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.
“People always ask how long it takes to make a basket, and I tell them what Jan Timbrook likes to say, ‘It takes as long as it takes,’” Hammel-Sawyer said.
From Los Angeles Times
"We just tried to stay in the moment and do whatever it took to get the W," Gilgeous-Alexander said afterwards.
From Barron's
Cobb took to this role as a public educator naturally; teacher wasn’t just her vocation but an essential facet of her personality.
“He’s taken up the leadership role. Being a goalkeeper requires a great deal of mental toughness but he’s taken to that, too.”
From Los Angeles Times
Two people have been taken to hospital following a suspected gas explosion at a house in east Belfast.
From BBC
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.
