The maritime origin of “to go to the bitter end”

Did you know that the expression “to go to the bitter end” has a maritime origin? 

The bitter end refers to the very end of a rope or the final link of an anchor chain. When an anchor cable was paid out all the way to the bitter end, hauling the anchor back on board was an exhausting task. 

That’s how the phrase came to mean persevering until the very last moment. 

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