happy ending

plural happy endings

1. human sciencesA conclusion to a story in which all the loose ends of the plot are tied up, and all the main characters are left in a state of contentment or happiness.

   The heroine was killed, and since then the happy ending has only been preserved in an appendix in the play.

   1827 June 8, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Sydney, N.S.W.: George Howe, →OCLC, page 4, column 3

   5 more examples

   [S]ome Gentlemen, declared againſt Tragedies in general, and in favour of Comedies, […] And hovv vvas this happy ending to be brought about? VVhy, by this very eaſy and trite expedient; to vvit, by reforming Lovelace, and marrying him to Clariſſa— […]

   1750, [Samuel Richardson], “Postscript. Referred to in the Preface. In which Several Objections that have been Made, as well to the Catastrophe as to Different Parts of the Preceding History, are Briefly Considered.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], 3rd edition, volume VIII, London: Printed for S. Richardson, and sold by John Osborn, […]; [b]y Andrew Millar, […]; [b]y J[ohn] and J[ames] Rivington, […]; [a]nd by J. Leake, […], →OCLC, page 278

   [A]nother would say that it [a novel being good] depends on a "happy ending," on a distribution at the last of prizes, pensions, husbands, wives, babies, millions, appended paragraphs, and cheerful remarks.

   1884 September, Henry James, “The Art of Fiction”, in Partial Portraits, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1888, →OCLC, page 382

   Life is not to be conceived on the analogy of a melodrama in which the hero and heroine go through incredible misfortunes for which they are compensated by a happy ending.

   1930 October, Bertrand Russell, “Byronic Unhappiness”, in The Conquest of Happiness, London: George Allen & Unwin, published December 1930, →OCLC, part I (Causes of Unhappiness), page 33

   [A]s we left the theatre, he [William Dean Howells] summed up the reason of the play's failure. "Yes—what the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending".

   1934, Edith Wharton, “New York and the Mount”, in A Backward Glance, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton-Century Company, →OCLC, page 147

   Death ends all things and so is the comprehensive conclusion of a story, but marriage finishes it very properly too and the sophisticated are ill-advised to sneer at what is by convention termed a happy ending.

   1944, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 1, in The Razor’s Edge […], 1st American edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co., →OCLC, section i, page 1

   Synonyms: eucatastrophe, fairy-tale ending, happy ever after, happily ever after

2. broadlyeuphemisticslangvulgarAn orgasm, especially one experienced by a male client after a hand job (“stimulation of the penis using the hand”) provided by a masseuse at the end of a massage.

   1 more example

   "This not sucky sucky place, we don't do that, wesbian!" / "No," I argued. "I don't want sucky sucky, I just want a massage. It's okay if she doesn't know how to give a massage, but could she at least tickle my back?" / "No happy ending!" she yelled, getting louder. / "I don't want a happy ending, you hot mess, I just want a little back rub.[…]" It was mildly humiliating to be arguing with Dim Sum while I was lying naked on a table and being called a wesbian.

   2008, Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, New York, N.Y.: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 147