bitter-ender, noun

Origin:
U.S. EnglishShow more Originally U.S. English, die-hard: see bitter-einder.
historical
A Boer who refused to surrender towards the end of the Anglo-Boer War; bitter-einder sense 1. Also attributive. Cf. hands-upper sense 1 a. See also white button (white adjective sense 2).
1915 J.K. O’Connor Afrikander Rebellion 6As far back as 1902 when the ink in which the Vereeniging Treaty had been inscribed was scarcely dry, there were ominous signs of disaffection among a section of the Dutch people, who were pleased to call themselves ‘bitter-enders’.
1916 E.H. Spender General Botha 127Their leaders still proved the most obstinate ‘Bitter-enders’ — just as now..they still resist most obstinately the mingling of their racial influence with that of the British stock.
1937 C.R. Prance Tante Rebella’s Saga 34The Colonel was instructed confidentially to ascertain what Oom Gideon’s price would be to..go home to his farm in a blaze of glory as the last Free State ‘bitter-ender’ to stand out against Pax Britannica.
1949 A. Keppel-Jones S. Afr.: Short Hist. 138Others who surrendered — ‘hands-uppers’ — thought the continued resistance madness and felt that the ‘bitter-enders’ would be responsible for the ruin of their country.
1974 K. Griffith Thank God We Kept Flag Flying 377There were still about 22 000 Boers fighting on the veldt. They are known in the Republic of South Africa as ‘the bitter-enders’.
1978 M. Van Wyk Smith Drummer Hodge 222Ex-Boer Generals Botha and Smuts accepted the spirit of an imperial family of nations in which South Africa could play her part...But there were also the ‘bittereinders’ (‘bitter-enders’), who had pledged eternal enmity to all things British.
1981 Cape Times 12 Sept. 9There can be little doubt that it was British Army policy — explicit or otherwise — to shoot bitter-ender Boer prisoners out of hand in the final phase of the South African War.
1988 A. Sher Middlepost 239Swanepoel had been a bitter-ender, fighting on long after the official surrender, committing legendary acts of bravery.
1990 Bulletin (Centre for Science Dev.) Nov.–Dec. 3Many other popular books..glorified the Boer generals and ‘bitterenders’ and railed against the injustices of the concentration camps.
A Boer who refused to surrender towards the end of the Anglo-Boer War; bitter-einder sense 1. Also attributive.
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bitter-einder, nounn.bitter Karoo, noun phrasen. phr.
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