I'm at the end of my tether
I have no strength or patience left
TRANSLATION
at the end of my tether = am Ende meiner Geduld --- GOOGLE INDEX at the end of my tether: approximately 1,500,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"I AM AT THE END OF MY TETHER with the Foreign Office. I feel betrayed and utterly frustrated by their lack of action."
(BBC News)
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This week's classics include Network, Sidney Lumet's bitter satire on American television, with Peter Finch as a veteran newsman AT THE END OF HIS TETHER who announces his intention to commit suicide on camera and utters the immortal line: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."
(The Australian)
(BBC News)
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This week's classics include Network, Sidney Lumet's bitter satire on American television, with Peter Finch as a veteran newsman AT THE END OF HIS TETHER who announces his intention to commit suicide on camera and utters the immortal line: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."
(The Australian)
Did you
know?
at the end of your tether (North America = at the end of your rope)
idiom
- having no strength or patience left
(Cambridge Dictionaries)
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Tether, which can be used as a noun or verb, is a 14th century word referring to a rope for fastening an animal. It likely originated from the Old Norse "tjoðr" and from a Germanic base word meaning to fasten. The sense of reaching one’s limitations was first recorded in the 1570s.
This figurative sense derives from the idea of an animal that is tied up with a rope or chain and which can move no further when it reaches the end of its tether. This is nicely illustrated in a novel by Jack London after a man expresses interest in buying a stray dog that the police have captured.
When the man tries to pet the dog on the head, it lunges at him: "Michael (the dog) strained backward in a paroxysm of rage, making fierce short jumps to the end of the tether as he snarled and growled with utmost fierceness at the steward." The dog was literally and figuratively at the end of its tether.
A more modern type of tethering involves connecting a computer or other device to the Internet via a mobile phone, usually with WLAN (wireless LAN) or Bluetooth© technology. The electronic device is thus tethered to the mobile phone. Some mobile network providers refer to this form of tethering as a personal hotspot.
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SYNONYMS
I’m at wits end, I can’t take it anymore, I’ve had enough, I’m at the end of my rope, I’m at a loss
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"I’m at the end of my tether with the trains running late every day this week!"
---
Thanks to Patricia for suggesting today's word!
idiom
- having no strength or patience left
(Cambridge Dictionaries)
---
Tether, which can be used as a noun or verb, is a 14th century word referring to a rope for fastening an animal. It likely originated from the Old Norse "tjoðr" and from a Germanic base word meaning to fasten. The sense of reaching one’s limitations was first recorded in the 1570s.
This figurative sense derives from the idea of an animal that is tied up with a rope or chain and which can move no further when it reaches the end of its tether. This is nicely illustrated in a novel by Jack London after a man expresses interest in buying a stray dog that the police have captured.
When the man tries to pet the dog on the head, it lunges at him: "Michael (the dog) strained backward in a paroxysm of rage, making fierce short jumps to the end of the tether as he snarled and growled with utmost fierceness at the steward." The dog was literally and figuratively at the end of its tether.
A more modern type of tethering involves connecting a computer or other device to the Internet via a mobile phone, usually with WLAN (wireless LAN) or Bluetooth© technology. The electronic device is thus tethered to the mobile phone. Some mobile network providers refer to this form of tethering as a personal hotspot.
---
SYNONYMS
I’m at wits end, I can’t take it anymore, I’ve had enough, I’m at the end of my rope, I’m at a loss
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"I’m at the end of my tether with the trains running late every day this week!"
---
Thanks to Patricia for suggesting today's word!
