happy ending

happy ending

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

happy ending (plural happy endings)

1. (literature) A clichéd conclusion in which all loose ends are tied up and all main characters are content.

   Synonym: eucatastrophe

   • 1930, Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness:

     Life is not to be conceived on the analogy of a melodrama in which the hero and heroine go through incredible misfortunes for which they are compensated by a happy ending.

   • 1944, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 1, in The Razor's Edge, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran, OCLC 53054407, page 1:

     Death ends all things and so is the comprehensive conclusion of a story, but marriage finishes it very properly too and the sophisticated are ill-advised to sneer at what is by convention termed a happy ending.

   • 1957 July 6, What’s Opera, Doc?, spoken by Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc):

     Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?

   • 1987, Willy DeVille (music), “Storybook Love”:

     And she said: / "Don't you know that storybook loves, / Always have a happy ending."

2. (vulgar, slang, euphemistic) A hand job, especially one provided by the masseuse to the client at or towards the end of a massage.
   • 2009, Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 147:

     “I don't want sucky sucky, I just want a massage. It's okay if she doesn't know how to give a massage, but could she at least tickle my back?” “No happy ending!” she yelled, getting louder. “I don't want a happy ending, you hot mess, I just want a little back rub. […] ”

Translations

happy end

Chinese: Mandarin: 大團圓／大团圆 (zh) (dàtuányuán), 大團圓結局／大团圆结局 (dàtuányuán jiéjú) Dutch: blijeinde n, happy ending n Esperanto: feliĉa fino French: fin heureuse f, happy end (fr) m, eucatastrophe f German: Happy End (de) n, glückliches Ende n Greek: χάπι εντ (el) n (chápi ent) Hungarian: hepiend Indonesian: akhir bahagia Italian: lieto fine m Japanese: ハッピーエンド (happīendo) Korean: 해피엔드 (haepiendeu), 해피 엔딩 (haepi ending) Lithuanian: laiminga pabaiga f Norwegian: lykkelig slutt m, happy ending m Persian: پایان خوش‎, هپی اندینگ‎ Polish: szczęśliwy koniec m Portuguese: final feliz (pt) m Romanian: final norocos n, final fericit n, final reușit n, sfârșit fericit n Russian: счастли́вый коне́ц m (sčastlívyj konéc), хэ́ппи-э́нд (ru) m (xɛ́ppi-énd) Slovak: šťastný koniec, happyend Spanish: final feliz m Swedish: lyckligt slut n Turkish: mutlu son Ukrainian: щасли́вий кіне́ць m (ščaslývyj kinécʹ), хе́пі-е́нд m (xépi-énd), щасли́ве закі́нчення n (ščaslýve zakínčennja)

hand job, especially one provided by the masseuse

French: finition (fr) f Tagalog: linggam

See also

• happily ever after

Further reading

• happy ending on Wikipedia.Wikipedia