take to
Britishverb
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to make for; flee to
to take to the hills
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to form a liking for, esp after a short acquaintance
I took to him straightaway
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to have recourse to
to take to the bottle
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to regard seriously
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Have recourse to, go to, as in They took to the woods . [c. 1200]
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Develop as a habit or steady practice, as in He took to coming home later and later . [c. 1300]
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Become fond of, like, as in I took to him immediately , or The first time she skied she took to it . This expression, from the mid-1700s, is sometimes expanded to take to it like a duck to water , a simile dating from the late 1800s.
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take to be . Understand, consider, or assume, as in I took it to be the right entrance . [Mid-1500s] Also see the subsequent entries beginning with take to .
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.
He said at the time that the accounting loss reflected how much longer it would take to clinch certification, pushing to the future revenue that investors had hoped would roll in sooner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
But they were prepared to stay overnight, or whatever it would take, to stop the removal of any more trees, Muñiz-Ochoa said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
BBC Verify has looked at five big policy challenges Burnham will face and the approaches he might take to address them.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The law defines "take" to mean "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct."
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Before I traveled, staffers drove the routes I’d take to venues, timing my transit down to the minute, scheduling my bathroom breaks in advance.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
