betake
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause to go (usually used reflexively).
She betook herself to town.
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Archaic. to resort or have recourse to.
verb
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to go; move
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archaic to apply (oneself) to
Etymology
Origin of betake
First recorded in 1175–1225, betake is from the Middle English word bitaken. See be-, take
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"And it is here that I must betake me to my Lord Don Quixote in order that I may learn of him how to confront ridicule and overcome it."
From Time Magazine Archive
Aving already ad bestselling olidays in Paris and Manhattan, Mrs. 'Arris as ardly anyplace else to betake erself to but the Ouse of Commons.
From Time Magazine Archive
Gradually the household betake themselves to bed and Authoress Dix reviews them as they lie, wrapped in their several irremediable miseries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Propaganda for return of the pre-machine modes of production is equivalent to preaching that man should do away with clothes, grow hair all over his body and betake himself to the forests.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some breakfast as early as seven o'clock; others betake themselves by six to their ateliers, or lectures—or pretend to do so—returning, in two or three hours, to a later meal.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851 by Various
Whereupon Miss Lambkin, with her head in the air, had betaken herself to Mrs. Upjohn.
From Concerning Sally by Hopkins, William John
He assumed that the dog had abandoned his caprice of being outside his master’s door, and had betaken himself to his usual haunts in the basement rooms and passages of the house.
From The Animal Story Book by Various
Marie Wilton had played the Haymarket Cupid for ever had she not betaken herself to the Strand.
From The English Stage Being an Account of the Victorian Drama by Filon, Augustin
His old occupation being laid aside for a time, he had betaken himself like many others of his colour and rank, to the conveyance and burial of the dead.
From Ormond, Volume I (of 3) or, The Secret Witness by Brown, Charles Brockden
So saying, he sallied forth, pacing round the fortifications in quest of Oswald, where he learnt that he and Wulfhere had betaken themselves towards the valley.
From The Last of the Vikings by Bowling, John
When conscience has extorted a confession, she returns him to his monastery and God, betaking herself to the Garden of Allah, gem of the desert, where their courtship began and her days will end.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hickey and Michael, equally dwarfed by the immensities of the position, were already betaking themselves through the mist to their allotted outposts in space.
From In Mr. Knox's Country by Ross, Martin
From that day and hour Johnstone of Westerhall resigned his commission, and, betaking himself to private life, is said to have exhibited marks of genuine repentance.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 16 by Various
Thither see we the Sons of the Muses often, betaking themselves in troops, to witness a contest between two of their most famous swordsmen.
From The Student-Life of Germany by Howitt, William
He did not see her again that night, betaking himself at a very late hour to his own dressing-room.
From Is He Popenjoy? by Trollope, Anthony
President Herriot, having worn himself out calling for order, put on his silk hat and betook his full-dressed self from the Chamber as a sign that the session was suspended.
From Time Magazine Archive
That night, after the Saud dinner, Jack Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson betook themselves to a party given by the President's sister, Eunice Shriver.
From Time Magazine Archive
Just when Kennedy was trying to calm the business community,* Solicitor General Archibald Cox betook himself back to Harvard for a speech calculated to make any businessman blanch with dismay.
From Time Magazine Archive
The father found, of course, no gold covering the Michigan district where he eventually betook himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
When at last she left you, you lapsed at once into deep reverie: you betook yourself slowly to pace the gallery.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
