To prep., conj., adv.

[OE. tó, in form = OFris., OS. tô (MDu., Du. toe, MLG., LG. tó, to), OHG. zô, zuo, zua, MHG. zuo, Ger. zu:—OTeut. *tô adv.; beside which OTeut. had *ti, OFris., OS. ti, te (Fris., MDu., Du., MLG., LG. te), OHG. za, ze, zi (MHG. ze) prep. OTeut. *tô and *ti (? ta) unite in a pre-Teut. dŏ, de, cognate with OSl. and OIr. do, Lith, da- prefix, Gr. -δε, L. -do suffix. Gothic used only the form du, and ON. substituted til, TILL. In prehistoric OE. the prep. was already leveled with the adv. in the form to (tó, to), as in Ger. both are now zu. But while tó adv., retaining its stress, came at last to be written too (tū), the prep., being usually stressless, remained as to (tŭ, tŭ, tə), and in dialectal specimens is now often written ta, tae, teh, ti, tu (meaning tă, tĕ, tə), some of which forms are occasional also in earlier writing. (In some northern dialects (tĕ) develops before a vowel into tev, tiv.)

  Exceptional and dialectal forms. (Chiefly with inf., where also before a vowel it was formerly often reduced to t or t’, as in tamend, t’enjoy: see T’¹.)

a. 1175.  Tu [see A. 1].

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 5. Þat is te cumen a domes dai.

a. 1225.  St. Marher., 19. He … demde hire te deaðe.

13[?].  Cursor M., 14913 (Gött.). For fast it draus te þe nede.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 433. To [v.r. te] kepe Cristis religioun.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3156. That comest so slyghly for tespye.

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), I. 541. Mony ratche ta ryn under the ryss.

1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. vi. The Ambassadour … returning too his Gallies.

1822.  W. Tennant, Thane of Fife, I. 2. Euterpe, aidant come, t’adorn my song.

1894.  ‘Ian Maclaren,’ Bonnie Brier Bush, V. (1895), 181. It only ‘threatened tae be weet.’

1896.  R. Reid, in N. York Scot. Amer., Oct. Aff tae the muirs.]

  A.  prep. (in ordinary use, before a sb.)

  The OE. prep. tó normally ‘governed’ or was followed by the dative case, sometimes, idiomatically, by the genitive or the instrumental (esp. in tó þæs and to þý), rarely by the accusative. In later Middle and in mod.Eng., to is followed by the ordinary ‘objective’ case, which in sbs. is formally identical with the nominative, and in pronouns is the dative-accusative, me, him, etc. In Middle and mod.Eng. to not only represents the OE. preposition, but also takes the place of the OE. infected dative case. Even in OE. the simple dative was often reinforced by tó, or (what came to the same thing) was supplanted by tó and its case. This was very frequent in late OE., and (helped no doubt by the example of French, which had similarly substituted the construction with à (L. ad) for the L. dative) became universal in ME., the simple dative remaining only in pronouns and substantives as the indirect or remoter object, known by its position before the direct object (as in ‘give me the book,’ ‘tell John the news’). Both with pronouns and sbs., the prepositional construction may, and in some cases must, be used (e.g., ‘give the book to me,’ ‘tell it to John’). In OE. many verbs ‘governed’ or took a dative object; with the loss of the dative inflexion, this case could no longer be distinguished from the accusative, and such verbs are now treated as ordinary transitive vbs. governing the objective (e.g., sio heord folʓað ðæm wordum & ðæm ðeawum ðæs hirdes, ‘the herd follows the words and the thews [customs] of the shepherd’).

  The senses and uses of to may be arranged in various ways, every way having its peculiar difficulties owing to cross-currents of history and usage. OE. and the West Germanic Languages had two prepositions with the sense of modern to, viz. tó and óð; the second of these always expressed motion reaching its object; it is therefore probable that tó had originally the sense of ‘direction towards,’ without any implication of reaching; and in a truly historical account of the word, it would perh. be necessary to start with the two main divisions of ‘toward’ and ‘actually to.’ But even in the earliest written OE. this distinction had, so far as concerns tó, faded away, and in the various transferred and later senses it could not be successfully carried out. Even the later distinction between to as a preposition implying motion, and to representing the dative inflexion, can, from the falling together of these notions, only be partially exhibited. The arrangement here followed is thus largely tentative and practical, and not in every case historical.

  I.  Expressing a spatial or local relation.

  1.  Expressing motion directed towards and reaching: governing a sb. denoting the place, thing, or person approached and reached. The opposite of FROM. Also with adv. prefixed, as away, down, out, up, etc.

  Sometimes preceding another preposition (of position): see quot. c. 1300, and cf. FROM 15 b.

Beowulf (Z.), 2010. Ic ðær furðum cwom, to ðam hring-sele.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., V. xi. § 4. Mon lædde Aristobolus to Rome ʓebundenne.

1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1132 (Laud MS.). Ðis ʓear com Henri king to þis land.

a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 229. He com tu us.

c. 1300.  Cursor M., 21792 (Edin.). Out of þe bridil he [þe nailis] lachte And to biscide þe croz þaim taȝte.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, C. T. Prol., 16. And specially from euery shires ende Of Engelond to Caunturbury they wende.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn, liv. 211. The beautifull Queene was royally led to and from the Church.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1832), 27. When the poore man might turne out a cow, or two … to the commons.

1611.  Bible, 2 Kings xv. 29. [He] caried them captiue to Assyria.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. i. 2. Forester was sent to Edinburgh.

1904.  F. G. Kitton, Dickens Country, 63. Dickens returned to London from Brighton.

Mod.  He has removed to near Rugby. Take this child to his mother’s house. Come here to me.

  b.  In figurative expressions of motion; the following sb. denoting (a) a state or condition attained, or (b) a thing or person reached by some action figured as movement.

c. 875.  O. E. Chron., an. 871. Þa feng Ælfred … to Wesseaxna rice.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xiv. 300. Hie ðonne astiʓað to Godes anlicnesse.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 27. Hit hine tið to þan bittre deðe.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 11219. He biginneþþ … Att Abraham, & reccneþþ aȝȝ Dunnwarrd fra mann to manne.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. iv. (Rolls), 293. If thou wolte entre to lijf, kepe the comaundementis.

1555.  J. Proctor, Hist. Wyat’s Reb., 64. Nowe to retourne to Wyat.

1625.  Laud, Wks. (1847), I. 95. When he came to the crown.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xviii. To reclaim a lost child to virtue.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 216. The only debate of which any account has come down to us.

1905.  M. Hume, Span. Infl. on Eng. Lit., 97. To trace how the germ of the stories came to Spain.

Mod.  Do not let it run to seed.

  c.  Elliptical uses. (a) with ellipsis of go or other verb of motion, esp. in commands, or (arch.) after an auxiliary verb. (b) = Gone to; in going to, on the way to. (Chiefly dial.) (c) after a sb. implying or suggesting motion: = That goes, or takes one, or causes one to go, to.

  (a)  c. 1425.  Cast. Persev., 3038, in Macro Plays, 167. Þou muste to helle.

1539.  Bible (Great), 1 Kings xii. 16. To youre tentes, O Israel!

1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Assurance, iv. I will to my Father.

1663.  Pepys, Diary, 19 Oct. She waked and gargled her mouth, and to sleep again. Ibid. (1666), 28 April. My wife to her father’s, to carry him some ruling work.

1843.  Blackw. Mag., LIV. 733. I’ll to bed.

1884.  Browning, Ferishtah, Eagle, 35. To Ispahan forthwith!

  (b)  1451.  Marg. Paston, in P. Lett., I. 221. The Lady Boys … is to London to compleyn to the Kyng.

c. 1500.  Melusine, lix. 360. For now the sonne is to his rest.

1908.  [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 45. She wore, to church, a black cottage-bonnet.

  (c)  a. 900.  K. Ælfred, Solil., Pref. (1902), 2. Þæt ic maʓe rihtne weiʓ aredian to þam ecan hame.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 109. & him tæcean lifes weʓ & rihtne gang to heofonum.

1535.  Coverdale, Gen. xvi. 7. By the well in the waye to Sur.

1673.  [see ROAD sb. 4].

1758.  Goldsm., Mem. Protestant (1895), II. 137. He had some Business to Nice.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 371. If he asked his way to St. James’s.

1852.  Tennyson, Ode Dk. Wellington, 202. The path of duty was the way to glory.

1862.  Chambers’s Encycl., III. 321/1. The railway to C. was opened in 1856.

1874.  Kingsley, Lett. (1877), II. 426. We are promised free passes … to California.

Mod.  The first train to London.

  2.  Expressing direction: In the direction of, towards.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. vii. (1890), 38. His eaʓan ahof upp to heofonum.

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), lxx[i]. 2. Ahyld me þin eare to [Vulg. inclina ad me aurem tuam].

1388.  Wyclif, Ps. xxiv. [xxv.] 15. Myn iȝen ben euere to the Lord.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 1. As pilot … That to a stedfast starre his course hath bent.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 558. Vanguard, to Right and Left the Front unfould.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 472. A Cote that opens to the South.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. 232. Standing with his back to me.

1843.  Blackw. Mag., LIV. 14. He pointed to a clump of trees.

  b.  After look, smell = mod. at; also † behold to, † see to = look at. Obs. or dial.

a. 900.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), xii. 3. Beseoh to me, Drihten,… and ʓehyr me. Ibid., xxiv. 14 [xxv. 16]. ʓeloca to me, Drihten, and ʓemiltsa me.

1375–.  [see LOOK v. 21 a].

1382.  Wyclif, Gen. iv. 4. Þe Lord bihelde to Abel and to his ȝiftis.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 55. The dupe dale and durke vnsemely to see to.

c. 1475.  Stans puer, 55, in Q. Eliz. Acad. (E.E.T.S.), 58. When þou spekys … Be-hold to þi souereyn in þe face.

1586.  B. Young, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., IV. 191 b. Manie,… before they had dronke, would smell to their wine.

1611.  Bible, Josh. xxii. 10. A great altar to see to.

1852.  Hawthorne, Blithedale Rom., ix. A young girl’s heart, which he held in his hand, and smelled to, like a rosebud.

  c.  In expressing the position of something lying in a specified direction. (Cf. ON prep. 4.)

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. ix. [xi.] (1890), 44. Eardædon Bryttas binnan þam dice to suðdæle.

1671.  Milton, P. R., III. 273. Here thou behold’st Assyria,… And … to south the Persian bay.

1789.  G. White, Selborne, i. To the north-west, north and east of the village, is a range of fair enclosures.

1820.  Scott, Monast., iii. The extensive range of pasturage … lay to the west.

1855.  Tennyson, Charge Light Brigade, iii. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them.

1861.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. (1883), III. 79. The bedrooms to the back are much larger.

  d.  In figurative expressions of direction (inclination, tendency, etc.). Also fig. from c, in phr. to the bad, to the good (= on the wrong, or right, side of the account), to the fore; in to the contrary with both senses (2 and 2 c).

  See BAD B. 1 b, GOOD C. 5 b, FORE a. 4.

c. 1300.  Cursor M., 19326 (Edin.). Þai durste na uiolence þaim do For þe folc þaim heeldit to.

a. 1400.  Birth Jesus, 4, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1875), 65. Icome he is … to wham is al oure hope.

1512–.  [see CONTRARY B. 1 b, c].

1637–.  [see FORE a. 4].

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Lime, Oblong, with a tendency to a rhomboidal shape.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., xxxvi. He … commanded Barnes to have an eye to the Dominie.

  e.  With a sb. or pron. (or sb. phrase) followed by ward or wards (now commonly written as a suffix, hyphened or joined to the preceding word); e.g., to God-ward: see -WARD, -WARDS, and cf. TOWARD. arch.

  3.  Indicating the limit of a movement or extension in space: As far as (to); = OE. oð.

  Sometimes followed by another preposition (of position), as in quot. 1641: cf. FROM 15 b. Often correlative to from, indicating the remoter, or the second, of two limits: see FROM 2. See also up to s.v. UP.

971–1884.  [see FROM 2].

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2742. Þe smike it reches to þe scki.

13[?].  Sir Beues (A.), 1538. Til þe her on is heued greu to his fet.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 840. So grete a noyse, That … Men myghte hyt han herd … To Rome.

c. 1420.  ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 462. I smete hym to the hert.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 258. She would infect to the north starre.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 62. If their candle had burned to within the Socket.

1843.  Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 652. Protestant to the backbone.

1873.  Tristram, Moab, i. 14. Wet to the skin.

Mod.  The thermometer has risen to above 32°

  b.  After expressions of distance, indicating the remote limit (formerly also the near limit, at which the speaker is actually or in idea): = FROM 5 a, OF 4 b.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxv. § 4. Hi woldon witan hu heah hit wære to ðæm heofone. Ibid. (c. 893), Oros., I. i. § 17. Hit mihte beon þreora mila brad to þæm more.

1551.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 115. Dwelland within four mylis to this burch.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., I. iii. 39. How farre is’t call’d to Soris?

Mod.  It is eleven miles (from Oxford) to Witney.

  4.  Expressing simple position: At, in (a place, also fig. a condition, etc.). Cf. Ger. zu Berlin, zu hause. Now only dial. and U.S. colloq.

925–c. 935.  Laws of Æthelstan, II. c. 14 § 2. On Cantwarabyriʓ VII myneteras … to Hrofeceastre III … to Lundenbyriʓ VIII [etc.].

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 27. Swa dreieð his erme saule in eche pine to helle grunde.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 384. Þou art y-tauȝt to a liþer scole.

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 1696. Þat his body to Schaftesbury were leyde.

c. 1500.  Melusine, lvii. 335. I haue herd say that there is to Mountferrat … a deuoute & holy place.

1658.  in Morris, Troub. Cath. Foref., I. vi. (1872), 314. Sister Cornelia who had lain to bed about thirty years.

1835–40.  Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 57. I guess, said he, they have enough of it to home.

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxvi. Lucy Passmore, the white witch to Welcombe.

