hear the end of it

English

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Verb

hear 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)

(idiomatic, colloquial, chiefly in the negative) 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.
- 1910, New Zealand. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates‎^[1], volume 153, page 1156:
  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.
- 1992, Tim Lautzenheiser, “The Proverbial Summer Vacation” (chapter 47), in The Art of Successful Teaching: A Blend of Content & Context‎^[2], page 198:
  […] 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.
- 2023, torr (lyrics and music), “drywall”, in molecule ft. patchymate:
  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 […]
- 2024 April 15, @XxKilla_KrisxX, Twitter‎^[3]:
  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
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hear,‎ the,‎ end,‎ of,‎ it.
- 1812, Arabian Nights‎^[4], page 11:
  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.
- 1991, Sheila Greeve Davaney, Theology at the End of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Gordon D. Kaufman‎^[5], page 188:
  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.

Usage notes

Generally used in the negative, with will or would.