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Tether

.

He has come to the end of his tether. He has outrun his fortune; he has exhausted all his resources. The reference is to a cable run out to the bitter end (see Bitter End), or to the lines upon lines in whale fishing. If the whale runs out all-the lines it gets away and is lost.

Horace calls the end of lifeultima linca rerum,” the end of the goal, referring to the white chalk mark at the end of a racecourse.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Terrible (The)
Terrier
Terry Alts
Tertium Quid
Terza Rima
Tesserarian Art
Tester
Tête-à-tête
Tête Bottée [Booted Head]
Tete du Pont
Tether
Tethys
Tetragrammaton
Tetrapla
Teucer
Teutons
Teutonic Knights
Th (Θ, theta)
⁂ T (τελεωσιζ)
Thais
Thalaba