by 1868, "the back part of anything;" by 1937, "the buttocks;" from rear (adj.) + end (n.). As a verb, "to collide with (another vehicle) from behind," from 1976. Related: Rear-ended; rear-ending.
Entries linking to rear-end
rear n.
"hindmost part, the space behind or at the back," c. 1600, abstracted from rerewarde "rear guard, hindmost part of an army or fleet" (mid-14c.), from Anglo-French rerewarde, Old French rieregarde, from the Old French adverb riere "behind" (from Latin retro "back, behind;" see retro-) + Old French garde "guardian" (see guard (n.)).
Earliest use often is specifically military, "hindmost body of an army or fleet." The English word in many early examples also may be a shortened form of arrear (see arrears), perhaps a misdivision of the arrears.
As a euphemism for "buttocks" it is attested by 1796. As an adverb, "behind," early 15c. As an adjective, "hindmost; pertaining to or situated in the rear," c. 1300, from Old French rere.
To bring up the rear "come last in order" is from 1640s. The naval rank of rear admiral is attested from 1580s, said to be so called from his originally ranking "behind" an admiral proper. Rear-view (mirror) is recorded from 1926. Rear-supper (c. 1300) was an old name for "last meal of the day."
end n.
Old English ende "end, conclusion, boundary, district, species, class," from Proto-Germanic *andiaz (source also of Old Frisian enda, Old Dutch ende, Dutch einde, Old Norse endir "end;" Old High German enti "top, forehead, end," German Ende, Gothic andeis "end"), originally "the opposite side," from PIE *antjo "end, boundary," from root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before."
Worldly wealth he cared not for, desiring onely to make both ends meet. [Thomas Fuller, "The History of the Worthies of England," 1662]
Original sense of "outermost part" is obsolete except in phrase ends of the earth. Sense of "destruction, death" was in Old English. Meaning "division or quarter of a town" was in Old English. The end "the last straw, the limit" (in a disparaging sense) is from 1929. The end-man in minstrel troupes was one of the two at the ends of the semicircle of performers, who told funny stories and cracked jokes with the middle-man. U.S. football end zone is from 1909 (end for "side of the field occupied by one team" is from 1851). The noun phrase end-run is attested from 1893 in U.S. football; extended to military tactics by 1940. End time in reference to the end of the world is from 1917. To end it all "commit suicide" is attested by 1911. Be-all and end-all is from Shakespeare ("Macbeth" I.vii.5).