Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
take to en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To adapt to; to learn, grasp or master.
She took to swimming like a fish.
Although he had never skated before, he took to it quickly, and soon glided around the ice with ease.
This new batch was sent to Leicester shed, and the redoubtable enginemen who had made such a reputation for themselves with the ex-G.C.R. Atlantics took to the "B17s" immediately, although, of course, they required quite different driving methods; [...].
1941 September, O. S. Nock, “The Locomotives of Sir Nigel Gresley: Part V”, in Railway Magazine, page 396:
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(idiomatic) To enter; to go into or move towards.
WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.
2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:As the train rushed through, thousands of birds took to the air at once.
When I felt sleepy I took to my bed.
Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night / And wouldn't you love to love her? / Takes to the sky like a bird in flight / And who will be her lover?
1975, “Rhiannon”, in Stevie Nicks (lyrics), Fleetwood Mac (music), Fleetwood Mac, performed by Fleetwood Mac:
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(idiomatic) To begin, as a new habit or practice.
After the third one was rejected, she took to asking the department to check the form before she submitted it.
"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, / And argued each case with my wife;[…]"
1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Advice from a Caterpillar”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, [poem “You Are Old, Father William”], page 65:I made a trip out on the line on Day 7 of public operation, and was delighted to see pretty steady use all along the line, even off-peak. It's clear that Londoners are quickly taking to their new railway.
2022 July 27, Sir Michael Holden, “In praise of Crossrail 1... and in search of Crossrail 2”, in RAIL, number 962, page 34:
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(idiomatic, of persons) To be attracted to.
She met Ned when he was looking anyway. . . . And he took to her, he liked her crooked straightness from the start.
2002 December 22, Kerry Hardie, “First Chapter: A Winter Marriage”, in New York Times, retrieved 09 Jun 2015:
Forms
Deriveds
like a duck takes to water
Relateds
take something to