It was soon common to express one's admiration for a vessel by referring to it as an "A1 ship."įrom there, A1 acquired the figurative sense "of the finest quality" or "first-rate," and was applied to anything regarded as an outstanding example of its kind. Since shipping was of such great importance to the British economy in the 18th and 19th centuries, and since Lloyd's was so well known, the rating system became part of the public consciousness. The Stores of Vessels are designated by the figures 1 and 2 1 signifying that the Vessel is well and sufficiently found. The character A denotes New Ships, or Ships Renewed or Restored. (To date, Lloyd's has insured food critic Egon Ronay's taste buds, soccer star David Beckham's legs, and business magnate Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic private spaceship.) Lloyd's registry of ships explains the A1 rating in this way: The term referred to the highest possible rating in the system instituted prior to 1800 by that very famous insurer of almost everything, Lloyd's of London. There are still those that will stand by their opinion to the bitter end.Ī1 was first used to mean "having the highest qualifications" in reference to commercial ships. The nautical theory seems more likely to etymologists, but they have not reached a consensus on it. Another theory holds that bitter end refers to death and traces the phrase to a line in the Bible that reads "but her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword." The suggestion is that death is the ultimate bitter end and, by extension, any difficult ending or defeat is a bitter end. When the line is paid out to the bitter end, there is no more line, and you are literally at the end of your rope. The bitter end is the inboard end of this anchoring line. On a ship, the word bitter is used for a turn of anchoring line around the bitts, or the posts fixed to the deck for securing lines. Two theories are usually offered as explanations for the phrase "to/until the bitter end." One of them suggests that the phrase derives from the nautical term bitter end. Definition: the last extremity however painful or calamitous
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