1889.  Jefferies, Field & Hedgerow, 272. In Somerset … it is correct to say ‘I bought this to Taunton.’

1901.  Harper’s Mag., CII. 672/1. You can get real handsome cups and saucers to Crosby’s.

  5.  Expressing the relation of contact or the like.

  a.  Into (or in) contact with; on, against. Often expressing more than mere position, and so passing into transferred senses. See also ON TO.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxv. [xxiv.] (1890), 348. Ond his heafod onhylde to þam bolstre.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 4844. ‘Lordinges,’ he seyd, ‘nimeþ þis bodi, & to þe grounde it lay wel softli.’

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), iii. 9. [They] held to þaire noses spoungez moisted with water…, for þe aer þare was so drie.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxxxi. 250. Huon withdrewe … & lened hym to a pyller.

1536.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), II. 90. A request … the accomplishement wherof I haue … moche to harte.

1599, 1626.  [see FEEL v. 2 a].

a. 1715.  Burnet, On Time, an. 1669 (1823), I. 469. He stood up to the wall.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxv. Applying plenty of yellow soap to the towel.

1893.  D. Hyde, My Grief on the Sea, vi.

  b.  Expressing contiguity or close proximity: By, beside. Also fig. or with additional implication, as in to one’s face, teeth, etc. = ‘in presence and defiance of’ (Schmidt, Shaks. Lex.): cf. 25 b, and see FACE sb. 5 c. TOOTH sb.; to hand: see HAND sb. 34; to stand to one’s post, guns, etc.: see STAND v.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxxi. 629. He sæt to þam casere.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 6355. To Ioly folk I enhabite.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. i. (Rolls), 279. The suburbis … ligging to the same citees.

1614.  Bp. J. King, Vitis Palatina, 30. They that walke side to side, and cheeke to cheeke.

1752.  J. Louthian, Form of Process (ed. 2), 202. The Clerk bids the Keeper set the Prisoners … to the Bar.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 59. I sit down to table; but I cannot eat.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. i. 64. Euen to the eyes of Richard Gaue him defiance. Ibid. (1602), Ham., IV. vii. 57. I shall liue and tell him to his teeth, Thus diddest thou.

1739.  Elton, in Hanway Trav. (1762), I. I. iv. 12. We instantly stood to our arms.

1822.  Hazlitt, Table-t., II. ii. 25. He had taken his part boldly and stood to it manfully.

1843.  Blackw. Mag., LIV. 219. They will find everything ready to their hands.

  II.  Expressing a relation in time.

  6.  Indicating a final limit in time, or the end of a period: Till, until; often correlative to from: see FROM 3. (Formerly sometimes preceding an adv. of time, e.g., now, then: cf. FROM 15 a, TILL prep. 5 b.) † Also rarely expressing an extent in time: For, during, till the end of (obs.); esp. in phr. to term of life (see TERM sb. 4 b).

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 356. He worhte his weorc to seofon nihtum.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 87. Fram þan halie hester dei boð italde fifli daȝa to þisse deie.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 190. Fram þe biginning or þe world to þe time þat now is.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 276. Scho saw hyme neuir to þan.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 37. To þe daie þat Noie wente into þe ship.

c. 1490.  Caxton, Rule St. Benet, lxx. 139. Children to the xv. yere of age shall stande euer vndir … discipline.

1509.  [see THEN 7].

1582.  L. Kirby in Allen, Martyrd. Campion (1908), 77. Yours to death, and after death.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 159, ¶ 4. From the Beginning of the World to its Consummation.

1799.  Wordsw., Lucy Gray, xv. Some maintain that to this day She is a living child.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 36. The parliament was prorogued to the tenth of February.

1855.  Dickens, Dorrit, v. The business hours … were from ten to six.

  b.  (So long) before (a definite future time); esp. in stating the time of day: (so many minutes) before (an hour). Opposed to past.

c. 1000.  Soul’s Addr. to Body, 37 (Gr.). Þæt hit wære xxx. þusend wintra to þinum deaðdæʓe.

1519.  in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees), 269. To ryng to matyns at evere daie,… at halfe oure to v.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., V. i. 303. Or goe to bed, now being two houres to day.

1641.  R. Carpenter, Experience, I. Med. xiv. 102. It wil not be long to this time.

1833.  T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., I. iii. How long is it to dinner, sir?

1843.  Blackw. Mag., LIV. 733. It was exactly a quarter to four o’clock.

1852.  R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour (1893), 35. ‘We shall be late. See, it’s only ten to now’ [i.e., 10 minutes to the hour], continued he, pointing to the timepiece above the fire.

  c.  from … to, with repeated sb. of time, denoting regular recurrence; as from day to day, from time to time, from month to month.

1014.  Wulfstan, Serm. ad Anglos, in Hom. (Napier) 156 (MS. E.). For folces synnan fram dæʓe to dæʓe.

1297–1712.  [see DAY sb. 19].

c. 1325–1895.  [see FROM 3 b].

1423–1891.  [see TIME sb. 41 a].

  7.  At (a time), on (a day) (now dial.); † in, during (a time) (obs. rare). Cf. TO-DAY, TO-MORROW, TO-NIGHT, TO-YEAR.

  This use of to in tódæʓ, etc., has been explained as originating in sense 6, through phrases like nu ʓyt to dæʓ ‘now still to this day,’ shortened to to dæʓ; but it is doubtful whether this covers the whole ground. The mod. s.w. use of to with expressions of time seems parallel to its use with place in 4.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. ix. [xii.] (1890), 46 (MS. B.). Eorðweall … þone mon nu ʓyt to dæʓe sceawian mæʓ. Ibid., I. ix. [xi.] 44. Ceastre & torras … þa we to dæʓ sceawian maʓon.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., II. iv. § 5. Nu ʓiet todæʓe hit is on leoðum sungen.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xi. 5. Hwylc eower hæfð sumne freond, & gæþ to midre nihte to him [etc.].

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 194. Swa micel … swa he to ðam dæʓe ʓeðicgan mihte.

c. 1300.  Beket, 769. Com to morwe to speche tiine.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 4595. Þat to hir comen y schold To on day þat was y-sett.

1551.  Hooper, Injunctions, xix. Wks. (Parker Soc.), II. 136. In no parish … shall the bells be rung to noon upon the Saturdays.

1886.  Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., s.v., I’ll be ready to dree o’clock.

  b.  Indicating the precise time at which something is to be done, or at which one is to arrive: At and not after (an appointed time), precisely or punctually at or on.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 230. The duke … pressed earnestly to put it to a day, and come to a battle.

a. 1785.  Ld. Sackville, in Eng. Hist. Rev., April (1910), 316. I shan’t be to my time.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 287. Unable to pay their hearth money to the day.

1893.  Chamb. Jrnl., 1 July, 406/1. Ainsworth came to his time.

  III.  Expressing the relation of purpose, destination, result, effect, resulting condition or status.

  8.  Indicating aim, purpose, intention, or design: For; for the purpose of; with the view or end of; in order to. (Now often replaced by for.)

Beowulf (Z.), 3016. Nalles eorl weʓan maððum to ʓe-myndum.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 15. Hiora hyd bið swiðe god to sciprapum.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 82. To ði he com þæt he wolde his heofenlice rice … mannum forʓyfan.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10691. In gibet hii were anhonge as to more vilte [disgrace].

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 347. Þei … traveiliden more bisili to growyng and profiting of þe Chirche.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 365. I-strengthed with the seales of bothe chapiters to more suerte.

1585.  J. B., trans. Viret’s School Beastes, A vj b. To the ende that the seedes whiche they hyde in the earth, shoulde not growe.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, x. He was bred up to Joynery.

c. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time, an. 1661 (1823), I. 318. There were few books set out to sale.

1726.  Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., Pref. 3. Waters … employ’d to so many different and useful purposes.

1843.  Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 715. The captain … came to our rescue.

1894.  C. N. Robinson, Brit. Fleet, 50. The indispensable means to our end.

1902.  Times, 21 July, 13/6. Land … planted to walnuts.

  b.  Combining the notions of ‘purpose’ and ‘motion so as to reach’ (1) or ‘contiguity’ (5 b).

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xliv. 328. Dryhten … ðonne he cymð to ðæm dome.

1471–.  [see GRASS sb. 5, 5 b].

a. 1523.  Hawes, His Epitaph. Though the daye be never so long, At last the bells ringeth to evensong.

a. 1592.  Greene, Orpharion, Wks. (Grosart), XII. 69. They sate downe … to dinner.

1648.  Gage, West Ind., 154. That solemn meeting of the people to Fairs and mirth.

1806.  A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 133. You sit down to writing at your bureau.

1838.  Ticknor, in Life, etc. (1876), II. viii. 144. We were out … to breakfast.

  c.  spec. Towards or for the making of; as a contributory element or constituent of.

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 807. Stikkes to a fyre þai gadird fast.

c. 1500.  Demaundes Joyous, in Rel. Ant., II. 74. Howe many strawes go to gose nest? R. None, for lacke of fete. Ibid. (1579), I. 255. 10 yerds yelow lace that went to my lether dublett.

1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., III. iv. I. iii. (1651), 667. To the roof of Apollo Didymeus Temple … a thousand okes did not suffice.

1890.  Harper’s Mag., May, 961/2. Whole gardens of roses go to one drop of the attar.

  9.  Indicating destination, or an appointed or expected end or event. (After ready, prepared, etc., for is now substituted.)

c. 1205.  Lay., 13428. A he seide þat Bruttes Neoren noht to nuttes.

13[?].  K. Alis., 2451 (Bodl. MS.). Ten hundreþ weren to deþ ydiȝth.

1388.  Wyclif, Ps. xxxvii[i]. 18 [17]. Y am redi to betyngis.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg., 99. To bie oure soulis to blis.

a. 1540.  Barnes, Wks. (1573), 342/2. Your stockes bee made to the fyer.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 463. Born to bitter Fate.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xxviii. He had … made up his mind to the event.

1887.  Besant, The World went, ii. He was … sentenced to transportation.

  10.  Indicating result, effect, or consequence: So as to produce, cause, or result in.

  For to one’s cost or charge see COST sb.² 5 d, CHARGE sb. 10.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. vii. § 1. Þæt wæs þæt forme, þæt hyra wæter wurdon to blode.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 27. Mare hit him deð to herme þenne to gode.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 210. What caas þat falliþ to him, it mut nedis falle to his betere [= betterment, advantage].

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., I. v. 206. He dang him with his bow to deid.

1563.  Homilies, II. Inform. Offence H. Script., II. (1850), 380. Though the rehearsal of the genealogies … be not to much edification.

1623.  Gouge, Serm. Extent God’s Provid., § 13. Fire brake out to the destruction of many.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xi. 92. To his … astonishment.

1888.  Times (weekly ed.), 6 April, 16/4. To light those buildings by electricity, to the total exclusion of gas.

1908.  R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, xxviii. But now, to his despair, he felt that his patient herself was fighting against his skill.

  † b.  To take (etc.) to the best or worst: to put the best, or worst, construction upon; to make the best, or worst, of. Obs.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 286. Euyr-more þou demyst euyll & to þe werste.

1563.  Baldwin, in Mirr. Mag., X viij b. The good take yll thynges to the best.

1569.  J. Rogers, Gl. Godly Loue (1876), 182. With a loving patience to take all things to the best.

1629.  N. Carpenter, Achitophel, 43. More honour found Homer in expressing mens manners to the best, than Hegemon to the worst.

  11.  Indicating a state or condition resulting from some process: So as to become: = INTO 6 a. Also colloq. (after the vb. to be, in all to pieces or the like): Reduced to the condition of, having become.

  † All to naught: see ALL C. 12, NAUGHT sb. 1 d.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., V. iv. § 4. Ealle ða clifu … forburnan to ascan.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Lev. i. 6. And hyldon þa offrunga & ceorfon to sticcon.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 143. He is þet makeð twa to an.

c. 1205.  Lay., 9425. Al þa wunliche burh heo barnden to duste.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), v. 14. After a ȝere it turnez to whyte.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, IV. xvi. 140. Brente to coles.

1612.  Capt. Smith, Map Virginia, 31. Tops of Deeres hornes boyled to a ielly.

a. 1720.  Vanbrugh, Journ. to London, III. ad fin. The glasses [of the coach] are all to bits.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. iv. 24. Forester … took the flowers … and pulled them to pieces.

1870.  Eng. Mech., 28 Jan., 477/1. Shaped to an accurate figure.

  b.  Indicating resulting position, status, or capacity: For, as, by way of, in the capacity of. Obs. or arch. exc. in certain phrases, as to take to wife, to call to witness, etc.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xv. [xxi.] (1890), 222. Se wæs … his freond [and] hæfde his sweostor to wife.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke iii. 8. We habbað us to fæder abraham.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. xx. 12. Ic ʓenam hiʓ þa to wife. Ibid., Deut. iv. 26. Ic hæbbe todæʓ to ʓewitnisse heofen and eorþan.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 117. Ic þe ȝef to scawere mine folke israeles hirede.

13[?].  St. Ambrosius, 125, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 10/1. Ambrose … To vr bisschop we wol haue.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 271. He ne hadde no mete but herbes and water to his drynke.

c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., x. (1885), 131. The qwene off Ffraunce hath but v. M^l marke yerely to huyr douer.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 28. So forward on his way (with God to frend) He passed forth.

1632.  Milton, Penseroso, 113. Who had Canace to wife?

1879.  Swinburne, Stud. Shaks., i. (1880), 28. The high-born poem which had Sackville to father and Sidney to sponsor.

  12.  Indicating that to which something tends or points. a. Indicating the object of inclination, desire, or need: For. Also (after to drink, etc.), As an expression of desire for (one’s health, success, or the like): cf. 26 b.

c. 1200.  [see LONGING vbl. sb.¹ 1].

a. 1300.  Sarmun, li., in E. E. P. (1862), 6. To met no drink þer nis no nede.

