hither and thither
English
Adverb
hither and thither (not comparable)
- (rare, now literary) To here and to there.
- 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 54
- And the passion that held Strickland was a passion to create beauty. It gave him no peace. It urged him hither and thither.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VI:
- “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.”
- 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 54
- (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.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter V:
- 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.
Synonyms
- from pillar to post, from post to pillar (obsolete)
Translations
In a disorderly manner
|