to and fro, phr. (adv., prep., n., a., v.)
[to adv. and prep., fro adv. and prep.]
A. adv.
1. a. Successively to and from some place, etc.; hence more vaguely: In opposite or different directions alternately; with alternating movement; from side to side; backwards and forwards; hither and thither; up and down.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 471 For a best when it es born, may ga Als tite aftir, and ryn to and fra. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 543 Men passen by hym to and fro. c 1450 Lovelich Grail xlv. 464 Thus the schippe In the se gan to go On day & Oþer, bothe two & Fro as the wynd it Gan to blowe. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Job i. 7 The Lord said vnto Satan, Whence commest thou? And Satan answered.., From compassing the earth to and fro. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 31 Having travelled to and fro, through very many towns and countries of Persia. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. vii. xii, His eyes went to and fro. 1807 Crabbe Parish Reg. iii. 617 Idle children, wandering to and fro. 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. vii, The messenger, who went to and fro between D― and Haleham bank. 1855 Stanley Mem. Canterb. ii. (1857) 44 The pendulum which has been..swung to and fro, is at last about to settle. |
b. after a verbal or other n. denoting or implying movement. (Cf. D.)
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 4134 With many a turnyng to and froo. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. xlvi. 102 They spent three daies with messages to and fro. 1688 S. Penton Guard. Instr. 59 Letters to and fro are some kind of Guard upon a Youth. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1851) II. 131 A history of movement to and fro. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men. II. xi. 312 His rides to and fro. |
† 2. In places lying in opposite or different directions; here and there. Obs.
| c 1440 York Myst. xx. 255 We haue þe sought both to & froo. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. ix. 96 Bayth to and fro our all the cuntre syne Wemen and moderis..Thair ȝing childryng fast to thair breistis did braice. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 272 The Northerne Borders, where his Lordship (with his retinue) lay to and fro. 1670–1 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 119 Many Whales spouting to and fro in these Bays. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. xv. 425 Many shoals scattered to and fro among them. |
† 3. fig. To or on opposite sides alternately (esp. in discussion or the like); for and against a question; pro and con. Obs.
| [c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1313 Troilus..rolleth in his herte to and fro How he may best discryven hir his wo.] 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 71 In multipliyng of wordes to and fro. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 110, I haue heard great disputation and reasoning pro and contra, to and fro. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 803 The victory waved alternately too and fro three or foure times. 1649 Milton Eikon. 239 Thus shall they be too and fro, doubtfull and ambiguous in all thir doings. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 30 When there had been some little Arguing to and fro. |
† 4. So (in lit. and fig. senses, as above) to or fro, to nor (ne) fro. In quot. 15552, neither to nor fro = ‘neither here nor there’, indifferent, immaterial. Obs.
| 13.. Cursor M. 16762 + 123 (Cott.) His sely lyms miȝt he not rest. To put hom to ne fro. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 347 When þou no fyrre may, to ne fro, Þou most abyde þat he schal deme. c 1530 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 329 Cast not thyne eyes to ne yet fro. 1555 Philpot in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1814/2 You stande dalying..and will neither answere to nor fro. 1555 Latimer Let. to Morice ibid. 1741/2 As it is called a fire, so it is called a Worme;..but that is neither to nor fro. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 297 Oecumenius saith little to the purpose, too or fro. 1652 Ashmole Theat. Chem. Brit. 204 Till thou hearest no manner of noyse rumbling to nor fro. |
B. prep. To and from (a place); alternately to and from each of (two places): the latter now commonly expressed by between (between prep. 9). Now rare.
| 1574 Calr. Laing Charters (1899) 225 Ane gait to cum and gang to and fra the same. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 109 Messengers going and comming to and fro the Court of Baatu. 1860 Reade 8th Commandm. 123 Counsel, who were continually flashing to and fro London and Croydon. 1885 Jefferies Open Air (1890) 126 The stream of lawyers..rushing to and fro the Temple and the New Law Courts. |
C. n. (now with hyphens; but pl. tos and fros).
1. Alternating or reciprocating movement; the action of walking or passing to and fro.
| 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 282 She, Like some wild creature newly-caged, commenced A to-and-fro. 1855 Browning Lovers' Quarrel xi, How was earth to know, 'Neath the mute hand's to-and-fro? 1906 Westm. Gaz. 14 Sept. 2/3 Watching the to-and-fro of a shuttle. |
2. fig. Alternation generally; vacillation; † discussion for and against a question (obs.).
| 1553 Bale Vocacyon 40 In whose returne there was muche to and fro. For some wolde nedes to London..[and some] into Flaunders. c 1627 R. Cary Mem. (1905) 96 Many tos and fros there were before it was concluded. 1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres ii. 90 The incommodities and difficulties.., after many too's and fro's, caused a second peace. 1888 Gladstone in 19th Cent. July 3 From the great national to-and-fro of the sixteenth century. |
D. adj. (Usu. with hyphens). Executed, as movement, in opposite directions alternately; alternating, reciprocating; characterized by, or characterizing, such movement; passing to and fro.
| 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 212 The sweet urgency of this to-and-fro friction. 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc. xv. 580 This to-and-fro motion. 1856 Dobell Lyrics in War Time, Even. Dream, The to and fro storm of the never done hurrahing. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 146 The regular to-and-fro motion of the water in its estuary. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 755 As a rule pericardial friction-sound has a double, or to-and-fro rhythm. |
E. as v. (only in pres. pple. and vbl. n. toing and froing, rarely to-and-froing). a. intr. To pass to and fro, to go hither and thither.
| 1847 Le Fanu T. O'Brien 108 The clatter and bustle, the..toing and froing of the soldiery. 1872 ― In a Glass Darkly I. 272 There were clerks to-ing and fro-ing. 1888 Morris King's Lesson (1890) 137 Unto him the King gave the job of toing and froing up and down the hill with the biggest dung-basket. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 28 Nov. 2/2 Why all this secrecy about these to-ings and fro-ings? |
b. trans. To lead to and fro. rare—1.
| 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xxxii, A cockaded servant was ‘to and froing’ a couple of hunters—a brown and a chestnut. |