from pillar to post
English
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Etymology
[edit]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.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file) - Hyphenation: from pil‧lar to post
Adverb
[edit]from pillar to post (not comparable)
- (idiomatic) From one place (or person, or task) to another; from post to pillar, hither and thither.
- 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.], published 1833, →OCLC, page 81:
- 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 attached to the rods by rings, are to slide; persons stationed on these columns are to forward the cylinders from each point, after having extracted the contents belonging to their own station. 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; […]
- 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), volume III, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing-Office, →OCLC, page 181:
- 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.
- 1874 May, “From Pillar to Post”, in Sarah J[osepha] Hale, Louis A[ntoine] Godey, editors, Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, volume LXXXVIII, number 527, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Louis A. Godey, N.E. cor. Sixth and Chestnut Sts., →OCLC, page 421:
- All these things, and others of like nature, are in their minds floating possibilities; in consequence of which they are sent from pillar to post in the realms of opinion, and are never anchored anywhere.
- 1989, Marshall Kirk, Hunter Madsen, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s, Doubleday Books, page xv:
- […] gays are still hounded from pillar to post by the watchdogs of American society.
- 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 York, N.Y.: Atria Books, January 2004, ISBN 978-0-7434-0788-5, page 263:
- We campaigned like hell. On election day we went from pillar to post begging people to support us.
- 2011 March 28, “Bihar assembly passes bill for time-bound government services”, in Daily Bhaskar[1], archived from the original on 21 June 2016:
- 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 April 2, Steve Brenner, “Joey will defy pack of Wolves”, in The Sun, London:
- Back in August, the Toon ace [Joey Barton] was kicked from pillar to post by Karl Henry in a bone-crunching midfield battle at Molineux.
- 2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 38:
- There was also a belief that they had been taken advantage of - "kicked from pillar to post, the bottom dogs in the labour market because of the inherent love of railmen for their jobs", according to one NUR member.
Usage notes
[edit]The term normally implies a harassing situation.
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]from one place to another
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References
[edit]- ^ G[eorge] L[atimer] Apperson (2006) The Wordsworth Dictionary of Proverbs, new edition, Ware, Herfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, →ISBN, page 457: “Pillar to post, From. Often From post to pillar. c.1420: Lydgate, Assembly of Gods, 34 (E.E.T.S.), Thus fro poost to pylour was he made to daunce.”
- John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “from pillar to post”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN..