What does endways mean?
"Endways" is an adverb describing direction or orientation relative to the end of an object. It has two main senses: something moving or pointing with its end foremost — a piano carried endways down a corridor — and something positioned upright on its end rather than lying flat, such as bricks stacked endways. The word belongs to a family of directional adverbs formed with the old English adverbial ending "-ways," alongside "sideways," "lengthways," and "crossways." It is more common in British English than American English, where "endwise" is the usual variant, and today both forms carry a slightly informal, old-fashioned flavor; speakers typically prefer plain phrases like "end first" or "on end." Still, "endways" remains perfectly intelligible and useful when precision matters — for instance, in carpentry, moving furniture, or describing how objects fit into tight spaces.
In the direction of the end; with the end foremost or pointing forward.
"They had to turn the bookcase endways to get it through the door."
Often interchangeable with "endwise"; the choice is largely regional.
Upright on one end; set vertically rather than lying flat or horizontally.
"The children stacked the blocks endways to build a tower."
"Endways" is built the same way as "always" — both end in an ancient genitive ending that English once used to turn nouns into adverbs.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of endways
"Endways" is formed from the noun "end" plus "-ways," an ancient English adverb-forming suffix derived from a genitive construction meaning roughly "in the manner or direction of." This same productive suffix appears in "sideways," "lengthways," "crossways," "anyway," and even "always." The word arose in early modern English, when such directional compounds were coined freely. Its American counterpart "endwise" was formed later from the parallel adverbial suffix "-wise."
How endways is actually used
Somewhat informal and increasingly rare; British English also uses the variant form "endways" interchangeably with American "endwise," though both now sound old-fashioned compared to "end first" or "on end."
Easily confused with endways
"Endless" means having no end or limit, while "endways" describes the direction something points—namely, end first.