aroint thee
Preserved but no longer current.
A phrase that first appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth (I, iii, 6) and King Lear (III, iv, 129), on both occasions in connexion with witches. It signifies "get ye gone," "be off"; and its origin js unknown. The Brownings made a verb of it, Mrs. Browning in her To Flush — "Whiskered cats arointed flee," and Browning in The Two Poets of Ci oisic, and elsewhere.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “aroint thee” mean?
A phrase that first appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth (I, iii, 6) and King Lear (III, iv, 129), on both occasions in connexion with witches. It signifies "get ye gone," "be off"; and its origin js unknown. The Brownings made a verb of it, Mrs. Browning in her To Flush — "Whiskered cats arointed flee," and Browning in The Two Poets of Ci oisic, and elsewhere.
Is “aroint thee” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.