to and fro

adjective

1. back-and-forth: to-and-fro motion.

noun, plural to-and-fros.

2. a continuous or regular movement backward and forward; an alternating movement, flux, flow, etc.: the to-and-fro of the surf.

adverb

1. Obsolete. from; back.

Idioms

2. to and fro, alternating from one place to another; back and forth: The trees were swaying to and fro in the wind.

adjective, adverb to-and-fro

1. back and forth
2. here and there

adverb

1. back or fromSee to and fro

noun plural fros or ‘fros

1. short for Afro

“away, backwards,” c.1200, North English and Scottish dialectal fra, Midlands dialect fro, from Old Norse fra “from” (see from). Back and forth, as in He was like a caged animal, pacing to and fro. Strictly speaking, to means “toward” and fro “away from,” but this idiom is used more vaguely in the sense of “moving alternately in different directions.” [First half of 1300s] see to and fro.