1366.  [see APPETITE sb. 3].

1451.  Capgrave, Life St. Aug., 4. Þei herd sey þat her child had a grete corage to lernyng.

1605–.  [see MIND sb.¹ 13 d].

1605–.  [see DRINK v. 13 b].

1760.  Voy. W. O. G. Vaughan, I. 38. You’ll spoil her Stomach to her dinner.

1827.  Scott, Highl. Widow, v. ‘To your health, mother!’ said Hamish.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xxxii. Instead of marrying Torfrida…, I have more mind to her niece.

  b.  Indicating the object of a right or claim.

c. 1205.  [see RIGHT sb.¹ 7].

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 291. We haue no trewe title to hem.

1481–.  [see PRETEND v. 13].

1600.  W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 292. When men receiue the Gospell and are baptized … they receiue thereby an interest to the kingdome of heauen.

1602.  [see HEIR sb. 2].

1623.  Dial. Laws Eng., xlvii. 149. If a man buy a horse in open market of him that in right had no propertie to him.

1752.  [see CLAIM sb. 2].

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xxv. 252. Thirteen … came forward as claimants to the crown.

1890.  Ld. Esher, in Law Times Rep., LXIII. 694/1. This lease … is a document of title to land.

  IV.  Followed by a word or phrase expressing a limit in extent, amount, or degree.

  13.  Indicating a limit or point attained in degree or amount, or in division or analysis, and thus expressing degree of completeness or exactitude: As far as; to the point of; down to (an ultimate element or item), as in phr. to a hair (HAIR sb. 8 c), to the last man, to a man (including every man, without exception); within (a limit of variation or error), as to an inch, to a day. (See also quots. s.v. DOWN adv. 14.)

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xx. 42. Heo wel drohtnode to anum mæle fæstende.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21527. Of he kest al to his serk.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 173. Þei … do me faste frydayes to bred and to water.

1552.  Huloet, To the vttermost peny, ad assem.

1606–.  [see HAIR sb. 8 c].

1607–.  [see TITTLE sb. 2 b].

1618.  Bolton, Florus (1636), 149. They might have had the killing of all his Army to a man.

1670.  Milton, Hist. Eng., II. Wks. (1847), 491/1. That he would root them out to the very name.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xi. Sir Tomkyn … swore he was hers to the last drop of his blood.

1779.  Mirror, No. 34, ¶ 5. He was generally punctual to a minute.

1867.  Froude, Short Stud., Erasm. & Luther, ii. 99. The bishops were hostile to a man.

1872.  Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 349. Balances are made sensitive to the fraction of a grain.

1894.  Rider Haggard, People of Mist, xii. 93. He had bid to the last ounce in his possession.

  b.  Indicating the final point or second limit of a series, or of the extent of a variable quantity or quality; correl. to from (expressed or implied).

1699.  [see FROM 2 b].

1725.  De Foe, Voy. Round World (1840), 111. Here they found eleven to thirteen fathom soft oozy sand.

1823.  F. Clissold, Ascent Mt. Blanc, 23. The western arc of the misty circle kindled, from a rosy to a deep reddening glow.

1866.  Lawrence, trans. Cotta’s Rocks Class. (1878), 141. A granular to compact aggregate.

1891.  J. Leyland, Peak Derbysh., i. 15. Every style from early Norman to late perpendicular.

  14.  Indicating the full extent, degree, or amount: So as to reach, complete, or constitute. Chiefly in advb. phrases, as to a certainty, to a degree, to (that, etc.) extent, to a fault, to the full, etc.: see also the sbs. See also up to s.v. UP.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Lev. xxvi. 5. ʓe etaþ to fylle.

c. 1407.  Lydg., Reson & Sens., 220. The beaute of hir face … so bryght, That the goddesse Proserpyne … To hir beaute ne myght appere.

1473.  Warkw., Chron. (Camden), 15. Knyghtes, squyers, and comons to the nombre of xx. m^l.

1596.  Danett, trans. Comines (1614), 140. They should not be able to pay a ransome to the value of the spurs and bridle bits in his campe.

1628.  Gaule, Pract. The. Panegyr., 6. Done, Done to full, whatsoe’re he came to doe.

1720.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5814/2. Bank Bills … to the Value of three hundred and sixty Millions of Livres.

1829.  Scott, Wav., Introd. Gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry.

Mod.  He was generous to a fault.

  b.  Combining the notion of ‘extent’ with ‘result’ (10): So far or so much as to cause.

[c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvi. 38. Unrot ys min sawl oþ deað.]

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 121. Crist … wes ibuhsum þan heuenliche federe to þa deðe.

a. 1500[?].  Wycket (1828), 1. In greate suffirance of persecution euen to the death.

1625.  Massinger, New Way, II. ii. Yet he to admiration still increases In wealth.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, V. vi. She was in love with him to distraction.

1834.  M. Scott, Cruise Midge, vi. (1863), 100. We were laughing at this to our heart’s content.

1873.  Ralfe, Phys. Chem., 108. The filtrate and washings are … evaporated … to dryness.

1890.  Harper’s Mag., March, 564/2. The schoolroom was hot to suffocation.

  c.  After a verb (or derived sb.) denoting limitation or the like, and before a sb. (or sb. phr.) expressing the amount, extent, space, etc., to which something is restricted.

1518.  Sel. Pl. Star Chamb. (Selden), II. 128. Without that the seid Inhabitauntes … haue byn lymytted … to eny certen nowmber of Catell.

1649–.  [see CONFINE v. 7 b].

1691–.  [see CONFINEMENT 2].

1697.  Vanbrugh, Relapse, I. iii. Your honour’s side-face is reduced to the tip of your nose.

1701.  W. Wotton, Hist. Rome, Marcus, vi. 106. Marcus … fix’d their Allowance to two Attic Talents a Man.

1885.  Law Times Rep., LIII. 527/2. There is nothing on the face of this will to cut down the widow’s absolute interest to a life estate.

  V.  Indicating addition, attachment, accompaniment, appurtenance, possession.

  15.  In addition to, besides, with.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xli. 303. Se læce, ðonne he bietre wyrta deð to hwelcum drence.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxviii. 19. Candidus and uitalis and fela oþre to him.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 73. He putte [orig. addidit] Ianeuer and Feuerrer to þe bygynnynge of þe ȝere.

1495.  Coventry Leet Bk., 567. Ȝe shall haue drynk to your Cake.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1589. Foretell new stormes to those alreadie spent.

1653.  Walton, Angler, viii. 171. Mix these together, and put to them either Sugar, or Honey.

1742.  Richardson, Pamela, III. 327. To the Charms of Person, [she] should have a humble, teachable Mind.

1876.  Ruskin, Fors Clav., lxix. § 12 (1906), III. 403. He can’t have cream to his tea.

  b.  To the accompaniment of; as an accompaniment to. To ride to hounds: see HOUND sb.¹ 2.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, II. (1900), 118. Syngynge to the Lute … is more plesaunte.

1676.  trans. Guillatiere’s Voy. Athens, 397. Dancing-Masters, who danced to Two or Three Base-Vials, or Instruments very like them.

1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, l. Performing a sprightly dance,… to the sounds of a lute and tamborine.

1825.  Sporting Mag., XV. 346. We formerly rode after hounds, now we ride to them.

1894.  Newton, Dict. Birds, 693. The old-fashioned practice of shooting Partridges to dogs.

  16.  After words denoting attachment or adherence; hence, sometimes = Attached, fastened, or joined to. (lit or fig.)

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xiv. [xvii.] (1890), 204. Þa næʓlas … þe heo mid þæm to þæm timbre ʓefæstnad wæs.

c. 1050.  Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 324. Man … ða ræftras to ðære fyrste ʓefæstnaþ.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 277. He wilnede mest of alle þing to him eliance.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Kings i. 8. A rowȝ man, and with an hery gyrdyl to the reenys.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 109. An old gowne girded to him with a thong.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. i. 7. My very lippes might freeze to my teeth.

1780.  Cowper, Progr. Err., 285. As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone.

1800.  Addison, Amer. Law Rep., 1. The infant was found dead in the … river, with a stone to it.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 113. Sincerely attached to the Established Church.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 176. To that opinion I shall always adhere.

  17.  After belong and verbs of similar meaning (q.v.); also after be with the sense of belong; also after a sb., in the sense ‘appertaining or belonging to’: sometimes equivalent to ‘of’ or the possessive case of the sb.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 21. Þæt Witland belimpeð to Estum.

972.  Charter, in Birch, Cart. Sax., III. 589. Ðis sind þa land ʓemæra þæs londes be lympð to Sture.

1451.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 226/2. Godes … that were sumtyme to the seid William.

c. 1530.  Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt., 299. I am doughter to a king.

1605.  Camden, Rem. (1637), 281. Katherine, wife to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolke.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. i. 2. Lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot. Ibid., 5. Clerk to an attorney.

  b.  Combining the notions of ‘appurtenance’ and ‘addition’ (15) or ‘attachment’ (16).

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 3510. To delyuer hit to a goldesmyȝt, to make a shrene þat body to.

1538.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VI. 13. Gevin for four roundellis to speris, vj cronis.

1682.  N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, II. 126. This paltrey Jack Had scarce a Shooe to ’s foot, a Rag to ’s back.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 108, ¶ 2. Your Whip wanted a Lash to it.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, iii. One little boy complained … that there was no rim to his plate.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xix. 53. Without clothing to his back, or shoes to his feet.

1847.  Helps, Friends in C., I. v. 80. Both will and courage. Courage is the body to will.

1886.  C. E. Pascoe, Lond. of To-day, xxx. (ed. 3), 269. The Hall now forms the vestibule to the Houses of Parliament.

  VI.  Expressing relation to a standard or to a stated term or point.

  18.  Expressing comparison: In comparison with, as compared with. Also † as to (obs.). (See also 21.)

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 13. Ðes is ure God, and nis nan oðer ʓeteald to him.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, I. xxii. 69. Your myghte is nothyng to myn.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cclxviii. 396. His enemyes were but a handfull of men, as to the nombre of his.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 46. There is no foole to the olde foole.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 140. So excellent a King, that was, to this, Hiperion to a Satyre.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 21 April. It was so thick to its length.

1742.  Richardson, Pamela, III. 351. Now, by … good Physick,… pretty well, to what they had been.

1863.  Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., vii. 202. The men are noodles to her.

  19.  a. Connecting the names of two things (usu. numbers or quantities) compared or opposed to each other in respect of amount or value, as the odds in a wager or contest, the terms of a ratio, or the constituents of a compound: Against, as against.

1530.  Palsgr., 712/1. Twenty to one he is ondone for ever.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 76 b. Their enemies … wer foure to one.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 592. O monstrous, but one halfe penny-worth of Bread to this intollerable deale of Sacke?

1628.  Hobbes, Thucyd. (1822), 127. There is no nation … that are … able one nation to one to stand against the Scythians.

c. 1790.  Imison, Sch. Art, I. 212. The visible part of an object will be to the lens, as the focal distance of the lens, to the distance of the eye.

1846.  Penny Cycl., Suppl., II. 432/1. The composition … consists of three-fourths of the putty … to one-fourth of calcined gypsum.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 16 May, 6/2. Mr. Gladstone’s motion was carried by 337 to 38.

  b.  Connecting two expressions of number or quantity which correspond to each other, or of which one constitutes the amount or value of the other: In; making up. (To the = in every.)

c. 1000, 1297.  [see c].

1494.  Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 4. That there be but only viii. Bushels rased and stricken to the Quarter of Corn.

1545.  Rates of Customs, c v. Twelue ounces to the pounde.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 25. He … made vs pay … one shilling to the pound.

1660.  Jer. Taylor, Duct. Dubit., III. iv. xiii. § 17. Three weeks of five days to the week.

1801.  W. Huntington, Bank of Faith, Ded. 21. Thirteen to the dozen.

1891.  S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 44. An open country … with solitary houses—a house to about five square miles.

  † c.  Introducing an expression denoting price or cost: For, at. Obs. (exc. as coinciding with b).

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., III. vii. § 5. Þæt hie þa æt nihstan hie selfe to nohte bemætan.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. x. 29. Hu ne becypað hiʓ tweʓen spearwan to peninge?

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8334. An ey [= egg] to tueie ssillinges … þo hii boȝte, & an hen vor viftene.

1483.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 337. Thath all Bakers of the said Cite … make butt ij. horselofys to a peny.

1656.  H. Phillips, Purch. Patt. (1676), 12. Profit, at least to the rate of eight in the hundred.

1862.  Thackeray, Philip, ii. (1884), 110. Delicious little Havannahs, ten to the shilling.

  20.  Expressing agreement or adaptation: In accordance with, according to, after, by. (See also 21.)

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxvi. 249. Se ðe to Godes bisene ʓesceapen is.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12946. Bidd þir stanes be bred to will.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, k v. I pray yow that ye take ensample to them.

1664.  Dryden, Rival Ladies, Ep. Ded. Ess (Ker), I. 9. The greatest part of my design has already succeeded to my wish.

1754.  Richardson, Grandison (1781), I. xxxvi. 256. He dresses to the fashion.

1838.  Macaulay, Ess., Sir W. Temple (1897), 419. Temple is not a man to our taste.

1878.  Morley, Diderot, etc., I. v. III. 203. As the neutral scribe writing to the dictation of an unseen authority.

  b.  Combining the senses ‘according to’ and ‘to the extent of’ (14): esp. in phr. to one’s knowledge, † power (obs.), remembrance, etc. (= as far as one knows, is able, remembers, etc.), now usually to the best of…; to all appearance; etc. (See also the sbs.)

  To my knowledge, qualifying a positive statement = ‘as I actually know’; qualifying a negative statement = ‘as far as I know.’

  1399.  Rolls of Parlt., III. 452/1. If it were so taken and construed to the hegheste sentence and most rigorouste.

c. 1430.  Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 1680. I shal help, to my power.

