Insult pertaining to someone with poor craftsmanship.
Originally a maker of bells and bell-ends.
During the English Reformation, when Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic
Church, he decreed the construction of new churches and
church towers, and to that
end new bells and bell-ends. Because of this, there was an increased need for bell and bell-end makers. These grand and revered artisans of their
day would be known as bell-enders.
Unfortunately, many pretenders strode from shire to shire claiming to be true and good makers of bells and bell-ends, which often resulted in shoddy
work, and gave any true craftsmen a bad name. The name bell-ender, or bell-end, came to be synonymous with poor craftsmanship or a hoodlum - as it is to this
day.
John the Villager: Egads, Henry! Hast thou seen my new hosiery?
Henry the Friend: By Jove, man! Those are fearful and I have now become
blind!
John the Villager: Alack, I should not have used that jaunty haberdasher.
Henry the (Blind) Friend: Alas, no! For he is soothly a bellend!