from pillar to post
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Forms: form: from post to pillar
Etymology: Possibly originally from post to pillar, perhaps a reference to the rapid movement of the ball in real tennis; The Wordsworth Dictionary of Proverbs (1993) notes that from post to pillar dates to at least the 15th century.
Senses: examples: text: Mr. [Charles] Babbage, in his work on the Economy of Manufactures, suggests a new plan of forwarding the mail. […] Mr. Babbage proposes the erection of pillars along each line of road; these pillars are to be connected by inclined wires, or iron rods, along which the letters, inclosed in cylinders attached to the rods by rings, are to slide; persons stationed on these columns are to forward the cylinders from each point, after having extracted the contents belonging to their own station. In this manner it is calculated that a letter might be sent (from pillar to post), to the farthest limits of the land in the course of a very small portion of time; […]
ref: 1832 July, “A Novelty in Posting”, in The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the Year 1832, volume LXXIV, London: Printed for Baldwin and Cradock [et al.], published 1833, →OCLC, page 81:
text: Q. You applied to Secretary [George Sewall] Boutwell because you had ascertained you could not get redress anywhere else?—A. No; we were sent from pillar to post, and from post to pillar, and we got no satisfaction any way.
ref: 1872, Testimony in Relation to Alleged Frauds in the New York Custom-House, Taken by the Committee on Investigation and Retrenchment (United States Senate, 42d Congress, 2d Session; report no. 227), volume III, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing-Office, →OCLC, page 181:
text: All these things, and others of like nature, are in their minds floating possibilities; in consequence of which they are sent from pillar to post in the realms of opinion, and are never anchored anywhere.
ref: 1874 May, “From Pillar to Post”, in Sarah J[osepha] Hale, Louis A[ntoine] Godey, editors, Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, volume LXXXVIII, number 527, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Louis A. Godey, N.E. cor. Sixth and Chestnut Sts., →OCLC, page 421:
text: […] gays are still hounded from pillar to post by the watchdogs of American society.
ref: 1989, Marshall Kirk, Hunter Madsen, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s, Doubleday Books, page xv:
text: We campaigned like hell. On election day we went from pillar to post begging people to support us.
ref: 2003, Joan Steinau Lester, Fire in My Soul: Eleanor Holmes Norton, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, ISBN 978-0-7434-0787-8; republished New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, January 2004, ISBN 978-0-7434-0788-5, page 263
text: When the bill becomes an act, it will provide a big relief to people who now run from pillar to post and are forced to pay bribes to get their work done in government offices.
ref: 2011 March 28, “Bihar assembly passes bill for time-bound government services”, in Daily Bhaskar, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2016:
text: Back in August, the Toon ace [Joey Barton] was kicked from pillar to post by Karl Henry in a bone-crunching midfield battle at Molineux.
ref: 2011 April 2, Steve Brenner, “Joey will defy pack of Wolves”, in The Sun, London:
text: There was also a belief that they had been taken advantage of - "kicked from pillar to post, the bottom dogs in the labour market because of the inherent love of railmen for their jobs", according to one NUR member.
ref: 2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 38:
text: pushed from pillar to post... kicked from pillar to post... driven from pillar to post...
glosses: From one place, place, or thing to another, hither and thither.
wikipedia: Wordsworth Editions
Synonyms: hither and thither