on end
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Prepositional phrase
- (idiomatic) without interruption, without stopping, continuously
- These batteries last for hours on end.
- upright; erect; endways
- 1843 Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 5, Twelfth Century
- How silent, on the other hand, lie all Cotton-trades and such like; not a steeple-chimney yet got on end from sea to sea!
- 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 8
- When he was dried he struggled into his shirt. Then, ruddy and shiny, with hair on end, and his flannelette shirt hanging over his pit-trousers, he stood warming the garments he was going to put on.
- 1843 Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 5, Twelfth Century
Translations
continuously, long
|
upright, erect, endways
See also
Further reading
- “on end”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
- “on end”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “days on end”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “for days weeks etc on end” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.