from pillar to post
Syllables: from pil·lar to post
from pillar to post adverb: from one place, place, or thing to another, hither and thither.
Adverb
from pillar to post (not comparable)
- From one place, place, or thing to another, hither and thither.
- Mr. [Charles] Babbage, in his work on the Economy of Manufactures, suggests a new plan of forwarding the mail. […] Mr. Babbage proposes the erection of pillars along each line of road; these pillars are to be connected by inclined wires, or iron rods, along which the letters, inclosed in cylinders...1832 July, “A Novelty in Posting”, in The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the Year 1832, volume LXXIV, London: Printed for Baldwin and Cradock [et al.]...
- Q. You applied to Secretary [George Sewall] Boutwell because you had ascertained you could not get redress anywhere else?—A. No; we were sent from pillar to post, and from post to pillar, and we got no satisfaction any way.1872, Testimony in Relation to Alleged Frauds in the New York Custom-House, Taken by the Committee on Investigation and Retrenchment (United States Senate, 42d Congress, 2d Session; report no. 227)...
- Synonyms:
- hither and thither
from pillar to post meaning in Tamil
from pillar to post in Tamil
- அலைக்கழிக்கப் படுதல்
Examples of from pillar to post in a sentence
- pushed from pillar to post... kicked from pillar to post... driven from pillar to post...
- In this manner it is calculated that a letter might be sent (from pillar to post), to the farthest limits of the land in the course of a very small portion of time; […]1832 July, “A Novelty in Posting”, in The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the Year 1832, volume...
- […] gays are still hounded from pillar to post by the watchdogs of American society.1989, Marshall Kirk, Hunter Madsen, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s, Doubleday Books, page...
- On election day we went from pillar to post begging people to support us.2003, Joan Steinau Lester, Fire in My Soul: Eleanor Holmes Norton, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, ISBN 978-0-7434-0787-8; republished New...
- When the bill becomes an act, it will provide a big relief to people who now run from pillar to post and are forced to pay bribes to get their work done in government offices.2011 March 28, “Bihar assembly passes bill for time-bound government services”, in Daily Bhaskar, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2016:
Synonyms of from pillar to post
Forms of from pillar to post
| alternative form | from post to pillar |
|---|
Origin of from pillar to post
Possibly originally from post to pillar, perhaps a reference to the rapid movement of the ball in real tennis; The Wordsworth Dictionary of Proverbs (1993) notes that from post to pillar dates to at least the 15th century.
Questions about from pillar to post
- What does from pillar to post mean?
- From pillar to post means from one place, place, or thing to another, hither and thither.
- What is from pillar to post in Tamil?
- From pillar to post in Tamil is அலைக்கழிக்கப் படுதல். See From pillar to post meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use from pillar to post in a sentence?
- pushed from pillar to post... kicked from pillar to post... driven from pillar to post...
- What part of speech is from pillar to post?
- From pillar to post is an adverb.
Words near from pillar to post in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: from pillar to post (page history and authors); from pillar to post (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-from pillar to post.ogg.
Cite this entry: “from pillar to post.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/from_pillar_to_post. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.