Hither and thither
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
In many different, changing or apparently aimless directions; repeatedly from one place to another. Literary or old-fashioned in ordinary prose. Unlike here and there, the historical words specifically encoded motion toward a place, although modern users may not perceive that distinction. Regional use: Old English origin; retained in literary and deliberately old-fashioned international English.
Origin
Hither comes from Old English hider, expressing motion toward here, while thither comes from thider, expressing motion toward there. Earlier English regularly distinguished such directional forms from the stationary here and there. Reference works trace the pairing to Old English, but modern spelling and punctuation are later editorial forms. It is safest to call the idiom a survival of an early directional pairing, not to treat a modern-looking phrase as having been coined in exactly that form around AD 725.
Research Sources
Usage Examples
- Tourists wandered hither and thither while the station signs were being replaced.
- Loose papers blew hither and thither across the empty parade ground.
- The investigation sent her hither and thither between three county archives.