and many other large towns, the West End is the fashionable quarter and the East End the part where the population lives that do the work.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to the bitter end” mean?
See BITTER. West end, East end. The quarter or part of a town west or east of the central part. In Lon- don, and many other large towns, the West End is the fashionable quarter and the East End the part where the population lives that do the work.
Is “to the bitter end” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.