Frowing
What does “tooing and frowing” mean? And why these words cannot be found in any dictionary (at least in those I looked at?) Is it a corruption of “to and fro?” Is “frowing” a word and could it be used separately and if so would it mean differently than that of the phrase?
inrabas
October 13, 2007, 12:06am
I've never come across the word 'frowing' before... it is possibly incorrect since it cannot be found in any dictionary. M-W has an entry for the phrase "to-ing and fro-ing":
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/to-ing+and+fro-ing
0 vote Vote! • URL to this comment • Report Abuse
Paul Evans (unregistered)
October 15, 2007, 10:43am
The English Cambridge online dictionary backs up the M-W. I also suspect that 'tooing' and 'frowing' is a mis-spelling of 'to-ing' and 'fro-ing'.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict...
0 vote Vote! • URL to this comment • Report Abuse
Anonymous (unregistered)
October 15, 2007, 2:40pm
To and fro means back and forth or side to side (fro is an obsolete version of from). E.g., "We were swaying to and fro as the boat bobbed in the waves." To-ing and fro-ing is just a colloquial variation, used like: "Hey kids, stop all that to-ing and fro-ing. You're making me dizzy." As for tooing and frowing, it's pretty obvious that it's just an incorrect, (or, if you're feeling generous, "alternate"), spelling.
0 vote Vote! • URL to this comment • Report Abuse
lastronin (unregistered)
February 18, 2008, 10:33am
poetic license
0 vote Vote! • URL to this comment • Report Abuse
say what? (unregistered)
January 18, 2009, 3:09am
say what?
0 vote Vote! • URL to this comment • Report Abuse
Spiffy (unregistered)
January 19, 2009, 8:30pm
I agree. It is a misspelling of to-ing and fro-ing. They are being cute making it a verb. English: the language that is never finished. See also "hither and yon"
0 vote Vote! • URL to this comment • Report Abuse