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.
In July, the government announced plans to set out the "small but important steps" households can take to prepare for food and water shortages in the event of extreme weather or cyber-attacks.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
And what it would take to drag it back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Plus, Miami’s wealthiest take to the air and sea and the Catskills become a go-to destination for wealthy New Yorkers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
“What matters more is that Meta has accepted enforceable constraints on the design of its products—and that the states have produced a regulatory template they can now take to the rest of the industry.”
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
Selvam, who for all that he had been reared on the land and had the earth in his blood, yet did not take to farming.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
