Etymology From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”), from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”), from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).
› Interrogative senses.
1
To what place; where.
Whither wilt thou wander, wayfarer?
When as wee duely conſider, whether euery way leadeth, or wiſely ponder with our ſelues to what end we refer each one of our actions, and exact of our ſtraying thoughts a more ſeuere account of their wandering courſe, we ſhal find no victory ſo great, as the ſubduing of vice, nothing ſo hard as to liue well, no ſuch vneſtimable iewell, as an honeſt conuerſation: […]1589, T[homas] Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie: […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood for Thomas Hacket, […], →OCLC, signature E.iii., verso:
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2. Out. [Second Outlaw] VVhether trauell you? / Val[entine]. To Verona. / 1. Out. [First Outlaw] VVhence came you? / Val. From Millaine.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 32, column 2:
O Jove! he cry'd, for vvhat Offence have I / Deſerv'd to bear this endleſs Infamy: / VVhence am I forc'd, and vvhether am I born, / Hovv, and vvith vvhat Reproach ſhall I return?1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 526, lines 943–946:
You vvill go avvay: VVhither vvill you go? and vvhat can you do? I vvould as vvillingly go avvay as you, if I knevv vvhither: But vve have no Acquaintance, no Friends. Here vve vvere born, and here vve muſt die.1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 143:
"Whither are we going?" inquired the lady tragically. "How should I know?" replied Trott with singular coolness; for the events of the evening had completely hardened him.1836 February 8, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Great Winglebury Duel”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume II, London: John Macrone, […], published 1836, →OCLC, page 241:
2
Also, Figuratively, Humorous To what (future) cause, condition or state, reason, etc.; where, where next; also (obsolete) to what extent; how far.
VVhither at length vvilt thou abuſe our patience?1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act IIII, signature I3, recto:
And, if there fall out any preternatural immutations in the elements, any strange concussations of the earth, any direful prodigies in the sky, whither should they be imputed, but to these mighty angels; whom it pleaseth the Most High God to employ in these extraordinary services?1651 (indicated as 1652), Joseph Hall, “[The Invisible World Discovered to Spiritual Eyes, and Reduced to Useful Meditation. […].] Section IV. The Power of Angels.”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D. […], volume VI (Devotional Works), London: […] C[harles] Whittingham, […]; for Williams and Smith, […], published 1808, →OCLC, 1st book (Of God and His Angels), page 455:
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Alas, / Whither has wandered now my partial tongue / When all remains untold which ye would hear?1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 117:
'Oh, Lancelot, Lancelot! whither are you forcing me?' / 'I am forcing you no-whither. God, the Father of spirits, is leading you! You, who believe in Him, how dare you fight against Him?'1848, [Charles Kingsley], “Murder will Out, and Love too”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 193:
Whither now the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party]? In Westminster, Theresa May's minority government continues to rely on the support of ten DUP members for its very survival. But last week may well have seen the consequences as well as the high point of thumbscrew politics.2018 February 9, Tommie Gorman, “Whither now the DUP?”, in Raidió Teilifís Éireann, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2022:
› Relative senses.
3
To which place; also (after a noun denoting a place) to which.
[W]e beſche thee, leaue vs not comfortles, but ſende to vs thine holy ghoſt to comfort vs, and exalte vs vnto thy ſame place, whither our ſauiour Chriſte is gone before: […]1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epistles, and Gospels, to be Used at the Celebracion of the Lordes Supper & Holye Communion, throughe the Yeare: With Proper Psalmes, and Lessons for Diuers Feastes and Dayes. [The Accencion Daie. Proper Psalms and Lessons.]”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio lxviii, recto:
[T]hou ſhalt diuide the vvhole prouince of thy Land equally into three partes: that he vvhich for murder is a fugitiue, may haue neere at hand, vvhither to eſcape.1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Laurence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomie 19:3, page 436:
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Jeſus anſwered, and ſaid vnto them, Though I beare record of my ſelfe, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I goe: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I goe.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 8:14, column 1:
This Book, it chaulketh out before thine eyes / The man that ſeeks the everlaſting Prize: / It ſhevvs you vvhence he comes, vvhither he goes, / VVhat he leaves undone, alſo vvhat he does: / It alſo ſhovvs you hovv he runs, and runs, / Till he unto the Gate of Glory comes.1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:
It vvas about the Beginning of September 1664, that I, among the Reſt of my Neighbours, heard in ordinary Diſcourſe, that the Plague vvas return'd again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at Amſterdam and Rotterdam, in the Year 1663. vvhether they ſay, it vvas brought, ſome ſaid from Italy, others from the Levant […]1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 1:
I come / Thence whither thou must go! The grave is fitter / To take the living than give up the dead; / Yet has thy faith prevail'd, and I am here.1821 (date written), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Hellas: A Lyrical Drama, London: Charles and James Ollier […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 43:
4
To the place in or to which.
