hear the end of it

verb

To cease to be told about, or nagged because of, something.

“If I spilled wine on their new carpet, I'd never hear the end of it.”

Meanings

verbhear the end of it (third-person singular simple present hears the end of it, present participle hearing the end of it, simple past and past participle heard the end of it)

present singular third person hears the end of it · participle present hearing the end of it · participle past heard the end of it · past heard the end of it

  1. colloquialidiomaticTo cease to be told about, or nagged because of, something.

    If I spilled wine on their new carpet, I'd never hear the end of it.

    4 more examples

    The Right Hon[orable] Sir J. G. Ward. — Mr. Symes did not know it. They published this private and confidential letter without either Mr. Symes's or Mr. McCluggage's knowledge or consent. Why, if any of us were to do that sort of thing we would never hear the end of it, nor would any one else hear the end of the improper use of a letter which was beyond all question private and confidential.

    1910, New Zealand. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, volume 153, page 1156

    […] What happens at the end of July? Seems like those dates ring a bell. I know, it's our state bandmaster's convention. This is the year they are having all those great clinicians. I helped set up the program from our region. No choice: if I don't attend and go to our annual breakfast, I'll never hear the end of it. That's not too bad, it will be fun and there is still all of August to jump in the boat and do some serious fishing.

    1992, Tim Lautzenheiser, “The Proverbial Summer Vacation” (chapter 47), in The Art of Successful Teaching: A Blend of Content & Context, page 198

    Kill your dreams if male validation is all that you need / Being a man ain't all that it seems / Yeah, by all means, bro, say what you need / I'll never hear the end of it […]

    2023, torr, “drywall”, in molecule ft. patchymate

    berdly if your friends were homestuck characters who would they be. //sorry autism wants me dead, berdlys my fav character and hs is my spin. you will never heard the end of it from me

    2024 April 15, @XxKilla_KrisxX, Twitter
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hear, the, end, of, it.

    The experience of the beginning of the word when I hear the end of it must conform in some measure to what I heard a moment ago.

    1991, Sheila Greeve Davaney, Theology at the End of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Gordon D. Kaufman, page 188
    1 more example

    Here Scheherazade, perceiving day, left off her story, which did so much whet the sultan's curiosity, that he was absolutely resolved to hear the end of it, and put off the sultaness's execution till the next day.

    1812, Arabian Nights, page 11
Cite this entry
APA

hear the end of it. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hear%20the%20end%20of%20it

MLA

“hear the end of it.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hear%20the%20end%20of%20it. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hear the end of it,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hear%20the%20end%20of%20it.

Source: hear the end of it on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.