whither
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪðə/
enpr: wĭthʹər
ipa: /ˈwɪðəɹ/
note: without the wine–whine merger
ipa: /ˈʍɪðə/
note: without the wine–whine merger
ipa: /ˈʍɪðəɹ/
homophone: wither (wine–whine merger)
rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)
Etymology: From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”), from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”), from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).
Senses: examples: text: When as wee duely conſider, whether euery way leadeth, or wiſely ponder with our ſelues to what end we refer each one of our actions, and exact of our ſtraying thoughts a more ſeuere account of their wandering courſe, we ſhal find no victory ſo great, as the ſubduing of vice, nothing ſo hard as to liue well, no ſuch vneſtimable iewell, as an honeſt conuerſation: […]
ref: 1589, T[homas] Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie: […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood for Thomas Hacket, […], →OCLC, signature E.iii., verso:
text: 2. Out. [Second Outlaw] VVhether trauell you? / Val[entine]. To Verona. / 1. Out. [First Outlaw] VVhence came you? / Val. From Millaine.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 32, column 2:
text: O Jove! he cry'd, for vvhat Offence have I / Deſerv'd to bear this endleſs Infamy: / VVhence am I forc'd, and vvhether am I born, / Hovv, and vvith vvhat Reproach ſhall I return?
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 526, lines 943–946:
text: You vvill go avvay: VVhither vvill you go? and vvhat can you do? I vvould as vvillingly go avvay as you, if I knevv vvhither: But vve have no Acquaintance, no Friends. Here vve vvere born, and here vve muſt die.
ref: 1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 143:
text: "Whither are we going?" inquired the lady tragically. "How should I know?" replied Trott with singular coolness; for the events of the evening had completely hardened him.
ref: 1836 February 8, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Great Winglebury Duel”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume II, London: John Macrone, […], published 1836, →OCLC, page 241:
text: Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor adventurers, wandering they knew not whither.
ref: 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Twelfth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 156:
text: The Spirit did not tarry here, but bade Scrooge hold his robe, and passing on above the moor, sped whither? Not to sea? To sea. To Scrooge's horror, looking back, he saw the last of the land, a frightful range of rocks, behind them; and his ears were deafened by the thundering of water, as it rolled, and roared, and raged among the dreadful caverns it had worn, and fiercely tried to undermine the earth.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 103:
text: [W]hat was the use of cavalry in a time of profound peace?—and whither the deuce should the hussars ride?
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 571:
text: What he did, whither he went, where he died, might be left to conjecture.
ref: 1882, Walter Besant, “The Missing Link”, in All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 136:
glosses: Interrogative senses.
To what place; where.
antonyms: whence
examples: text: VVhither at length vvilt thou abuſe our patience?
ref: 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act IIII, signature I3, recto:
text: And, if there fall out any preternatural immutations in the elements, any strange concussations of the earth, any direful prodigies in the sky, whither should they be imputed, but to these mighty angels; whom it pleaseth the Most High God to employ in these extraordinary services?
ref: 1651 (indicated as 1652), Joseph Hall, “[The Invisible World Discovered to Spiritual Eyes, and Reduced to Useful Meditation. […].] Section IV. The Power of Angels.”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D. […], volume VI (Devotional Works), London: […] C[harles] Whittingham, […]; for Williams and Smith, […], published 1808, →OCLC, 1st book (Of God and His Angels), page 455:
text: Alas, / Whither has wandered now my partial tongue / When all remains untold which ye would hear?
ref: 1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 117:
text: 'Oh, Lancelot, Lancelot! whither are you forcing me?' / 'I am forcing you no-whither. God, the Father of spirits, is leading you! You, who believe in Him, how dare you fight against Him?'
ref: 1848, [Charles Kingsley], “Murder will Out, and Love too”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 193:
text: Whither now the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party]? In Westminster, Theresa May's minority government continues to rely on the support of ten DUP members for its very survival. But last week may well have seen the consequences as well as the high point of thumbscrew politics.
ref: 2018 February 9, Tommie Gorman, “Whither now the DUP?”, in Raidió Teilifís Éireann, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2022:
glosses: Interrogative senses.