1512.  Act 4 Hen. VIII., c. 20, Preamble. Strikyng with … swordes … and oder wepons to the uttermost of their powers.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 3 b. The lyke was neuer harde of, to any mannes remembraunce before that tyme.

1636.  Massinger, Gt. Dk. Florence, Ded. It is above my strength … to celebrate to the desert your noble inclination.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, IV. xiv. I will be sworn, to the best of my remembrance, I was in a passion.

1793.  To all appearance [see APPEARANCE 8].

1885.  Sir H. Cotton, in Law Rep., 30 Chanc. Div. 12. They were to all appearances distinct bills.

  1542.  N. Udall, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 3. To my knowlege I have not eftsons offended.

1828.  Life Planter Jamaica, 78. To my own knowledge he often tries to dissuade.

1883.  Sir W. B. Brett, in Law Rep., 11 Q. B. Div. 512. The article was, to the knowledge of the defendant, supplied for the use of the wife.

Mod.  He has not been here to-day to my knowledge.

  21.  After words expressing comparison, proportion, correspondence, agreement or disagreement, and the like: see also these words themselves.

  In some cases now replaced by or interchangeable with other prepositions, esp. with; after worthy, and words denoting precise proportion, as double, now replaced by of; after different, from is considered more correct. After like adj. and adv., to is now usually omitted. See these words.

c. 1290.  Beket, 324, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 116. He nam … þan clerkene Robe, ase to is stat bi-cam.

a. 1300–.  [see LIKE a. 1 a].

1382.  Wyclif, Heb. xi. 38. To which the world was not worthi.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 45. Þe proporcioun of þe roundenesse aboute of a cercle is to þe brede as is þe proporcioun of two and twenty to seuene.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, V. viii. 175. Arthur…, to whome none erthely prynce may compare.

1550.  Crowley, Way to Wealth, Sel. Wks. (E.E.T.S.), 133. The rentes be … some double, some triple, and some four fould to that they were.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, V. ii. 38. I can finde out no rime to Ladie but babie, an innocent rime.

1651.  Wittie, Primrose’s Pop. Err., 432. Those things which are the same [= equal] to one third are the same among themselves.

1737.  Whiston, Josephus’ Antiq., Dissert. i. This … testimony … exactly agrees to him under that character.

1823.  J. F. Cooper, Pioneers, iii. Strangely contrasted to the chill aspect of the lake.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 11. 17. Lewis was not inferior to James in generosity and humanity, and was … far superior to James in all the abilities … of a statesman.

  † b.  After an adj. in the comparative degree: Than. Now rare or Obs. (Cf. inferior to, superior to, in prec. sense.)

c. 1315.  Shoreham, Poems, i. 590. Nys none of wymman beter ibore To seint Iohan þe baptyste.

14[?].  MS. Harl. 2261, lf. 225. An oþer Decius, yonger to hym.

1569.  J. Sanford, trans. Agrippa’s Van. Artes, 69. There are … philosophers … herein no lesse ridiculouse to the poetes, which write [etc.].

1771.  T. Hull, Sir W. Harrington (1797), IV. 108. The really good are so far less in number to the bad.

1895.  P. White, King’s Diary, 96. A more formal repast, fashioned on a smaller scale to that provided at Langdale.

  22.  Expressing relation (generally or vaguely): In respect of, concerning, about, of, as to (see AS adv. 33). Now only in special collocations.

  In to name (obs.), to trade, etc. (Sc. and north. dial.), now expressed by ‘by.’

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 19806. Cornelius to nam he hight.

1450.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 179/1. Reporte her advise what shuld be doon to the Articles comprised in the said Bille.

1481.  Caxton, Reynard, xxxix. (Arb.), 105. He was lyghter to fote than he.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, I. v. 69. The ȝoung child, quhilk now Ascanius hecht, And to suirname clepit Iulus.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 62. What’s this to my Lysander? Ibid. (1593), Rich. II., I. i. 110. What sayest thou to this?

1656.  Burton, Diary (1828), I. 136. There was one Mr. Thorne … examined to the seal of the statute, whether the seal wanted not all the wax.

1693.  J. Edwards, Author. O. & N. Test., 308. Being conscious to my own inabilities.

a. 1716.  Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 312. In speaking to the first of these Heads.

1724.  Ramsay, Clout the Caldron, i. I am a tinkler to my trade.

1884.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 72. What will Doris say to it?

1892.  Guardian, 6 Jan., 8/3. Asking questions intended to show the untrustworthy character of a witness, or, as it is technically called, ‘cross-examining to credit.’

  23.  Expressing relative position: esp. in Geom.

  In some instances allied to senses 5, 16.

1570–.  [see PERPENDICULAR A. 2].

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy., III. 56. Parallel to the equinoctiall.

1660.  Barrow, Euclid, III. Prop. xvi. Coroll., A right line drawn from the extremity of the diameter of a circle, and at right angles, is a tangent to the said circle.

1796.  [see ASYMPTOTE].

1813.  Bakewell, Introd. Geol. (1815), 58. inclined to the horizon.

1848.  J. H. Newman, Loss & Gain, 147. Unable to see how they lie to each other.

1887.  Encycl. Brit., XXII. 718/1. Turned round so as to place the micrometer tangentially to the circle.

1892.  [see RIGHT ANGLE b].

  VII.  Expressing relations in which the sense of direction tends to blend with that of the dative.

  24.  After words denoting application, attention, or the like, indicating the object of this. Also (arch. or rhet.) with ellipsis of go, betake oneself, etc. (in imperative, or after an auxiliary).

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 115. Hire feder hefde iset hire earliche to lare.

c. 1290–.  [see LISTEN v. 2 b].

1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 10104. How that an Ampte, a best smal … To nouht elles doth entende, But on thys hylle vp tascende.

c. 1485.  Digby Myst., III. 758. I synful creature, to grace I woll a-plye.

a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., IV. viii. Too it againe, my knightesses!

1616.  Marlowe’s Faust., vi. Let’s to it presently.

1653.  Walton, Angler, ii. 47. I’ll to my own Art.

1710.  Palmer, Proverbs, 254. To it they went with great fury.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xvii. 294. We fell to digging.

1843.  Blackw. Mag., LIV. 219. Come, lads, all hands to work!

  25.  Expressing impact (cf. 1, 5 a) or attack: At, against, upon.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 62. Vre vo … scheot … mo cwarreaus to one ancre þen to seouene & seouenti lefdies iðe worlde.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, X. 312. [He] set a sege to the castele.

c. 1420.  Avow. Arth., xxiv. Take thi schild and thi spere, And ride to him a course on werre.

1569.  St. Papers Eliz., Foreign, XI. 151. He had forces sufficient to make head to his enemies.

1641.  Brome, Jov. Crew, IV. i. Heark! they knock to the Dresser.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XVIII. xii. Western … with his hunting voice and phrase, cried out, ‘To her, boy, to her, go to her.’

1832.  Sir J. Campbell, Mem., II. ii. 46. I presented it [the gun] to him without any other idea but that of intimidation.

1882.  G. Macdonald, Weighed & Wanting, III. xviii. 256. His father’s unmerciful use of the whip to him.

1888, 1889.  [see TAKE v. 24 b].

  b.  After words denoting opposition or hostility: Against; towards (obs. or arch.). † In quot. 1670 simply: Against, so as to prevent (obs.).

  Cf. to one’s face, teeth, etc., in 5 b.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1230. Hade þe fader … neuer trepast to him in teche of mysseleue.

1388.  Wyclif, Ps. l. 6 [li. 4]. I haue synned to thee aloone. Ibid., lxxxiv. 6. Whether thou schalt be wrooth to vs withouten ende?

1526.  Tindale, Col. iii. 13. If eny man have a quarrel to a nother.

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. i. 43. To the disposing of it nought rebell’d.

1670.  Walton, Life Herbert, Pref. To embalm and preserve his sacred body to putrefaction.

1741.  Middleton, Cicero (1742), I. iv. 264. Clodius had an old grudge to the King, for refusing to ransom him.

1901.  G. Douglas, House w. Green Shutters, xxiv. 261. He had a triple wrath to his son.

  26.  Indicating the object of speech, address, or the like; sometimes more vaguely: Before, in the presence (sight, hearing) of.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., VI. xxxiv. § 2. He cwæð to ðæm folce.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. vi. 13. God cwæð þa to Noe.

1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1135. Durste nan man sei to him naht bute god.

c. 1230–.  [see ANSWER v. 12 b].

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 25312. If þou prais [= prayest] to godd þat he … þi sinnes forgiue to þe.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 208. Another rowned to his felawe lowe.

1609.  Bible (Douay), 1 Kings xviii. 6. The wemen came forth … singing and dancing to Saul the King.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Hum. Lieut. I. i. Did you not mark a woman, my son rose to?

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 60, ¶ 2. An Hymn in Hexameters to the Virgin Mary.

1820.  Shelley, Skylark, 1. Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!

  b.  In honor of; for the worship of (as to build a temple or altar to); in salutation of and expression of good wishes for (as to drink to: see also 12 a, and DRINK v. 13 b).

1382.  Wyclif, Acts xix. 24. Sum man … makinge siluerene housis to Dian. Ibid. (1388), Acts xvii. 23. Y … foond an auter, in which was writun, To the vnknowun God.

1530–.  [see DRINK v. 13 b].

1592–.  [see HERE adv. 2 b].

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 62. Her face o’ fire With labour, and the thing she tooke to quench it She would to each one sip.

1616.  B. Jonson, Forest, To Celia, 1. Drink to me, only with thine eyes.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 462, ¶ 4. With continual toasting Healths to the Royal Family.

1838.  Thirlwall, Greece, II. xvi. 353. They erected an altar to the father of the gods.

1838.  Arnold, Hist. Rome (1844), I. i. 3. His people built an altar to him on the banks of the Numicius, and worshipped him by the name of Jupiter Indiges, which means, ‘the God who was of that very land.’

1839.  North Wales Chronicle, 17 Sept., 2/7. Our own opinion is that altars to Mammon abound in the United States, and that Moloch can there count many votaries.

  27.  Expressing response or the like (of a voluntary agent); e.g., reply (to a statement, question, etc.), obedience or disobedience (to a command, etc.).

1297–.  [see ASSENT v. 1, 4].

1382, c. 1400–.  [see ANSWER v. 12 I, d].

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 1123. Wylde bestes & folys of flyȝt To here clepynge wolde come.

1582.  Allen, Martyrd. Campion (1908), 68. A proclamation was red … and at the end thereof was said, God save the Queene. To which he said, Amen.

1641.  R. Carpenter, Experience, I. ch. xvii. 116. When the silly Shepheard commeth to his call.

1754.  Richardson, Grandison, V. xliv. 283. I will write to your letter.

a. 1766.  Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph, V. 115. Disobedience to his orders.

1897.  Badminton Mag., April, 451. The next step is to take the pups out … and make them drop to hand.

  b.  Expressing reaction or responsive action (of an involuntary or inanimate agent); the object of to denoting the agent causing this.

1682.  Otway, Venice Preserved, II. i. My heart beats to this Man as if it knew him.

1768.  Beattie, Minstr., I. iii. His harp … Which to the whistling wind responsive rung.

1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, II. x. Full many a scutcheon and banner … Shook to the cold night-wind. Ibid. (1815), Guy M., iii. Little waves … sparkling to the moonbeams.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., Concl. 64. The dead leaf trembles to the bells.

  28.  Expressing exposure (of a thing to some physical agent).

1460–70.  Bk. Quintessence, 9. Sette it to the strong sunne in somer tyme.

c. 1500.  Melusine, xxx. 226. Mounted vpon a grete hors, his banere to the wynd.

1526.  Tindale, Acts xxvii. 40. They … hoysed vppe the mayne sayle to the wynde.

1852.  Tennyson, Ode Dk. Wellington, 39. That tower of strength Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew.

  VIII.  Supplying the place of the dative in various other languages and in the earlier stages of English itself.

  29.  Introducing the recipient of anything given, or the person or thing upon whom or which an event acts or operates.

  In OE. as in Latin, etc., expressed by the simple dative or indirect object; after give, befall, and various other verbs, to is still often omitted.

  [c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 13. Ohthere sæde his hlaforde, Ælfrede cyninge, þæt [etc.]. Ibid., IV. vi. § 15. He him ʓeswor on his goda noman þæt [etc.]. Ibid., IV. x. § 6. He hit het ðæm folce dælan. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past. C., xlviii. 368. Godes æ, þe us forbiet deoflum to offrianne.

a. 900.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), xxi[i]. 23 [25]. Ic ʓylde min ʓehat Drihtne.]

  1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8183. Tancred & biaumond,… god herte hom nome to.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 533. Mars ȝaf to hire corone red parde.

1477–9.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 89. Paid to the Skauagers … viijd.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, cxlix. 568. All … were ioyful of that aduenture that was fallen to the emperoure.

1566.  Painter, Pal. Pleas., II. 336. Great dishonour would redound to us.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 138. By promise he receaves Gift to his Progenie of all that Land.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 123, ¶ 4. Having a Son born to him.

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 51. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (1902), 47/1. I fired two shots at them … during the night, but none fell to my shots.

1887.  A. Birrell, Obiter Dicta, Ser. II. 156. He lost his heart to Peg Woffington.

  b.  Used esp. after be, become, seem, appear, mean, to indicate the recipient of an impression, the holder of a view or opinion; to be (something) to, to be (something) in the eyes, view, apprehension, or opinion of; also, to be of importance or concern to: What is that to you? What does that matter to you? How does that concern you? What have you to do with that?

  1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. Prol. 32. As hit semeþ to vre siht.

1565.  T. Stapleton, trans. Staphylus’ Apol., 148. To these men Luther is a papist, and Caluin is the right … prophet.

1590–1908.  [see SEEM v. 7].

1798.  Wordsw., Peter Bell, I. xii. A primrose by a river’s brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more.

1850.  J. H. Newman, Diffic. Anglic., I. ii. (1891), I. 46. Faith has one meaning to a Catholic, another to a Protestant.

