Bittereinder

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Bittereinders refers to those Boers, the whites in South Africa of mostly Dutch descent, who refused to concede defeat to the victorious British Empire during and after the Second Boer War (1899-1901) and wished to conitinue the war against the British by any means possible.

The word is derived from the Dutch language upon which the Afrikaans language of the Boers (later known as Afrikaners) is based.

The words bitter einder (singular, the final "s" denotes plural) literally mean "bitter-ender" denoting someone who is "willing to fight to the bitter end" even unto death.

It could be used as another name for a "war party" (a faction within a political or militray group favoring the waging of war) or for any group which does not wish to diminish its "fighting spirit" wanting to fight it out to the "bitter end."

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