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:
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
"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
But such, if the Fens were drained, would quit their idleness, and betake themselves to more lucrative manufactures.
From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Edward Conybeare
"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
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
They might have betaken themselves to the boat at the last moment, or they might have gone down with the ship.
From The Twa Miss Dawsons by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson
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 John Bowling
Towards evening the bells had ceased; the frequenters of inn parlours too had betaken themselves to their farms, lying peacefully in the light of the setting sun.
From Autumn Glory The Toilers of the Field by Ren? Bazin
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
So we divided, some going with me, some betaking themselves to their own way.
From The Gipsy (Vols I & II) A Tale by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
"That as you please," said I; and thereupon turned and left the boat, entering my own cabin so soon as I had seen that Captain Leach had obeyed my orders by betaking himself to his.
The impetus, however, which these wars gave to the general activity of the nation necessitated the people betaking themselves to the study and imitation of Western civilisation.
From An Introduction to the History of Japan by Katsuro Hara
The father found, of course, no gold covering the Michigan district where he eventually betook himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Chamberlain betook him to his residence in Morpeth Mansions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Balding young Mario Vaselli, having already spent millions on a moviemaking enterprise, a pet soccer team and lavish parties for Roman topers at his Frascati vineyards, betook himself to Naples.
From Time Magazine Archive
From the Vatican, Mr. Levine betook himself the next day to a 15-minute audience with Benito Mussolini.
From Time Magazine Archive
Alyce betook herself to the cottage door, ready to run from this horror.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
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.
