▪ I. thither, adv. (a.)
(ˈðɪðə(r))
Forms: see below.
[OE. ðider, þider, earlier þæder (Lindisf. ðadder): corresp. in form to ON. þaðra there; f. þa-, stem of that, the + suffix, denoting motion towards, Goth. -drē, Vedic -trā: cf. hither, OE. hider, Goth. hidrē, and whither, OE. hwider:—hwæder, Goth. hwadrē; a form corresp. to OE. þæder is wanting in Goth. (which uses jaindrē thither, yonder); cf. Vedic tatrā there, thither. The OE. þæder, hwæder became þider, hwider, app. under the influence of hider, hither, in which the i was original. For the later ME. -ther for -der in all three words (first in MSS. of Cursor Mundi, but rare bef. 1525), as in gather, mother, etc., see th (6), and Note s.v. father. In Sc. thidder came down to 1600. The extended ME. þidere, þidre, was app. influenced by ordinary adverbs in -e.]
1. To or towards that place (with verb of motion expressed or implied). (Now almost exclusively literary; in ordinary speech superseded by there.)
(α) 1 þæder, ðadder.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 190 On merᵹen com se biscop þæder. Ibid. 222 Þa Thome þæder ineode. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John vii. 35 Ðadder ðes færende is [mistr.]. c 1000 ælfric Exod. xxxii. 34 Ga þu and læde þis folc þæder, þe ic þe ær sæde. |
(β) 1–3 ðider, (1 ðieder), 1–4 þidder, 1–5 þider, 3 (Orm.) þiderr (tiderr), 4 thidur, þyder, -ir, (tyder), 4–5 þidur, -ir, thider, 5 thidir, -yr, thyd(d)ur, 5–6 thyder, 6 thidder, -ir.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Eccl. Hist. iii. vi. [viii.] (1890) 174 Þæt ᵹyldne mynet..þætte þider of Cent cwom. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xi. 8 Eftersona ðu faeris ðidder [c 975 Rushw. ðider]. c 1000 ælfric Deut. i. 37 Ne færst þu þider. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 61 Crist us ȝife þider to cumen. c 1200 Ormin 17924, & tiderr comm þe follc till himm. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1959 Ðan ruben cam ðider a-ȝen. 13.. Cursor M. 746 (Fairf.) Selcuþ was how he þidder [v.r. þider] wan. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andreas) 23 He knew nocht [t]hydir þe way. Ibid. 1008 Þare-for had he þidder socht. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 763 They ne wiste why she thider wente. 1388 Wyclif John xviii. 3 He cam thidur with lanternys, and brondis, and armeris. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 588/46 Illuc, thydur. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 347 How þe kyng sent hir thider. 1559 Mirr. Mag. (1563) H iv, Thyder they came wyth kynge Henry out of Skotlande. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xi. 28 Thidder did I drau For to refresh my werynes. |
(γ) 1 þyder, 3–5 þuder(ü).
| Beowulf 3086 Wæs þæt ᵹifeðe to swið þe ðone þyder ontyhte. 971 Blickl. Hom. 29 Þæt he þyder come..mid his wyllan. 12.. Moral Ode 396 (Egerton MS.) Crist ȝyue us..Þat we moten þuder [v.r. þider] come. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2509 Þis king com þuder priueliche. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 455 Moche folk was iflowe þider [MS. γ. þuder]. Ibid. IV. 445 Men..com þider [γ. þuder]. |
(δ) 4–5 þedir, -yr, 4–6 þeder, 5 -ur, þeoder.
| 13.. Cursor M. 1700 (Cott.) Al þeir filth sal þedir [Gött. þeder] fall. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2235 Whanne þei þeder come. c 1400 R. Gloucester's Chron. 8078 (MS. α) Hii þeoder ne wende. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13454 Thedur kynges wold come. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 165 Of hire thedyr goyng this was the entent. 1464 Nottingham Rec. II. 375 At their first ridyng thedir. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 50 After dynner the Kinges grace came theder in a maske. |
(ε) 4 þeþir, 5 thethur, 6–7 thether.
| a 1400 Cursor M. 17566 (Gött.) Þat iesus be noght rauist þeþir [Cott., Trin. þider]. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxii, Wold ȝe thethur be bowne. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 14 By bothe wayes man may come thether. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 307 b, Thether came none at all; and hether but very fewe. 1653 Hane Jrnl. (1896) 1 A ship..which I made use of for my transportacion thether. |
(ζ) 4 þiþer, -ir, 6 thyther, 6– thither.
| a 1400 Cursor M. 13692 (Gött.) Þiþer [v. rr. þidder, þidur] ȝode he ai..Þar to prai. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccliii. 376 Thyther syr Eustace was ryght wellcome to all the company. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Collect Ascension Day, We may also in heart and mind thither ascende. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. iv, Merchauntes comming thyther too lade salte. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iv. 36 Will you to Scone?.. No, Cosin, Ile to Fife... Well, I will thither. 1709 Steele & Addison Tatler No. 88 ¶12 The Gentlewoman of the next House begged me to step thither. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 256 The road thither leaves the main road at right angles. |
(η) 3–4 þidere, þudere(ü), 4 þedire, þid(d)ire, þeodre, 4–5 þ-, thedere, þ-, thidere, 5 thed(d)re, thidre, thidyre, 6 thiddre.
| c 1205 Lay. 8171 He wes þudere icumen. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 2 Ryndinge þedirre. Ibid. 156 Drawen hem þiddire. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. viii. 292 Now most ich þudere, To loke how me lykeþ hit. c 1400 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 827 (MS. α) Pur meseise him þeodre [v.r. theder] drof. Ibid. 5721 Þe monekes out of abendone verst were þedere yuet. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) ii. 13 Grete Lordes that comen thidre. 1448 Lett. Marg. Anjou & Bp. Beckington (Camden) 101 To resorte thedre. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 9 The Lorde Scales..was sent thedere. 1483 Cath. Angl. 382/2 Thidyre, illo, illuc. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxii. 81 Yf she went thidre. 1492 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 323 Nor to goo theddre. 1507 in Leadam Sel. Cas. Star Chamber 252 He..resorted thiddre. |
(θ) (chiefly north.; perh. scribal errors.) 4 didir dydur, dedur, 5 -yr; 4 diþer, deþir(e, -er, -ur.
| a 1400 Cursor M. 2383 (Gött.) Als suith als þai diþer cam. Ibid. 14573 For didir gas sua mani man. Ibid. 14596 Deþir. Ibid. 17352 Deþire. a 1400 Stac. Rome 66 To alle þat wylle deþur goo. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 75 Al that..whent not dedyr. |
(ι) 4 Sc. yd(d)ir, -yr(e, -ire. (app. for þdir, etc.)
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xvi. (Magdalena) 784, & yddir ewinely can hyr mark. (So xxxii. 352, xxxiii. 65, xl. 119; xxix. 347 ydir; xviii. 864 ydyr; vii. 616 yddyre; xvi. 384 yddire.) |
† b. Followed by in, out: In or out thither.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 207 Hie þyder inwæron to ðæm lofsangum ᵹesamnode. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xxiii B. 500 Ic becom to sanctes iohannes cyrcan..and ic me þyder inneode. c 1205 Lay. 31599 Ah Penda ga þider ut anon. c 1300 Cursor M. 22643 It sal..dump þe deuls þider in. |
c. Defined by a relative clause introduced by þe or þæt (see 2), whither, where, or equivalent.
The relative clause with whither, etc., often precedes.
| [c 897, 1393, 1496: see 2.] c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 37 Wherever þe bodi be, þiþer shal þe eglis be giderid. For whidir ever comeþ Cristis bodi, þidir shal his seintis come. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 35 They wondrid howe..he myght comme thedyr to that place, where the couent was. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion, That where he is, thither might we also ascende. 1650 T. B. Worcester's Apoph. 27 The meanes of bringing her thither, where now she had but little way to go. a 1700 Dryden Ceyx & Alcyone 440 She..thither by her destiny was brought, Where last he stood. |
d. hither and thither: see hither adv. 5.
† 2. With relative particle (þe, that, as) = whither rel. adv. (See the particle 2, that conj. 6, as 27.)
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xi. 65 (Hatton MS.) Ðonne ne maᵹon ðider fullice becuman ð a stæpas ðæs weorcas ðieder ðe he wilnað. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 119 For þider as þe fend flegh, hus fote for to sette, Ther he failede & ful. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) vi. v. 237/1 Theder that the hede ledeth thyder sholde the bodye folowe. |
† 3. transf. a. Up to that time; until then. b. To or towards that end, purpose, result, or action.
| 13.. Cursor M. 5181 (Cott.) Yee sal ha lijf langer þen þider. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 179 This wrastler shall cleare all: nothing remaines, but that I kindle the boy thither. |
B. adj. Lying on that side or in that direction, i.e. the side or direction away from this; the farther or more remote (of two things). A recent use, introduced as the opposite of hither a.
| 1830 Lamb Let. to Wordsworth 22 Jan., These all came in..on the thither side of innocence. 1857–8 Sears Athan. 5 Death is not a transition to another existence on the thither side of nature. 1868 Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. (1879) II. 166 Between the hither and the thither row of houses. 1890 Kipling in Fortn. Rev. XLVII. 165, I doubt that a double is to be found on the thither side of hell. |
▪ II. ˈthither, v.
Used in ‘to hither and thither’: see hither v.
| 1837 Mrs. Carlyle Let. to Carlyle 29 Aug. in Lett. & Mem. (1903) I. 61 Waiting for certainties; hithering and thithering being a condition under which I find it almost impossible to write. 1856, 1864 [see hither v.]. |