hither and thither

The adverb is derived from hither + and + thither.[1] The verb is derived from the phrase “to come hither and go thither”.[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪðəɹ‿n̩ ˈðɪðə/, /-ˈθɪðə/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪðɚ‿n̩ ˈðɪðɚ/, /-ˈθɪðɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: hi‧ther and thi‧ther

hither and thither (not comparable) (archaic except literary)

1. To here and to there, one place after another; in different directions.

   Synonyms: from pillar to post, (obsolete) from post to pillar, (literary, dated) hither and yon, to and fro

   • 1626, Ovid, “The Fifteenth Booke”, in George Sandys, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished […], London: […] William Stansby, →OCLC, page 308:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     Thou shalt read the hearts of men as an open writing, and hither and thither shalt thou lead them as thy pleasure listeth.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LIV, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 283:

     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.

   • 1951 January, Robert M. Hogg, “Crossing Scotland's Mountain Barriers by Rail”, in Railway Magazine, page 17:

     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.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     “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.”

   • 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway …”, in Rail, number 972, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35:

     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."

2. (figuratively) In a disorderly manner.
   • 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:

     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.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     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.

hither and thither (third-person singular simple present hithers and thithers, present participle hithering and thithering, simple past and past participle hithered and thithered)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To move here and then there; to move in different directions.
   • 1837 August 29 (date written), Jane Welsh Carlyle, “Letter 21: To T[homas] Carlyle, Scotsbrig”, in Alexander Carlyle, editor, New Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle […], volume I, London, New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head, published 1903, →OCLC, page 61:

     I have been too long waiting for certainties; hithering and thithering being a condition under which I find it almost impossible to write, or indeed to do anything except fret myself to fiddlestrings.

     A noun use.

   • 1856 July 3 (date written), Jane Welsh Carlyle, “Letter 164. Mrs. Russell, Thornhill.”, in James Anthony Froude, editor, Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle […], volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1883, →OCLC, page 275:

     Mr. C. [i.e., Thomas Carlyle] always hithers and thithers in a weary interminable way, before he can make up his mind what he would like most to do.

   • 1864, Thomas Carlyle, “Third Act and Catastrophe of the Voltaire Visit”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume IV, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XVI, page 436:

     [F]or three months more, follows waiting and hesitation and negotiation, also quite obscure. Confused hithering and thithering about permission for Plombières, about repentance, sorrow, amendment, blame; in the end, reconciliation, or what is to pass for such.