Poles apart

Poles apart means as far away as possible, or the complete opposite, and the poles referred to are the north and south poles, two points on the planet that could not be further from one another. The expression in this form dates from the early 1900s, but before this the expression was 'poles asunder', which is not heard or used very much these days. The 'poles asunder' version dates from the late 17th/early 18th century.