up hill and down dale

English

Alternative forms

• up hill and down dell

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Adverb

up hill and down dale (not comparable)

1. (UK, US, Australia, idiomatic) Here and there; everywhere.
   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 275:

     I have a great deal of sympathy with scientific doubters, and with those who test psychicism up hill and down dale and are not satisfied.

   • 1980 December 6, Nancy Walker, “Toodle-Oo, Doodle”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 12:

     We bought a 1969 dark green VW Beetle which I immediately named "Doodle Bug," and off we went. The car did not give us a minute's trouble throughout the trip — up hill, down dale, across uncharted wastelands between super highways.

Usage notes

This term (within the US) will most likely be found in variant forms, such as: "up hill and dale", "over every hill and dale", and "up all hills, down all dales".

In addition, this term is more common within states of the New England area (Rhode Island, Massachusetts etc.)

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: halki maiden ja mantujen
• French: par monts et par vaux (fr)
• German: landauf und landab
• Manx: harrish cronk as glion
• Spanish: por los montes y por los valles
• Welsh: dros bant a bryn