The Collaborative International Dictionary
Thither \Thith"er\, adv. [OE. thider, AS. [eth]ider; akin to E. that; cf. Icel. [thorn]a[eth]ra there, Goth.
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To that place; -- opposed to hither.
This city is near; . . . O, let me escape thither.
--Gen. xix. 20.Where I am, thither ye can not come.
--John vii. 34. -
To that point, end, or result; as, the argument tended thither.
Hither and thither, to this place and to that; one way and another.
Syn: There.
Usage: Thither, There. Thither properly denotes motion toward a place; there denotes rest in a place; as, I am going thither, and shall meet you there. But thither has now become obsolete, except in poetry, or a style purposely conformed to the past, and there is now used in both senses; as, I shall go there to-morrow; we shall go there together.
Hither \Hith"er\, adv. [OE. hider, AS. hider; akin to Icel. h[=e][eth]ra, Dan. hid, Sw. hit, Goth. hidr[=e]; cf. L. citra on this side, or E. here, he. [root]183. Cf. He.]
To this place; -- used with verbs signifying motion, and implying motion toward the speaker; correlate of hence and thither; as, to come or bring hither.
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To this point, source, conclusion, design, etc.; -- in a sense not physical.
Hither we refer whatsoever belongeth unto the highest perfection of man.
--Hooker.Hither and thither, to and fro; backward and forward; in various directions. ``Victory is like a traveller, and goeth hither and thither.''
--Knolles.
Wiktionary
adv. (context rare literally English) To here and to there.
WordNet
adv. from one place or situation to another; "we were driven from pillar to post" [syn: from pillar to post]
Usage examples of "hither and thither".
And then he was close to the street of houses again, and blind men, whirling spades and stakes, were running with a reasoned swiftness hither and thither.
I could not quite stand, but could kneel upright, and in the dark I shuffled and crept hither and thither at random.
The cook began running hither and thither in the passage like a frightened hen, just as Alpatych entered.
Here he saw again the vast, endless multitude of slaves bearing their heavy burdens to and fro, the trim warriors who paced haughtily upon either flank of the long lines of toiling serfs, the richly trapped nobles of the higher castes and the innumerable white-tunicked slaves who darted hither and thither upon the errands of their masters, or upon their own business or pleasure, for many of these had a certain freedom and independence that gave them almost the standing of freemen.
Katharine had risen, and was glancing hither and thither, at the presses and the cupboards, and all the machinery of the office, as if she included them all in her rather malicious amusement, which caused Mary to keep her eyes on her straightly and rather fiercely, as if she were a gay-plumed, mischievous bird, who might light on the topmost bough and pick off the ruddiest cherry, without any warning.
She knew that the devil in the cunning, cruel brain of the great beast might send it hither and thither hunting through the forest for those who escaped its first charge, or the beast might pass on without returning--no one might guess which.
The task seemed interminable, and I raged almost as violently as the hermit when I saw the hours slipping by in a breathless, foodless round of vain telephoning, and a hectic quest from place to place, hither and thither by subway and surface car.
The black shapes flying outwards from the gate were buffeted hither and thither, like so many dead leaves .
The man below stood his ground, his gown, his white wisps of hair, blown hither and thither.
The women shrieked, and ran hither and thither through the hall, pursued each by her own horror, and snapped at by every other in passing.
Straightway then was there running hither and thither and light sprang up over all the hall, and there could folk see Jack of the Tofts, and a score and a half of his best, every man of them armed with shield and helm and byrny, with green coats over their armour, and wreaths of young oak about their basnets.
Wandering hither and thither at hazard, he found himself in the great gallery devoted to Egyptian stone objects and sculpture.