toing and froing

noun

The process of moving back and forth or alternating.

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Meanings

verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of to and fro
nountoing and froing (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe process of moving back and forth or alternating.

    Sitting back on a bench in the sunshine, Tom and I began to catch up with each other while the girls arranged their surprises at the remotest picnic table in the lay-by. Genial lorry drivers, munching wurst high in their cabs, looking down on their secretive toing and froing with interest.

    1987, Christina Hardyment, “Picking up Gold and Silver”, in Heidi’s Alp: One Family’s Search for Storybook Europe, Book Club edition, New York, N.Y.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, →OCLC, page 100
    2 more examples

    After an awful lot of toing and froing on the design front, these ships would be completed with a top speed of 18 knots, courtesy of 17,500 horsepower, a main belt of 11 inches thickness, or 280 millimeters, again of cemented Harvey nickel steel which was face-hardened, and the belt was beginning to increase towards a more-recognizable belt-armor-deck-and-cellular-backing system, as seen in many other predreadnoughts, as opposed to the somewhat-eccentric previous extreme-tumblehome narrow-belt French designs of previous vessels.

    2019 July 10, Drachinifel, 35:45 from the start, in French Pre-Dreadnoughts - When Hotels go to War, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2023

    Sitting on the dockside at Oban, watching the to-ing and fro-ing in the harbour on a perfect summer's eve, I reflect on a trip which has taken me through our busiest cities to traverse the country's main lines, as well as explore some of the furthest extremities that were literally out on a limb.

    2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79
Cite this entry
APA

toing and froing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toing%20and%20froing

MLA

“toing and froing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toing%20and%20froing. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toing and froing,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toing%20and%20froing.

Source: toing and froing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.