happy ending

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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. […] ”

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