to-froadj.adv.n.
/ˈtuːˈfrəʊ/ poetic.
A. adj.
= to and fro adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > [adjective] > to-and-fro
to and fro1749
toing and froing1847
up and down1876
to-fro1879
twitchety1936
1879 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 81 To-fro tender trambeams truckle at the eye.
1936 R. Campbell Mithraic Emblems 83 How shrill the long hosannahs of despair With which those to-fro scolopendras bear, Statesmen to conferences, troops to war.
1952 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil Aeneid xi. 253 It was like the to-fro rhythm of the sea, when a wave runs forward..then rapidly draws away.
1983 T. Hughes in Listener 13 Jan. 21/1 The silent to-fro hurrying of nurses, The bowed stillness of surgeons.
B. adv.
= to and fro adv. 1. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > [adverb]
to-fro1920
1920 E. Blunden Waggoner 44 A sharp snatch, swirling to-fro of the line.
C. n.
= to and fro n. 1. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > [noun] > to-and-fro
wawing1500
to and fro1847
toing and froing1847
to-fro1937
1937 C. Day Lewis Starting Point 200 The rhythmic tap and to-fro of the white ball.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day viii. 157 Almost from the start I seem to have been aware of a fidgetiness, and a constant to-fro made up of many individual, desultory movements.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online September 2020).
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adj.adv.n.1879