1856.  Whyte-Melville, Kate Cov., xi. Scarcely big enough for a hunter to my fancy.

1862.  [see APPEAR v. 2].

Mod.  To me it is simply absurd.

  [c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., John xxi. 22. Huæd is ðe bi ðy? vel huæt is ðec ðæs? Vulg. Quid ad te?]

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., ibid. Hwæt to þe?

1382.  Wyclif, ibid. What to thee? sue thou me.

1526.  Tindale, ibid. What is that to the? folowe thou me. Ibid. (1526), Matt. xxvii. 4. What is that to vs? se thou to that.

1611.  Bible, Lam. i. 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye that passe by?

1674.  Grew, Anat. Trunks, II. ii. § 3. What the Mouth is, to an Animal; that the Root is to a Plant.

1843.  Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 328. What’s that to you?

Mod.  It means a great deal to him.

  30.  Indicating the person or thing for whose benefit, use, disposal, or the like, anything is done or exists: For; for the use or benefit of; for (some one) to deal with or dispose of (esp. after leave vb.); at the disposal of. To oneself (as pred.), to or at one’s own disposal, free from the approaches or action of others.

1292.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7136. Vpe holi relikes harald suor to willam bastard Treuliche to wite engelond to him.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1033. To mangeneles he dide make stones.

1382.  Wyclif, Rom. xiv. 6–8. He that etith, etith to the Lord…. No man of vs lyueth to hym silf, and no man deieth to him silf. Sothli where we lyuen, we lyuen to the Lord; where we deien, we deien to the Lord.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 17214. The Gregais wol not hir bodi grauen, But let hit ligge to roke & rauen.

c. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 100. It availeþ to al woundez for to hold þam opne.

1474.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 70. Gevin to Johne of Murray … to pay for clathis coft to Rannald gunnare. Ibid. (1502), II. 346. For ane gus to the Kingis halkis.

1586.  Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., II. v. I’ll first assay To get the Persian kingdom to myself.

1611.  Bible, Lev. xxiii. 22. Neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy haruest: thou shalt leaue them vnto the poore, and to the stranger.

1653.  Walton, Angler, viii. 169. That hope and patience which I wish to all Fishers.

1695.  Dryden, Parallel Poetry & Paint., Ess. (ed. Ker), II. 153. The rest is left to the imagination.

1700.  Marwood, Diary, in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., VII. 77. At 8 in the morn we took a Wagon to Our selves to Dunkerque.

1709–10.  Steele, Tatler, No. 118, ¶ 10. Your petitioner … worked to the Exchange, and to several Aldermens wives.

1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Jan., 109. Topped and tailed [turnips] … which I hope to preserve as food to my ewes at lambing time.

1822.  W. Irving, in Life & Lett. (1864), II. 84. In the country, where I can be more to myself.

1895.  Froude, Erasmus, xv. 320. Religious houses were dissolved, their property seized to the State.

Mod.  We had the railway-carriage all to ourselves.

  b.  Indicating the person or thing towards which an action, feeling, etc., is directed; esp. as the object of conduct, behavior, or demeanor.

  To you, an elliptical phrase of courtesy or deference, = ‘my service to you’ or the like (quot. 1855).

c. 970–c. 1060.  Wifmannes Beweddung, c. 7, in Liebermann, Gesetze, 442. Ðæt hire man nan woh to ne do.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 240. Se is hyra and na hyrde, seðe … næfð inweardlice lufe to Godes sceapum.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 31. Nat ic hwer heo beoð þeo men þe ic þene herm to dude.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5824. To þe godnesse or þe holymon þe deuel adde enuye.

c. 1430.  How Gd. Wijf tauȝte hir Douȝtir, 163, in Babees Bk., 44. To do to þem as þou woldist be doon to.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 286, ¶ 1. That natural Horror we have to Evil.

a. 1758.  Dyer, Down Among the Dead Men, iii. Bacchus is a friend to Love.

1855.  Dickens, Holly-Tree, ii. ‘I should wish you to find from themselves whether your opinion is correct.’ ‘Sir, to you,’ says Cobbs, ‘that shall be done directly.

  31.  Used in the syntactical construction of many intransitive verbs. (See also preceding senses, and the verbs themselves.)

1583.  Babington, Commandm., viii. (1637), 73. Modesty in this hungry creature must yeeld to necessity.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 817. ’Tis in vain … [to] trust to Physick.

1769.  Goldsm., Hist. Rome (1786), II. 61. That homage to which they had aspired.

1834.  Wordsw., Yarrow Revisited, viii. While they minister to thee.

1843.  Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 654. I have already alluded to the fact.

1875.  Poste, Gaius, I. Comm. (ed. 2), 87. The issue of a Denizen cannot inherit to him.

  b.  After testify, witness, attest, swear, subscribe, confess, speak, etc.: In support of; in assertion or acknowledgement of.

  For assent to see 27; cf. also 21.

1630.  Prynne, Anti-Armin., 75. Conclusions which euery man must subscribe too.

1710.  Addison, Tatler, No. 259, ¶ 6. The Prisoner brought several Persons of good Credit to witness to her Reputation.

1737.  Whiston, Josephus, Antiq., IX. xiv. § 2. Menander attests to it.

1771–.  [see CONFESS v. 6].

1776.  Trial of Nundocomar, 79/1. That is a fact to which I can speak.

1776.  Trial J. Fowke, c. 28/2. I took his affidavit to the truth of the contents of the Letters.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xix. 157. He would swear to the person from whom he received the note.

1884.  Manch. Exam., 7 July, 4/6. The hon. gentlemen spoke to a resolution congratulating the Government on the passing of the Franchise Bill.

  c.  In obsolete, archaic, or dialectal use: chiefly representing an OE. dative or French const. with à; now omitted, the verb being treated as trans.

a. 1325–c. 1450.  [see PLEASE v. 1, 3 a].

1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 362. Who shulde … mor obe[i]she to þe pope þan to Crist? Ibid. (1382), Dan. iii. 57 (Benedicite). Blesse ȝe, alle the werkis of the Lord, to the Lord.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., I. xvi. 90. Serue to God. Ibid., II. xv. 234. Bileue thou to me.

1692.  R. L’Estrange, Josephus, Wars Jews, II. xxvi. (1733), 654. They should renounce to all manner of unlawful Violences.

1800.  A. Swanston, Serm. & Lect. (1803), II. 318. Titus and … Timotheus also were present and assisting to the apostle.

1874.  Swinburne, Bothwell, V. iv. If I did ill to seek to that strong hand.

  32.  In the syntactical const. of many transitive verbs, introducing the indirect or dative object. (See also preceding senses, and the verbs themselves.)

a. 1300.  [see sense 26].

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 2128 (Ariadne). Now be we duchessis … And sekerede to the regalys of Athenys.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst., xiv. (1841), 141. To God in this case my cawse I have betaught.

1581.  in Allen, Martyrd. Campion (1908), 15. Her Maiestie will preferre him to great livings.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 4 June. We fought them and put them to the run.

1779.  Mirror, No. 21, ¶ 1. This day’s paper I devote to Correspondents.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 142. To admit Roman Catholics to municipal advantages.

  b.  In obsolete, archaic, or dialectal use; now replaced by other prepositions, or by different constructions. See under the vbs.

c. 1500.  Melusine, vi. 32. Many … shall axe to you tydynges of the Erle.

1534.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett., I. 387. To answer unto suche thinges as then shalbe leyed and obiected to you.

1537.  Bury Wills, 130. I put them to the dysposycion of myne executo^rs.

1558.  in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. App. iv. 5. Not to pardon, till they … put themselves wholly to her highness’s mercy.

1660.  F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 37. We now had associated ourselves to a jolly company of Merchants.

1688.  Acc. Persec. Prot., 1686, 30. They moreover put to the sword a great number of Vaudoises of both sexes, Old and Young.

1709.  Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xl. 410. The French hostages were put to liberty at Windsor.

1780.  Mirror, No. 87, ¶ 3. To masses and crucifixes, and images, were substituted a precise severity of manner, and long sermons, and a certain mode of sanctifying the Sabbath.

1794.  G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., I. xi. 465. If an alkali be substituted to the turnsole.

1823.  J. F. Cooper, Pioneers, xii. His mild features were confronted to the fierce … looks of the chief.

  33.  Expressing the relation of an adj. (or derived adv. or sb.) to a sb. denoting a person or thing to which its application is directed or limited.

  In the construction of such adjs. as accessible, adverse, agreeable, beneficial, common, complaisant, constant, difficult, due, easy, equal, essential, faithful, false, familiar, favorable, friendly, good, grateful, hostile, hurtful, impossible, incredible, injurious, kind, liable, manifest, natural, near, necessary, obedient, possible, proper, requisite, salutary, similar, subject, suitable, true, useful, visible, welcome, etc., q.v., with their opposites; also, in a special sense, alive, dead, deaf, blind, insensible; also many adj. phrases, as with child, in calf, of use, of value (see the sbs.).

  [In OE. mostly expressed by the dative: e.g.,

  c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xiv. § 3. Þam neatum is ʓecynde. Ibid. (c. 893), Oros., I. i. § 3. Þa sindon neh þæm garsecge. Ibid., I. vii. § 1. Hy … him ʓehyrsume wæron. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past. C., xxxvi. 260 Hwa sceal … Gode unðoncfull beon?]

  c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxiv. 2. Forðæm hit bið ofdælre ðærto.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxv. [xxiv.] (1890), 348. Hwæþer heo ealle smolt mod &… bliðe to him hæfdon.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 103. Hi wæron to deaþe ʓearwe.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 60. Þa wæs Abraham … ʓearo to Godes hæse.

1303–.  [see COMMON a. 3].

1382–.  [see NECESSARY a.]

1393–.  [see DUE a. 5 a, 9].

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 226. Beoþ nat vnkynde … to ȝoure emcristene.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. xxviii. (Bodl. MS.). Hire crye is loþe and odios to oþer byrdes.

c. 1450–.  [see OPEN a. 15].

1451.  Capgrave, Life St. Gilbert, 112. He … was in gret opinion both to þe Pope & þe court.

1576–.  [see FAMILIAR a. 6].

1593–.  [see LIABLE 3 a].

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 289. As deere to me, as are the ruddy droppes That visit my sad heart.

1607.  [see DEAF a. 2].

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 303. Inuisible To euery eye-ball else.

1612–.  [see ESSENTIAL a. 4].

1632.  Massinger, City Madam, V. iii. You are constant to your purposes.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XI. 864. Grateful to Heav’n.

1711.  [see COLD a. 7].

1726.  [see DEAD a. 3].

1727.  Hartlepool Par. Reg. Mary Farding … murdered by William Stephenson … to whom she was pregnant.

1759.  [see BLIND a. 2 b].

1777.  [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., 14 April. This … is new to me.

1824.  Scott, St. Ronan’s, viii. Induced to form conclusions not very favourable to his character.

1835.  J. Duncan, Beetles, 151. Pervious to air and moisture.

1843.  Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 279. True to nature.

1881.  Besant & Rice, Chapl. of Fleet, II. xii. You are welcome to all my cast-off lovers.

1886.  Manch. Exam., 3 Nov., 3/1. Comte … lays himself specially open to attack.

1887.  A. Birrell, Obiter Dicta, Ser. II. 8. He was always alive to the value of his wares.

1897.  F. Hall, in Nation (N. Y.), LXIV. 163/2. What is permissible to a critic is not impermissible to a counter-critic.

1905.  Oswestry & Border Cos. Advert., 1 June (Advt.). The Cows and Heifers … in-calf to a grand Pedigree Shorthorn Bull.

  b.  After pa. pples. of verbs of perception (now only with known, unknown; nearly = by). (Cf. familiar to, visible to, etc.) In OE. with dative.

[c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 27. Hit is feawum mannum cuð.]

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 204. Heo beoð … to monie al to kuðe.

13[?].  Cursor M., 10621 (Cott.). Þaa þat þis maiden was to cuth.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 432. It is hyd to us whyche of hem ben seynts.

c. 1450.  Love, Bonavent. Mirr., lxi. (Gibbs MS.), lf. 115. Þai weren noȝt seen to hyre.

1539.  Bible (Great), 1 Sam. vi. 3. It shalbe knowen to you, why hys hand departeth not from you.

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John, 47. God was seene and heard to Moses.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 188. A man long knowne to me.

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 149. His house was known to all the vagrant train.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 157. They acted under no authority known to the law.

  B.  To before an infinitive (or gerund: see 22).

  History:—Beside the simple infinitive, or verbal substantive in -an (ME. -en, -e), OE., like the other WGer. languages, had a dative form of the same or a closely related sb., which in OE. ended in -anne, -enne, in ME. reduced successively to -ene, -en, -e, and was thus at length leveled with the simple infinitive, and with it reduced to the uninflected verb-stem. This dative form was always preceded or ‘governed’ by the preposition tó ‘to.’ By many German writers it is called the ‘gerund,’ after the Latin verbal sb. in -ndum. In mod.Eng. the functions of the Latin gerund are more properly discharged by the vbl. sb. in -ing, and it is therefore more convenient to speak of the OE. form in -anne as the ‘dative infinitive’ or ‘infinitive with to.’ Originally, to before the dative infinitive had the same meaning and use as before ordinary substantives, i.e., it expressed motion, direction, inclination, purpose, etc., toward the act or condition expressed by the infinitive; as in ‘he came to help (i.e., to the help of) his friends,’ ‘he went to stay there,’ ‘he prepared to depart (i.e., for departure),’ ‘it tends to melt,’ ‘he proceeded to speak,’ ‘looking to receive something.’ But in process of time this obvious sense of the prep. became weakened and generalized, so that tó became at last the ordinary link expressing any prepositional relation in which an infinitive stands to a preceding verb, adjective, or substantive. Sometimes the relation was so vague as scarcely to differ from that between a transitive verb and its object. This was esp. so when the vb. was construed both transitively and intransitively. There were several verbs in OE. in this position, such as onginnan to begin, ondrǽdan to dread, bebéodan to bid, order, bewerian to forbid, prevent, ʓelíefan to believe, þencean to think, etc.; these are found construed either with the simple (accusative) infinitive, or with tó and the dative infinitive. There was also a special idiomatic use (sense 13 a) of the infinitive with tó as an indirect nominative, where logically the simple infinitive might be expected. From these beginnings, the use of the infinitive with to in place of the simple infinitive, helped by the phonetic decay and loss of the inflexions and the need of some mark to distinguish the infinitive from other parts of the verb and from the cognate sb., increased rapidly during the late OE. and early ME. period, with the result that in mod.Eng. the infinitive with to is the ordinary form, the simple infinitive surviving only in particular connections, where it is very intimately connected with the preceding verb (see below). To a certain extent, therefore, i.e., when the infinitive is the subject or direct object, to has lost all its meaning, and become a mere ‘sign’ or prefix of the infinitive. But after an intrans. vb., or the passive voice, to is still the preposition. In appearance, there is no difference between the infinitive in ‘he proceeds to speak’ and ‘he chooses to speak’; but in the latter to speak is the equivalent of speaking or speech, and in the former of to speaking or to speech. In form, to speak is the descendant of OE. tó specanne; in sense, it is partly the representative of this and largely of OE. specan.

