hither and thither
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌhɪðəɹ‿n̩ ˈðɪðə/
ipa: /-ˈθɪðə/
ipa: /ˌhɪðɚ‿n̩ ˈðɪðɚ/
ipa: /-ˈθɪðɚ/
rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)
Etymology: The adverb is derived from hither + and + thither. The verb is derived from the phrase “to come hither and go thither”.
Senses: examples: text: All alter, nothing finally decayes: / Hether and thether ſtill the Spirit ſtrayes; / Gueſt to all Bodies: out of beaſts it flyes / To men, from men to beaſts; and neuer dyes.
ref: 1626, Ovid, “The Fifteenth Booke”, in George Sandys, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished […], London: […] William Stansby, →OCLC, page 308:
text: Noailles, Cogny and Company hang well back upon the Hill regions, and strong posts which are not yet menaced; or fly vaguely, more or less distractedly, hither and thither; not in the least like fighting Karl, much less like beating him.
ref: 1864, Thomas Carlyle, “Preliminary: How the Moment Arrived”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume IV, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XV, page 11:
text: Thou shalt read the hearts of men as an open writing, and hither and thither shalt thou lead them as thy pleasure listeth.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Spirit of Life”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 304:
text: And the passion that held Strickland was a passion to create beauty. It gave him no peace. It urged him hither and thither. He was eternally a pilgrim, haunted by a divine nostalgia, and the demon within him was ruthless.
ref: 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LIV, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 283:
text: The Stirling-Oban line has an even more sinuous course, as it winds hither and thither to obtain a passage through the depths of the mountains.
ref: 1951 January, Robert M. Hogg, “Crossing Scotland's Mountain Barriers by Rail”, in Railway Magazine, page 17:
text: “A kleptomaniac,” I said. “Which means, if the term is not familiar to you, a chap who flits hither and thither pinching everything he can lay his hands on.”
ref: 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
text: In contrast, the Westminster Gazette in 1912 was much more positive about railway staff, praising the "… army of porters hustling and bustling hither and thither with barrows groaning under the weight of bags and baggage and … the ever-patient and long-suffering guards, courteously giving information and advice to the querulous passengers … to the porter the Christmas season means a continuous round of heavy labour, extremely tiring to both nerves and temper, and this fact the public too often seem either to forget or ignore."
ref: 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway …”, in Rail, number 972, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35:
synonyms: word: from pillar to post
word: from post to pillar
word: hither and yon
word: to and fro
glosses: To here and to there, one place after another; in different directions.
examples: text: Presently, men were running hither and thither in all ways. The artillery booming, forward, rearward, and on the flanks made jumble of ideas of direction.
ref: 1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter XII, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 119:
text: It was fortunate that I was not holding a tea cup as she spoke, for hearing Sir Roderick thus addressed I gave another of my sudden starts and, had I had such a cup in my hand, must have strewn its contents hither and thither like a sower going forth sowing. As it was, I merely sent a cucumber sandwich flying through the air.
ref: 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
glosses: In a disorderly manner.