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
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
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
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
The last words were in soliloquy, for Ada, not aware that he had seen her, had betaken herself to flight to acquaint Mademoiselle of his arrival.
From Luttrell Of Arran Complete by Charles James Lever
We have betaken ourselves occasionally to the process of rumination, but it did not render us much assistance.
From An Introduction to the History of Japan by Katsuro Hara
On the disbanding of the regiment he had gone to Acadia, and betaken himself to the life of the woods.
From Count Frontenac Makers of Canada, Volume 3 by William Dawson LeSueur
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 Charles Brockden Brown
"He is not in France, and, according to what I have learned, has betaken himself to Italy."
From The Barber of Paris by Charles Paul de Kock
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
It is customary when strangers visit a province under an acknowledged ruler, that they should make a formal call upon the ruler before betaking themselves to other portions of his territory.
From A Prince of Good Fellows by Robert Barr
He managed to rise—his betaking himself to bed, he found, as the sunshine warmed him, had been mere hopelessness and self-pity.
From Ghetto Tragedies by Israel Zangwill
Obediently betaking herself to the dressing room, Jerry discovered Veronica in the act of changing her butterfly costume for a demure but very smart pleated frock of dark blue Georgette crêpe.
From Marjorie Dean High School Senior by Josephine Chase
When we had landed at the other side we saw them, after having begged at the ferry-house, strike merrily through the fields, no doubt betaking themselves to their shelter for the night.
From Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803 by John Campbell Shairp
So last week, to discuss this necessary monster, mayors, professors, doctors, businessmen betook themselves to St. Louis, to the 32d annual convention of the National Municipal League.
From Time Magazine Archive
No wonder then that Tcheng Loh betook his gangling, spidery self, last week, to the office of paunchy, sleepy-eyed French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand, his friend and frequent counselor.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Chamberlain betook him to his residence in Morpeth Mansions.
From Time Magazine Archive
The father found, of course, no gold covering the Michigan district where he eventually betook himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
We betook ourselves below and sate ourselves with great satisfaction.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