  (The simple infinitive, without to, remains: 1. after the auxiliaries of tense, mood, periphrasis, shall, will; may, can; do; and the quasi-auxiliaries, must, (and sometimes) need, dare: 2. after some vbs. of causing, etc.; make, bid, let, have, in sense 15 a; 3. after some vbs. of perception, see, hear, feel, and some tenses of know, observe, notice, perceive, etc., in sense 15 b; 4. after had liefer, rather, better, sooner, as lief, as soon, as good, as well, etc.: see HAVE v. 22, RATHER adv. 9 d, and the other words.)

  The infinitive with to may be dependent on an adj., a sb., or a vb., or it may stand independently. To an adj. it stands in adverbial relation: ready to fight = ready for fighting; to a sb. it stands in adjectival or sometimes adverbial relation: a day to remember = a memorable day: to a vb. it may stand in an adverbial or substantival relation: to proceed to work = to proceed to working: to like to work = to like working.

  I.  With infinitive in adverbial relation.

  *  Indicating purpose or intention.

  1.  &. Dependent on a vb., to with inf. = in order to; equivalent to that or in order that with subjunctive, or to for or for the purpose of with gerund.

  For in order to, on purpose to, see ORDER sb. 28 b (b), PURPOSE sb. 11 b.

  The implied subject of the inf. may be either a subject or an object in the principal clause.

  (a)  Dependent on a verb of motion.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., II. i. (1890), 96. Moniʓe cwomon to bicgenne þa ðing.

a. 900.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), xxvi. 4. [xxvii. 3]. Þeah hi arisan onʓean me to feohtanne.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark iv. 3. Eode ðe sawende … to sawenne.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 165. To hwon eodan ʓe to westenne … witʓan to secenne.

c. 1205.  Lay., 5238. Heo wolden fære to Rome to wreken o þon folke.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3523. Þat he to him wende To helpe him in suche nede.

1388.  Wyclif, Matt. iv. 1. Thanne Jhesus was led of a spirit in to desert, to be temptid of the feend. Ibid., xi. 8. Or what thing wenten ȝe out to see [1382 for to seen]?

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 3. I get me into my Closet to serue God.

1592.  [see 10].

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 180. Fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.

1890.  Chamb. Jrnl., 28 June, 408/1. We made sail to return to Perim.

Mod.  She ran to meet her father.

  (b)  Dependent on other verbs.

Beowulf (Z.), 2562. Ða wæs hring-boʓan heorte ʓefysed sæcce to seceanne.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xiv. [xi.] (1890), 296. Ða ʓearwodon heo his lichoman to byʓenne.

a. 901.  Laws of Ælfred, c. 62 § 27. ʓif fyr sie ontended ryht to bærnenne.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. ii. 13. Herodes sæcas ðone cnæht to fordoanne.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (Baptista), 842. Þan þe basare hewit on hicht His hand, to strik, gif he mycht.

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., I. ix. 533. As men may be a roundall se, Merkit to be delt in thre.

1445.  in Anglia, XXVIII. 269. Bothe pore and riche labouryd righte sore, encrese to gete.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 146 b. To have a Rowland to resist an Oliver.

1627.  Milton, Vac. Exerc., 24. Thoughts that … loudly knock to have their passage out.

1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 70. I gave a soldier five dollars to carry them news.

1787.  Cowper, Stanzas Yearly Bill Mort., 14. Like crowded forest trees we stand, And some are mark’d to fall.

1859.  Ruskin, Two Paths, iv. § 110. As our bodies, to be in health, must be generally exercised, so our minds, to be in health, must be generally cultivated.

  b.  Dependent on an adj.; indicating the purpose or function to which the adj. refers.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., II. i. (1890), 93. Pæt he selfa ʓeara wære … þæt weorc to fremmenne.

a. 900.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), xiii. 6. Heora fet beoð swiðe hraðe blod to ʓeotanne.

c. 1400.  trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., v. 51. God … make cleer ȝoure vnderstondynge to persayue þe sacrament of þis science.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, II. lxviii. 410. The lye … is very good to washe the scurffe of the head.

Mod.  Are they quite good to eat?

  c.  Dependent on a sb.; the inf. expressing the use or function of that which is denoted by the sb.

  The advb. use may be explained as qualifying the adj. ‘intended, adapted’ before to.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xix. [xxvii.] (1890), 242. Bec on to leornienne [hi] ʓefon.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., III. xi. § 3. Þonne seo leo bringð his hungreʓum hwelpum hwæt to etanne.

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxiii. 771. To syke men made is he Medicyn, hem to mende.

1445.  in Anglia, XXVIII. 277. A plastir to cure þe wounde of Rome.

1526.  Tindale, Luke ii. 32. A light to lighten the gentyls.

1609.  Bible (Douay), Numb. iv. 16. The oyle to dresse the lampes.

1716.  in J. O. Payne, Eng. Cath. Nonjurors of 1715, 348. One ciborium of silver, to preserve the consecrated Host.

a. 1845.  Hood, Lay of Labourer, i. A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow.

  (b)  After time, room, and words of similar meaning: equivalent to for with gerund (cf. a), or = at or in which (one) can or should … (cf. 11 b, c).

13[?].  Cursor M., 11814 (Cott.). Nu neghes tim to tak his lai.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 2000 (Ariadne). Rowm … To welde an axe.

1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 658. To rekne hem alle I haue as now no tyme.

1597.  J. Payne, Royal Exch., 5. Now ys the tyme … to help one another.

1635.  Quarles, Embl., I. vii. 3. Is this a time to pay thine idle vowes At Morpheus Shrine?

1858.  Mill, Liberty, iv. (1873), 57. [There was] no time to warn him of his danger.

1887.  ‘L. Carroll,’ Game of Logic, iv. 96. The time to learn is when you’re young.

  2.  In absolute or independent construction, usually introductory or parenthetic.

  To be SURE, to WIT: see these words.

c. 1305.  St. Kenelm, 266, in E. E. P. (1862), 54. & to telle hit wiþoute rym þuse wordes riȝt hit were.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1037. And schortly to concluden, swich a place Was noon in erthe.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst., xiii. (1841), 129. Than ferther to oure matere to procede, Mary with Elizabeth abod.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., I. i. 8. He keepes me rastically at home, or (to speak more properly) staies me heere at home vnkept.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 922. Nor was his eare less peal’d With noises loud and ruinous (to compare Great things with small) then when Bellona storms [etc.].

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 26, ¶ 6. But to return to our Subject.

1858.  Mill, Liberty, iv. (1873), 53. The pleasure, not to say the useful recreation, of many, is worth the labour of a few.

1888.  Bryce, Amer. Commw., III. VI. xcix. 387. All their ins and outs (to use an American phrase).

  **  Indicating objectivity.

  3.  Dependent on various verbs, chiefly transitive, passive, or reflexive, with weakened sense of purpose: indicating an action, etc., to which that of the principal verb is in some way directed. (See also the verbs themselves; and in particular, for specific uses, BE v. 16, HAVE v. B. 7 c, NEED v.² 8, OUGHT v. B. 5. Cf. also 14 below.)

  The subject of the principal clause is also the implicit subject of the infinitive: so also in other senses below, except where the contrary is stated.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xli. 302. Weorðen ʓeniedde hiera unðeawas to herianne & to weorðianne. Ibid., lvi. 433. Ða ðe ær ðenceað to syngianne. Ibid. (a. 900), Soliloquy (1902), 46. Æall þæt þu wilnast to habbenne.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. xi. 6. Hiʓ begunnon þis to wircanne. Ibid., xxvii. 41. Esau … þohte to ofsleanne Iacob.

a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 227. Hi … begunnon þa to worcen.

c. 1205.  Lay., 18738–9. Þu … þrattest hine to slænne, And his cun to fordonne. Ibid., 24722. Þa … Þe king gon to spekene.

c. 1290.  St. Gregory, 50, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 357. Þou þencst … with þi conseil al rome to bi-traiȝe.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 12. Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 312. The Emperour Alexaunder Aunterid to come.

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxi. 45. They determyned to crowne to their kyng this mayster Denyse.

1694.  S. Meade, in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1912), IX. 182. Her Husband thinks to come downe tomorrow.

1746.  P. Francis, trans. Horace, Art Poet., 36. I strive to be concise.

  b.  In obsolete, archaic, or dialectal uses; now replaced by various prepositions with the gerund, or by other constructions. (See the vbs.)

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. 627. Every man fell to make his prayers to God.

1533.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), I. 360. I shall aduyse yow to stay to doo [= refrain from doing] any thing.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 58. Unless they would … content themselves to winter at the Mauritius.

1749.  Lavington, Enthus. Meth. & Papists, II. (1754), 34. Her Spouse insisting to play another Game.

1871.  G. Meredith, H. Richmond, III. 109. Abstaining to write to her.

1885.  J. Hawthorne, Love or Name, 111. We don’t aim to establish a monopoly.

  4.  Dependent on various adjs. (and pples., and adjectival or predicative phrases): usually indicating the application of the adj., etc. For going to, used as future participle, see GO v. 47 b. (See also senses 1 b, 7–9, and the adjs. themselves.)

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Matt. iii. 11. Æfter me cymeð se is me strængra þæt ic næm wyrþe scoas to beranne.

a. 1225.  Juliana, 5 (Bodl. MS.). Þes ȝunge mon … wes iwunet ofte to cumen wið him.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 1431. Gwider … is truage athuld sone Of rome þat is eldore were iwoned to done.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 8559. Certayne To have endelos joy.

c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1680. He is worthy to haue renown.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VI. xv. 3. The peple … Bene … moir sle To forge and carve lyflyk staturis of bras.

1651.  W. Durham, Maran-atha (1652), 4. Every man that is able to discipline souldiers.

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 161. Careless their merits or their faults to scan.

1832.  Tennyson, Love thou thy Land, 31. Not swift nor slow to change, but firm.

1838.  Thirlwall, Greece, V. xlii. 229. She was at liberty to enforce her claims.

Mod.  I am ready to go.

  b.  With inf. passive: altered from the active (see 9). arch.

c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xi. (1885), 136. This was not possible to haue ben done.

c. 1483.  Vulg. Terent., o 2 b. Whatt is best to be doon now?

1693.  Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. 5. The fittest to be chosen.

1779.  Mirror, No. 21, ¶ 3. Incidents still more frequent, and less easy to be foreseen.

1870.  Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lxii. 382. She was hard to be entreated.

  5.  Dependent on various abstract sbs. (e.g., nouns of action from the vbs. in 3, or of quality from the adjs. in 4): usually indicating object or application, as in 3 and 4; also (after such words as favor, honor, pleasure) indicating an action that is the substance or form of that which is denoted by the sb., i.e., in which it consists: often replaceable by of with gerund.

  For ‘what has he to do, to …’ (= ‘what business has he to …’) and the like, see DO v. 33 c.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxviii. § 4. Ðæt hi … habbað leafe yfel to donne.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 63. Us is mycel þearf to witenne þæt [etc.].

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark ii. 10. Þæt mannes sunu hæfð anweald … synna to forgyfanne.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 15. Þat he geue us mihte and strengðe to forletene þesternesse, and to folȝie brictnesse.

c. 1300.  Harrow. Hell, 179. Ȝef us leve,… To faren of this lothe wyke.

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., I. 593. Haue non hope to liuen longe.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XX. vii. 809. Ye haue no cause to loue sir Launcelot.

1525.  Bp. Sampson, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 356. Means might be fownde to change hym.

1582.  Allen, Martyrd. Campion (1908), 113. This resolutnes of minde, and willingnes to die.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., Introd. Pref. (1848), 13. I … took Pleasure to imagine two or three of my Friends to be present with me.

1737.  Swift, Proposal for giving Badges, etc., Wks. 1751, IX. 301. I had the Honour to be a Member of it.

1842.  R. I. Wilberforce, Rutilius & Lucius, 249. As though in act to spring.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xvi. Conscious of increased disinclination to tell his story.

  ***  Indicating appointment or destination.

  6.  Indicating destiny, or (expected or actual) event or outcome. Dependent on vb., adj., or sb.

  See also COME v. 23 b, GET v. 32, LEAVE v.¹ 5 b, LIVE v.¹ 9.

a. 1380.  St. Augustin, 108, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 63/2. Þei [the Manichees] forsok þat alle men Schulde rise in flesch, to lyue aȝen.

1445.  in Anglia, XXVIII. 269. No theef iss suffrid to lyen in weyes there felawes him lyke to make.

1638.  G. Sandys, Paraphr. Job xxvii. 34. Borne to begge their bread.

1725.  Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. July, Plant out Colliflowers, to blow in September.