To what (future) cause, condition or state, reason, etc.; where, where next; also (obsolete) to what extent; how far.
examples: text: [W]e beſche thee, leaue vs not comfortles, but ſende to vs thine holy ghoſt to comfort vs, and exalte vs vnto thy ſame place, whither our ſauiour Chriſte is gone before: […]
ref: 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epistles, and Gospels, to be Used at the Celebracion of the Lordes Supper & Holye Communion, throughe the Yeare: With Proper Psalmes, and Lessons for Diuers Feastes and Dayes. [The Accencion Daie. Proper Psalms and Lessons.]”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio lxviii, recto:
text: [T]hou ſhalt diuide the vvhole prouince of thy Land equally into three partes: that he vvhich for murder is a fugitiue, may haue neere at hand, vvhither to eſcape.
ref: 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Devteronomie 19:3, page 436:
text: Jeſus anſwered, and ſaid vnto them, Though I beare record of my ſelfe, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I goe: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I goe.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 8:14, column 1:
text: This Book, it chaulketh out before thine eyes / The man that ſeeks the everlaſting Prize: / It ſhevvs you vvhence he comes, vvhither he goes, / VVhat he leaves undone, alſo vvhat he does: / It alſo ſhovvs you hovv he runs, and runs, / Till he unto the Gate of Glory comes.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:
text: It vvas about the Beginning of September 1664, that I, among the Reſt of my Neighbours, heard in ordinary Diſcourſe, that the Plague vvas return'd again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at Amſterdam and Rotterdam, in the Year 1663. vvhether they ſay, it vvas brought, ſome ſaid from Italy, others from the Levant […]
ref: 1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 1:
text: I come / Thence whither thou must go! The grave is fitter / To take the living than give up the dead; / Yet has thy faith prevail'd, and I am here.
ref: 1821 (date written), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Hellas: A Lyrical Drama, London: Charles and James Ollier […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 43:
text: Dined at Melville Castle, whither I went through a snow-storm.
ref: 1826 November 28 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 28 November 1826]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume I, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 24:
text: [W]hat greatly encouraged me, it was in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his appearance and whither he had presumably returned.
ref: 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sea-chest”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part I (The Old Buccaneer), page 29:
text: Close the door of that room behind you, shut off with it all the cares of the outer world, plunge back into the soothing company of the great dead, and then you are through the magic portal into that fair land whither worry and vexation can follow you no more.
ref: 1907, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter I, in Through the Magic Door, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 1:
text: The wagon jolted on, carrying me I knew not whither.
ref: 1918 September, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter I, in My Ántonia, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, book I (The Shimerdas), page 8:
glosses: Relative senses.
To which place; also (after a noun denoting a place) to which.
examples: text: And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been carried.
ref: 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Carew Murder Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 38:
glosses: Relative senses.
To the place in or to which.
examples: text: Ah foole, goe vvith thy ſoule vvhither it goes, / A borrovved title haſt thou bought too deare.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K1, recto:
text: VVhether as He mounted up, the Nevvs He tells / To every Orb and Star; but chiefly to / Th' inquiſitive Spirits, vvhoſe ears and hearts he fils / VVith all the VVonders He had ſeen belovv, […]
ref: 1648, Joseph Beaumont, “Canto VII. The Great Little One. Stanza 108.”, in Psyche: Or Loves Mysterie, […], London: […] John Dawson for George Boddington, […], →OCLC, page 104, column 1:
text: [H]is VVorſhip […] gave them proper Letters of Health, and from thence they vvere at Liberty to travel vvhither they pleaſed.
ref: 1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 170:
text: Three days after, just a spark / From Paris, answered by a snap at Caen / Or whither reached the telegraphic wire: / "Quickly to Paris! On arrival, learn / Why you are wanted!" Curt and critical!
ref: 1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part III”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 157:
glosses: Relative senses.
In or to any place to which; to whatever place; wherever.
synonyms: whithersoever
qualifier: generally
Derived terms: anywhither
elsewhither
everywhither
nowhither
somewhither
whither away
whitherever
whithersoever
whitherto
whitherward
Related terms: Modern wordPreposition
here
there
where
to
hither
thither
from
hence
thence
whence