Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
The final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic, plural, plural-only
Qualifier: usually preceded by the
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Bare essentials.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic, plural, plural-only
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Possibly an allusion to painting, in which a painter typically finishes a work with short, careful, finishing strokes of the paint brush, or to golf, in which a player concludes each hole by making short strokes with a putter.
Across languages
1 source translations are retained for this English entry.