And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been carried.1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Carew Murder Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 38:
5
In or to any place to which; to whatever place; wherever.
Ah foole, goe vvith thy ſoule vvhither it goes, / A borrovved title haſt thou bought too deare.c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K1, recto:
VVhether as He mounted up, the Nevvs He tells / To every Orb and Star; but chiefly to / Th' inquiſitive Spirits, vvhoſe ears and hearts he fils / VVith all the VVonders He had ſeen belovv, […]1648, Joseph Beaumont, “Canto VII. The Great Little One. Stanza 108.”, in Psyche: Or Loves Mysterie, […], London: […] John Dawson for George Boddington, […], →OCLC, page 104, column 1:
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[H]is VVorſhip […] gave them proper Letters of Health, and from thence they vvere at Liberty to travel vvhither they pleaſed.1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 170:
Three days after, just a spark / From Paris, answered by a snap at Caen / Or whither reached the telegraphic wire: / "Quickly to Paris! On arrival, learn / Why you are wanted!" Curt and critical!1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part III”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 157:
Etymology From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”), from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”), from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).
1
Formal A place to which someone or something goes; also, a condition to which someone or something moves.
Archaic except literary or poetic
To knovv the local beginnings of vvinds, is a thing vvhich requires a deep ſearch and Inquiſition, ſeeing that the VVhence and VVhither of vvinds, are things noted even in Scripture to be abſtruſe and hidden.a. 1627 (date written), Francis Bacon, “The Natural and Experimental History of Winds, &c. […]. Local Beginnings of Winds.”, in R. G., transl., edited by William Rawley, The Second Part of the Resuscitatio: Or A Collection of Several Pieces of the Works of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, and Viscount of St. Albans. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Anne Moseley, and Tho[mas] Basset […], published 1671, →OCLC, page 16:
Mr. [Henry Charles] Carey usually gives his reader a bird's-eye retrospect, from his balloon at the end of each stage, of the where and whither or the zigzags and dark passages of the route gone over from the starting-point, where was the man upon a solitary island picking fruit, down to his present stopping-place.1838 July, “Art. III.—Principles of Political Economy. Part the First. Of the Laws of the Production and the Distribution of Wealth. By Henry C. Carey, Author of an Essay on the Rate of Wages. Philadelphia: Cary, Lea, and Blanchard. 1837. 8vo. pp. xvi. 342. [book review]”, in The North American Review, volume XLVII, number C (New Series, volume , number ), Boston, Mass.: Otis, Broaders, & Co., […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76:
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The whence and whither of their comings and goings made no impression on the community, and when they disappeared no one asked how or why.1951 November 26, Robert Houghwout Jackson, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, “Gallegos v. Nebraska (No. 94)”, in Walter Wyatt, reporter, United States Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court at October Term, 1951 […], volume 342, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1952, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 69:
whither
verb
Etymology The verb is borrowed from Scots whidder, whither (“(of the wind) to bluster; to move quickly”), a frequentative form of whid (“(of wind) to gust; to move quickly”), of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”). Related to Middle English hwiþa, whyȝt (“breeze; wind”), Old English hwiþa, hwiþu, hweoþu (“breeze”). The noun is derived from the verb.
1
Scotland, UK, Dialectal, Especially To cause (someone) to hurry; to hasten, to hurry.
2
Scotland, UK, Dialectal, Especially To throw (something) forcefully; to hurl; also, to beat, to thrash.
Scotland, UK, Dialectal, Especially To move quickly, to rush, to whiz; also, to make a rushing sound; to whizz.
5
Scotland, UK, Dialectal, Especially Of the wind: to blow loudly and vigorously; to bluster; also, of an animal, etc.: to make a loud noise; to bellow, to roar.
whither
noun
Etymology The verb is borrowed from Scots whidder, whither (“(of the wind) to bluster; to move quickly”), a frequentative form of whid (“(of wind) to gust; to move quickly”), of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”). Related to Middle English hwiþa, whyȝt (“breeze; wind”), Old English hwiþa, hwiþu, hweoþu (“breeze”). The noun is derived from the verb.
1
Scotland, UK, Dialectal, Especially A state of rushed action; a haste, a hurry; also, a state of anger or excitement.
I felt sure now that I was in the pensionnat—sure by the beating rain on the easement; sure by the ‘wuther’ of wind amongst trees, denoting a garden outside; sure by the chill, the whiteness, the solitude, amidst which I lay.1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Auld Lang Syne”, in Villette. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 8: