nowhither, adv.
(ˈnəʊhwɪðə(r))
Forms: 1 nahwider, 4 -quiþer; 1–3 nohwider, 2 nowider, 3 -weder (nouhwuder), 4 -whyþer, -whider, 5 -whedyr, 6– -whither.
[f. no adv. + whither adv.]
To no place; nowhere.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxvi. §6 Se bið meahteᵹost þe to him cuman mæᵹ, forðæm he nohwider ofer þæt cuman ne mæᵹ. c 960 Rule St. Benet (Schröer, 1885) 137 Hy nahwider faraþ butan þæs abbodes ræde. a 1225 Ancr. R. 424 Nouhwuder elles ne go heo bute þider ase me sent hire. a 1300 Body & Soul 338 in Map's Poems (Camden), Helle houndes here I ȝelle.., ne may I noweder fro him fle. c 1375 Canticum de Creatione 54 in Hortsm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 125 Wile ȝe nowhyþer gon To seken somwhat to oure fode. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 144 Sche ne mai nowhider gon, Ne speke a word. 1471 Paston Lett. III. 7 Not to go owght to watyr, nor no whedyr ellys. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 86 He came nowhither without bearyng his porcion of the shot for his repaste. 1611 Bible 2 Kings v. 25 And hee said, Thy seruant went no whither. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 4 (1713) I. 19, I can go no whither about my Vocation but you hunt me dry Foot I think. 1828–9 Bentham Offic. Apt. Maximized, Militia (1830) 9 But from whence, henceforward, is it to come? From no whither, unless it be in a fleet of steamboats. 1853 [see nowhence]. 1872 Swinburne Under Microscope 1 The human intellect must still as of old go limping and blinking on its way no⁓whither. 1890 [see nowhence]. |
Hence † nowhitherward(s. Obs. rare.
| 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137, He ne myhte nowider wardes ne sitten ne lien ne slepen. 13.. Cursor M. 4959 (Gött.), Naquiþer-war may we nu stire, Þair will bihouis vs suffre here. |