1750.  Gray, Elegy, xiv. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen.

1781.  Cowper, Charity, 74. We come with joy from our eternal rest, To see the oppressor in his turn oppressed.

1808.  Byron, When we two parted, 4. When we two parted … To sever for years.

  ****  Indicating result or consequence.

  7.  Expressing result or consequence (potential or actual); esp. after so or such (now always with as before to = that with finite vb.: see AS adv. B. 20), or enough. For inf. after than, see THAN 1 c.

  With enough, too (see b), the subj. of the principal clause may be either the implied subj. or obj. of the inf., or obj. of a following prep. (cf. constructions in sense 11), or the subj. of the inf. may be a sb. or pron. preceded by for, or may be unexpressed.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5158. Ne be nat proude … Yn þyn herte to make a rous.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 308. I haue yow toold ynowe To reyse a feend.

1577.  Fulke, Answ. True Christian, 95. Be not so impudent, to charge vs with these crimes aboue the Papistes.

1611.  Bible, Gen. iii. 22. The man is become as one of us, to know good & euill.

1742.  Fielding, Jos. Andrews, IV. iii. The Laws … are not so vulgar, to permit a mean Fellow to contend with one of your Ladyship’s Fortune.

1865.  Ruskin, Sesame, i. § 15. He has only to speak a sentence … to be known for an illiterate person.

1877.  Spurgeon, Serm., XXIII. 537. A man who has light enough to know he is wrong but not grace enough to forsake the evil.

1884.  Manch. Exam., 14 May, 5/1. The Government have … done much to excite against them the fiercest antipathies of the Opposition.

  b.  After too, with negative implication (too … to … = so … as not to, or so … that … not…). See also TOO 2 b.

  Here for with the gerund may often be substituted.

a. 1300.  A Sarmun, xxxv., in E. E. P. (1862), 5. Hit is to late whan þou ert þare To crie ihsu þin ore.

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 4031. We are … to fewe to feghte with them all.

c. 1538.  R. Cowley, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. II. 98. Too lamentable to expres.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 113 b. It is nowe to late to examyne the licence.

1655.  Nicholas Papers (Camden), II. 266. Cromwell hath too good a nose as to hunt vpon a false sent.

1665.  [see TOO 2 b].

1712.  Budgell, Spect., No. 401, ¶ 4. My Answer would be too long to trouble you with.

1833.  Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere, ii. Too proud to care from whence I came.

Mod.  This tea is too hot to drink. The weight is too heavy for you to lift.

  *****  Indicating occasion or condition.

  8.  Indicating occasion (passing into ground, reason, or cause): equivalent to at, in, on, for, of, by, etc., with gerund, or because with finite vb.

a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 122. Wonder glad I was to see That lusty place.

1380.  Lay Folks Catech., 220 (MS. L.). And so myȝt pardoun be gotun to sey [= by saying] yche day a lady sawter.

1508.  Colyn Blowbol’s Test., 22, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 93. An hors wold wepe to se the sorow he maide.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xlvii[i]. 5. They marveled to se soch thinges.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 343. I blusht to heare his monstrous deuices. Ibid. (1596), Tam. Shr., III. ii. 27. Goe girle, I cannot blame thee now to weepe.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., iii. I could not but smile to hear her talk in this lofty strain.

1833.  Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere, ii. I know you proud to bear your name.

1843.  Macaulay, Lays, Horatius, xlix. All Etruria’s noblest Felt their hearts sink to see On the earth the bloody corpses, In the path the dauntless Three.

  9.  With inf. after an adj. or (predicate) sb., in passive sense (equivalent to the L. supine in -u), the main sb. of the principal clause being the implied object of the inf., or of a preposition following (or in ME. preceding).

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiv. § 11. Hi bioð swiðe eðe to tedælenne.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark ii. 9. Hwæt is eaður to coeðanne…?

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 31. Gode tiðinge and murie to heren.

13[?].  K. Alis., 6312. Heo buth the lothlokest men on to seon.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 705. A flour, þat es fayre to se.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xxvii. 274. Wylde men that ben hidouse to loken on.

c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 617. Gret Ruthe yt wase to se.

1535.  Coverdale, Gen. xii. 11. Thou art a fayre woman to loke vpon.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., II. 101. Ere it be good to eat.

1736.  Thomson, Liberty, V. 456. Oh! shame to think!

1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, I. i. Deadly to hear, and deadly to tell.

1899.  W. T. Greene, Cage-Birds, 71. Macaws … very gorgeous creatures to look at.

  10.  With inf. expressing a fact or supposition that forms the ground of the statement in the principal clause, or is considered in connection with it; equivalent to in with gerund, or that, in that, considering that (or sometimes if) with finite vb.

13[?].  Seuyn Sag. (W.), 2544. Sire, thou art wel nice, To leue [= believe] so mochel thin emperice.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxii. 481. He dothe wronge to leve me here.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. i. 23. Par. Come you to make confession to this Father? Iul. To answere that, I should confesse to you. Ibid. (1610), Temp., III. i. 37. I haue broke your hest to say so.

1706.  Addison, Rosamund, I. iii. Thou art a rustic to call me so.

1846.  W. E. Forster, in Reid, Life (1888), I. vi. 186. What a strange little mortal he is, to be ruler of a mighty nation.

1884.  R. W. Church, Bacon, iii. 59. He was no mere idealist or recluse to undervalue … the real grandeur of the world.

1887.  ‘L. Carroll,’ Game of Logic, i. § 1. 15. You will do well to work out a lot more for yourself.

  † b.  With inf. equivalent to a conditional clause with indefinite subject (= if one were to…). Obs.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Miller’s T., 66. In al this world to seken vp and doun There nas no man so wys.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), ix. 81. Fro that hospitall, to go toward the Est, is a full fayr chirche.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 89. To keepe them here, They would but stinke, and putrifie the ayre.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, III. i. Bulls and Rams will fight, To keep their Females standing in their sight.

  II.  With infinitive in adjectival relation.

  11.  With inf. in adjectival relation to a sb.; either as predicate after the vb. to be (see BE 16, 17), or immediately qualifying the sb.

  a.  Expressing intention or appointment (cf. 1, 6), and hence simply futurity (thus equivalent to a future participle). (a) with inf. act.: is to … = intends or is intended to…, is going to…, will….

c. 1000–.  [see COME v. 32].

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 287. Man þou art iwis To winne ȝut a kinedom.

c. 1420.  Sir Amadas (Weber), 569. Yffe thou be a mon to wedde a wyfe, Y voche hyr save … On the.

c. 1460.  Oseney Reg., 101. Thoo þat be present and to be.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., IV. ii. 29. I am to discourse wonders…. I will tell you euery thing as it fell out. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., I. i. 5. Whereof it is borne, I am to learne.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 113. A Nation from one faithful man to spring.

1693.  South, Serm., II. 113. He who is to pray … has more to consider of, than … his Heart can hold.

1779.  Mirror, No. 23, ¶ 3. He was not suffered to play with his equals, because he was to be the king of all sports.

1864.  Browning, Rabbi Ben Ezra, i. The best is yet to be.

  (b)  with inf. pass. (equivalent to Lat. gerundive): to be done = intended to be done, about to be done.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst., x. (1841), 96. Here is to be maryde a mayde ȝynge.

1585.  in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., V. 108. Articles to be ministred to Tho. Rowe.

1609.  Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXVI. i. Having a presage … of the businesse to bee performed.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), II. xii. 245. The happy minute of our being to be seized by the Dutch … ships.

1843.  Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 655. Leopold was to be appointed Viceroy.

  (c)  with inf. act., the sb. being the implicit object of the inf.; thus equivalent to the passive in (b).

  As predicate, obs. in literary Eng. exc. in certain connections, as a house to let (LET v.¹ 8); when following a sb., the sb. is usu. governed by have (see HAVE v. B. 7).

c. 1200.  Ormin, Ded. 8. Witt hafenn takenn ba An reȝhellboc te follȝhenn.

14[?].  in Rel. Ant., I. 62. This poure man had suyn to selle.

1487–8.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 134. For a hoke to sett on his dorr.

1595.  Shaks., John, I. i. 259. Were I to get againe,… I would not wish a better father.

1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl., 26 Oct. He has a son to educate.

1797.  Canning, Knife-Grinder, ii. Knives and Scissars to grind O!

1852.  M. Arnold, Empedocles, I. ii. 334. The mass … Of volumes yet to read, Of secrets to explore.

Mod. Notice.  This house to let or for sale.

Mod.  I have much to tell.

  (d)  with inf. followed (in ME. sometimes preceded) by a preposition, the sb. being the implicit obj. of the prep.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xvii. 126. ʓif ðær ðonne sie ʓierd mid to ðreaʓeanne, sie ðær eac stæf mid to wreðianne.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 89. He … bed hem bringen a wig one te riden.

1408–17.  in Rec. St. Mary at Hill, Introd. 96. Item, .j. short fourme with a tapete and Quysshynes to knele at.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 13. These great roomes … be Barnes to laye Corne in.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Rosette, Red Inke to rule bookes with.

1707.  Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 366. A Dry Season … is best to sow Barley and White Oats in.

  b.  Expressing duty, obligation, or necessity. (a) with inf. act.: is to … = is bound to, has to…, must…, ought to.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 216. The Ravyne … Was dene rurale to reid.

a. 1529.  Skelton, Phyllyp Sparow, 401. Robyn red breste He shall be the preest The requiem masse to syng.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. iii. 37. Thy Master is ship’d, and thou art to post after with oares. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., IV. ii. 128. You are not to goe loose any longer, you must be pinnion’d.

1768.  Goldsm., Good-n. Man, iii. I’m yet to thank you for choosing my little library.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 13 July, 5/2. The Southerners, with only one wicket to fall, were 259 runs to the bad.

1887.  ‘L. Carroll,’ Game of Logic, i. § 1. 9. What, then, are you to do?

  (b)  with inf. pass. (= L. gerundive): is to be … = is proper to be, ought to be…, should be…, need be….

  The inf. pass. is also occasionally used as adj. preceding the sb.; now with hyphens, as to-be-dreaded = dreadful.

1382.  Wyclif, John xxi. 25. I deme neither the world him silf to mowe take tho bookis, that ben to be writun.

c. 1410.  Love, Bonavent. Mirr. (1908), 49. That is … most profitable, and rather to be chosen.

1560–78.  Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. (1621), 61. Unprofitable questions are to be avoided.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burn. Pest., V. iii. There’s no more to be said.

1774.  Burke, Amer. Tax., 32. If, Sir, the conduct of ministry … had arisen from timidity…, it would have been greatly to be condemned.

1858.  Mill, Liberty, v. (1873), 60. The taxation … of stimulants … is not only admissible, but to be approved of.

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt., 28*. That same moste fortunate and moste to be desyred kyngdome.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 157. Such to be pittied, and ore-rested seeming He acts thy Greatnesse in.

1779.  Sylph, II. 50. This shall be the last letter that treats on this to-be-forbidden theme.

1854.  J. B. Ferguson, Spirit Communion, Intro. 9. Mr. Wesley was written a fanatic, and the to-be-pitied victim of an age of superstitious darkness which had passed away to return no more forever.

1871.  Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., III. vi. 835. The to-be-dreaded legacies of smallpox.

1817.  F. R. Sterrett, William & Williamina, v. 65. The to-be-envied and beautiful ladies so luxuriously riding the gorgeously caparisoned elephants and camels.

  (c)  with inf. act., of which the sb. is the implicit obj., as in 11 a (c).

  As predicate, obs. exc. in to blame (BLAME v. 6); otherwise usu. with have before the sb., as in a (c); also with ellipsis of sb. in have to do (see DO v. 33. c, d).

971.  Blickl. Hom., 63. Nis þæt no be eallum demum ʓelice to secʓʓenne.

c. 1122.  O. E. Chron., an. 1083. Þa munecas … nyston hwet heom to donne wære. Ibid., an. 1086. Betwyx oðrum þingum nis na to forgytane þæt gode frið.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 52. [Heo] wot betere þen ich wot, hwat heo haueð to donne.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3271. Hii slowe þere a þousend & mo…, & þat was to rywe sore. Ibid., 3318. Wat were to done.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 196. Confessioun of cowardise is to drede of men.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 8. The hevene wot what is to done.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 6821. Ector bretheren weren mechel to prayse.

1503.  Hawes, Examp. Virt., vii. 104. A man without wytte is to dyspyse.

1634.  W. Tirwhyt, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. I.), 294. Having a thousand old debates to reconcile, and as many new ones to prevent.

1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, l. They had no time to lose.

1870.  Rogers, Hist. Gleanings, Ser. II. 214. Everybody … thought Horne to blame.

1888.  W. S. Gilbert, Yeomen of Guard, I. 12. I have a song to sing, O!

Mod.  You are much to blame.

  (d)  with inf. and prep., as in 11 a (d).

1611.  Bible, Luke xii. 50. I haue a baptisme to be baptized with.

1779.  Mirror, No. 48, ¶ 10. The painter has yet more [difficulties] to struggle with.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xvi. It was not … a thing to make a fuss about.

1888.  Rider Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will, xvii. Ladies need never wear anything to speak of in the evening.

  c.  Expressing possibility or potential action. (a) with inf. act.: = that can or may.

a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P. (Percy Soc.), 34. Heo hath a mury mouth to mele [= speak].

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 288. Men stable in bileue ben a þick walle to turnen aȝen þis þondir.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), v. 45. In that contree [Egypt] ben the gode astronomyeres; for thei fynde there no cloudes to letten hem.

1526.  Tindale, Matt. xi. 15. He that hath eares to heare, let him here.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, cxi. 385. There was no man to saye hym naye.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Anger (Arb.), 566. They haue so many Things to trouble them.

1782.  Cowper, Alex. Selkirk, 2. My right there is none to dispute.

1799.  Wordsw., She dwelt among the untrodden ways, i. A maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love.

1890.  ‘L. Falconer,’ Mlle. Ixe, vi. There is no one to see us.

  (b)  with inf. pass.: = that can or may be…; often equivalent to an adj. in -ble, as to be heard = audible.

