to and fro

English

Alternative forms

to-and-fro

Adverb

to and fro (comparative more to and fro, superlative most to and fro)

1. (dated) Back and forth; with an alternating motion.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, ch. 4:

     A light tossing to and fro and still rapidly advancing showed that one of the newcomers carried a lantern.

   • 1886, John Burroughs, Winter Sunshine, page 13:

     He bends his knees more than the white man, and oscillates more to and fro, or from side to side.

   • 1979, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), IEEE Electrical Insulation Society, Annual report - Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, page 396:

     Even charges hopping on a larger array of localized sites than the two sites in (ii) execute normally many more to-and-fro oscillating motions than ...

Translations

back and forth

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: heen en weer (nl)
• Finnish: edestakaisin (fi)
• French: çà et là (fr)

• German: hin und her (de), vor und zurück (de)
• Greek: πηγαιν'ελα (el) (pigain'ela)
• Korean: 이리저리 (ko)
• Norwegian: til og fra, fram og tilbake
• Russian: туда-сюда (ru) (tudá-sjudá), взад и вперёд (ru) (vzad i vperjód)
• Swedish: av och an (sv), fram och tillbaka (sv), fram och åter (sv), hit och dit (sv)

Verb

to and fro (third-person singular simple present to and fros, present participle to and froing, simple past and past participle to and froed)

1. (dated) To go back and forth; to alternate.

Translations

pertaining to something in to and fro motion

• Finnish: mennä edestakaisin (fi)

Adjective

to and fro (not comparable)

1. (dated) Pertaining to something or someone moving forward and back to the same position.
   • 1847, Peter Mere Latham, Lectures on subjects connected with clinical medicine, comprising diseases, page 90:

     The next day he had more power of moving his limbs, and the to and fro sound was thought to be a little less distinct.

Translations

pertaining to something in to and fro motion

• Finnish: edestakainen (fi)

Noun

to and fro (plural to and fros)

1. (dated) The movement (of someone or something) forward followed by a return to the same position. May refer to a concept such as an emotional state or a relationship as well as a physical thing.
   • 1849, Ralph Erskine, Gospel sonnets; or, Spiritual songs, page 233:

     My life's a maze of seeming traps, A scene of mercies and mishaps; A heap of jarring to and fros, A field of joys, A field of woes.