1533.  Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 24. The inner part therof is not to be eaten.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 30. In all that rowme was nothing to be seene But huge great yron chests.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. i. 68. Looke For fury, not to be resisted.

1631.  Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 222. This inscription … now hardly to be read.

1818.  J. Flint, Lett. Amer., iv. 46. Not a sound was to be heard.

  (c)  with inf. act., of which the sb. is the implicit obj., as in 11 a (c): = that (one) can or may…; often nearly equivalent to for with gerund, as in 1 a.

  Rarely in predicate (quots. 1297, a. 1849²). With drink, eat, sometimes as apparent obj. of the vb., with ellipsis of something or anything (arch.).

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark x. 40. Sitta … to swiðra minra … ne is min to sellanne.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. xxviii. 20. Gif Drihten … sylþ me hlaf to etenne and reaf to weriʓenne.

c. 1205.  Lay., 13578. Nefden we noht to drinken. Ibid., 13583. Ȝe sculleð habben to drinken.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2747. He esste at is clerkes were it to leue [= to be believed, credible] were.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), v. 47. There is no watre to drynke, but ȝif it come be condyt from Nyle.

1582.  N. T. (Rhem.), John iv. 7. Giue me to drinke [so 1611 earlier vv. Geue me drynke].

1610.  Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 102. Without them [his books] Hee … hath not One Spirit to command.

1736.  Gentl. Mag., VI. 744/2. A taking pattern! to propose To our slim race of modern beaus.

1815.  W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 190. The great Grecian youth, Who whimper’d for more worlds to conquer.

a. 1849.  Beddoes, Dream-Pedlary. If there were dreams to sell. Ibid. Were dreams to have at will.

1858.  Sears, Athan., III. x. 332. Heathen nations … who have had no truth given them to reject.

1897.  Kipling, 5 Nations, Our Lady of Snows. The gates are mine to open, As the gates are mine to close.

  (d)  with inf. and prep., as in 11 a (d).

c. 1410.  Love, Bonavent Mirr. (1908), 49. A pore wommanes sone, that skarsly hadde clothes to wrappe hym inne.

1423.  James I., Kingis Quair, clxxiv. Nor sekernes, my spirit with to glad.

1593.  Nashe, Christ’s T. (1613), 54. Nere had you such a subiect to roialize your Muses with.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. i. 68. Sweet Duke of Yorke, our Prop to leane vpon.

1784.  Burns, Ep. to J. Rankine, iv. Tak that, ye lea’e them naething To ken them by.

  d.  Expressing quality or character: = such as to…, fit to, such as would…. (With various constructions as in a, b, c, but not used predicatively.)

14[?].  Pol. Rel. & L. Poems, 217. I have herde of an erbe to lyss that peyne.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., II. i. 313. ’Twas a din to fright a Monsters eare.

1735–6.  Thomson, Liberty, IV. 406. A sight to gladden Heav’n!

1824.  Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xix. Father Crackenthorp was not a man to be brow-beaten.

1833.  T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., I. ii. Is she a person to like?

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xxxii. She was not the woman to misbehave towards her betters.

  12.  With inf. equivalent to a relative clause with indicative; chiefly after first, last, or the like (in this case = in with gerund): as the first to come = ‘the first in coming,’ ‘the first who comes or came.’

1535.  Coverdale, 2 Sam. xix. 11. Why wyl ye be the last to fetch the kynge agayne vnto his house?

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. i. 42. Not an eye that sees you, but is a Physician to comment on your Malady.

1667.  Milton, P. L., X. 109. He came, and with him Eve, more loth, though first To offend.

1766.  Goldsm., Vicar W., viii. I have an interest in being first to deliver this message.

1821.  J. F. Cooper, Spy, iii. Harper was the last to appear.

1835.  Lytton, Rienzi, I. v. Mine shall be the first voice to swell the battle-cry of freedom.

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxv. Why … was I … among the foremost to urge upon my general the murder of the Inca?

  III.  With infinitive in substantival relation.

  Equivalent to a noun or gerund: to being ultimately reduced to a mere ‘sign’ of the infinitive without any meaning of its own.

  13.  a. with inf. as subject, or as object with complement, introduced by it or an impersonal verb; in quot. c. 1205¹ without it.

  Here the inf. app. originally depended on the adj. or sb. in the it clause (as in sense 9), or on the impersonal vb., and was therefore put in the form with to. Thus hwilum ða leohtan scylda bioð beteran to forlætenne, ‘sometimes the slight sins are better to let alone’ (K. Ælf., Pa. C., 457) might also be expressed hwilum hit is betre ða leohtan scylda to forlætenne (cf. hit is god godne to herianne, quot. c 890) ‘sometimes it is better to let alone the slight sins’; and this easily passed into the later ‘to let alone the slight sins is sometimes better,’ where the inf. clause becomes the subject as in b.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xvii. Nan þara þinga wyrcan þe him beboden is to wyrcenne. Ibid., xxxviii. § 5. Þæt men sie alefed yfel to donne.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., Pref. (1890), 2. Forþon hit is god godne to herianne & yfelne to leanne.

a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 217. Hit is wel swete of him to specene.

c. 1200–.  [see BEHOVE v. 4 a].

c. 1205.  Lay., 1848. Þa heo best wende to fleonne. Ibid., 31107. Hit is on mine rede To don þat þu bede.

a. 1230.  [see BECOME v. 8 b].

13[?].  K. Alis., 7346 (Laud MS.). Good it were to ben kniȝth.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 341. Hem nedeth noght a Riff to slake.

c. 1430–.  [see GRIEVE v. 5 b].

a. 1440.  Sir Degrev., 1498. Hyt was a mervelous thing To se the rydalus hyng.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 110. It was a bruite part of him, to kill so Capital a Calfe there.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 427. God hath pronounc’t it death to taste that Tree.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxvii. 15. ’Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.

1880.  Shorthouse, J. Inglesant, xx. Many who will have it in their power to be of great use to you.

  b.  with inf. as direct subject or predicate, or in apposition with a sb. or pron., or after than: often replaceable by the gerund or vbl. sb. in -ing.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 6044. Ful wykkede ys þat coueytyse Wyþ oþer mennes gode falsly to ryse.

1388.  Wyclif, 1 Sam. xv. 22. To herkene Goddis word is more than to offre the ynnere fatnesse of rammes.

14[?].  Chaucer’s Pars. T., ¶ 670 (Selden & Lansd. MSS.). Auarice is to withholde & kepe suche thinges as thow hast withouten rightful nede.

c. 1450.  trans. De Imitatione, II. viii. 48. To be wiþouto ihesu is a greuous helle, and to be wiþ ihesu is a swete paradise.

1539.  Bible (Great), 1 Sam. xv. 22. Behold, to obeye [1388 Wyclif, 1535 Coverd. obedience], is better then sacrifice, & to herken, is better then y^e fatt of rammes.

1557.  North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr., 126. A woman in nothing sheweth her sageness more then to dissemble with a foolish husband.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, I. i. 148. To speake on the part of virginitie, is to accuse your Mothers.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 157. To be weak is miserable Doing or Suffering.

1709.  Pope, Ess. Crit., 525. To err is human, to forgive, divine.

1781.  Cowper, Conversation, 8. Talking is not always to converse.

1865.  E. Burritt, Walk Land’s End, 208. The Established Church could not do a better thing … than to peopleise these magnificent edifices.

1878.  Abney, Photogr. (1881), 160. The result is to render such organic matter insoluble.

  14.  with inf. as direct object of a transitive verb. (See also GIVE v. 29. c.)

  OE. normally had the simple inf., like mod.German.

Beowulf, 356. Þa andsware … ðe me se goda agifan þenceð.

[Cf. c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxiii. [xxii.] (1890), 330. Moniʓe men þa ðe þas þing ʓehyrdon secgan]

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros. (Contents), I. ii. Her Ninus ongon monna ærest ricsian. Ibid., I. xii. § 4. For ðon þe he him cweman þohte. Ibid. (a. 900), Solil. (1902), 13. Ic wilneʓe cuman to þe.

a. 900.  Laws of Ælfred, c. 66. § 7. And he bebead þone hlaford lufian swa hine selfne.

a. 900.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), iii. 4. Þa ongan ic slapan.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke i. 1. Maneʓa pohton þara þinga race ʓeendebyrdan.

[a. 1132.  O. E. Chron., an. 1127. Þa muneces herdon ða horn blawen.]

  Many of the vbs. which in OE. took the simple inf. could also be followed by to with the dative infinitive. But the auxiliary vbs. (see History above) have always been followed by the simple inf.; e.g., Hwæt can ic sprecan? What can I speak? We maʓon ʓehyran, We may hear.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxvi. § 8. Swa hwa swa wilnað good to donne, he wilnað good to habbanne. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past. C., lviii. 441. Ðonne hi leorniað … ða soðan god to secanne. Ibid. (a. 900), Solil. (1902), 59. Ic wundriʓe hwi ðu swa swiðe ʓeorne … þæt to witanne.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. i. 20. Nelle þu ondrædan Marian … to onfonne [Rushw. onfoiæ]. Ibid., ii. 22. He ondred þyder to faranne [Lind. ðider fara vel to færenne].

11[?].  O. E. Chron., MS. F. (12th c.), an. 40. Matheus on Iudea agan his godspell to writen. [Cf. anno 47, Marcus se godspellere in Egipta aginþ writan þæt godspell.]

c. 1200.  Ormin, 11805. He forrsoc to don Þe laþe gastess wille.

c. 1205.  Lay., 4569. He þohte to habben [c. 1275 he þohte habbe] Delgan to quene of Denemarke.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 90. Suche lessounes lordes shulde louie to here.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1919. What asketh men to haue?

c. 1400.  Maundev., Prol. 2. He ches … there to suffre his passioun.

1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Feb., 186. Nought aske I, but onely to hold my right.

1601.  B. Jonson, Poetaster, III. i. Wks. (Rtldg.), 114/2. I love not to be idle.

1611.  Bible, Exod. ii. 15. He sought to slay Moses.

1645.  Fuller, Gd. Th. in Bad T., xxii. (1841), 17. Give me to guard myself.

1727.  De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. iii. (1840), 74. If he would still refuse to grant their demands.

1754.  A. Murphy, Gray’s-Inn Jrnl., No. 83. I fancied to myself, to see my amiable Countrywomen [etc.].

1812.  Crabbe, Tales, xi. 314. He fear’d to die, yet felt ashamed to live.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxxii. Please, Mister Sawyer, Missis Raddle wants to speak to you.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. i. 62. The queen took upon herself to grant patents of monopoly.

1858.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., II. v. (1872), I. 75. A talent … for fighting … and … a talent for avoiding to fight.

  b.  rarely as object of another preposition, instead of the vbl. sb. or gerund. (Prob. imitating French use.)

  For inf. with about to, for to, see ABOUT A. 10–12, FOR prep. II.

1485.  Caxton, Paris & V. (1868), 32. Vyenne salewed parys wythoute to make [Fr. sans faire] ony semblaunte of loue.

1591.  Spenser, Ruines of Time, 429. For not to have been dipt in Lethe lake, Could save the sonne of Thetis from to die.

1611.  A. Stafford, Niobe, 76. The same difference … that is betwixt to sin and not to sinne.

1868.  Tennyson, Wages, 5. Give her the glory of going on, and still to be.

1879.  Mallock, Life Worth Liv., 17. Not to affirm is a very different thing from to deny.

  IV.  With infinitive equivalent to a finite verb or clause.

  15.  With inf. as complement to a sb. or pron., forming a compound object or sb. phrase, corresponding to the ‘accusative and infinitive’ construction in Latin and Greek.

  (But certain vbs. in a. and b. are followed (at least in the active voice) by the simple inf. without to: e.g., ‘they made him come,’ ‘I felt something move.’ See History above.)

  a.  after verbs of commanding, teaching, desiring, causing, allowing, or the like; equivalent to a that-clause with the sb. or pron. governing a vb. in the subjunctive. Also after the passive of such verbs, the sb. or pron. then becoming the subject.

  (Also in early OE. often with simple inf.: e.g.,

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. x. § 11. Þa het he ænne mon stiʓan on þone mast, & locian.)

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., Prayer (1899), 149. Tæc me þinne willan to wyrcenne.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. xx. [xxii.] (1890), 472. Ðara þinga ðe he oðre lærde to donne.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. viii. 21. Alyfe me ærest to faranne & bebyriʓean [L. permitte me primum ire et sepelire] minne fæder.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 10361. Acc wel itt maȝȝ hemm brinngenn onn To rihhtenn þeȝȝre dede.

c. 1200–.  [see MARE v. 53 b].

c. 1330.  Amis & Amil., 1577. He was y-hote to go.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), iv. 25. I do þe to wytene, þat it is made be enchauntement.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxxiii. 161. The kyng … suffred them to passe through his host.

1611.  Coryat, Crudities, 268. Shee will … cause thy throate to be cut.

1704.  Swift, T. Tub, ix. 170. I desire the Reader to attend.

1865.  Ruskin, Sesame, in. § 94. I know you would like that to be true.

1902.  Gairdner, Hist. Eng. Ch. 16th C., viii. (1903), 143. She was compelled to act as lady’s-maid to her new-born half-sister.

  b.  after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, perceiving, or the like; equivalent to a that-clause with vb. in the indicative. Also after the passive of such. verbs, and after intr. verbs of like meaning, as seem, happen, etc.

  (Also in early OE. with simple inf.: e.g.,

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. ix. (1890), 408. Ðara cynna moniʓ he wiste in Germanie wesan.)

a. 1300–.  [see SEEM v. 4].

13[?]–.  [see HAPPEN v. 3].

a. 1400–.  [see CHANCE v. 1 c].

1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 167. Wyse men denye Eneas to have seen Cathago.

a. 1450.  Cov. Myst., xxxii. (1841), 324. We merveylyth … That ȝe wryte hym to be kyng of Jewys.

1566.  Painter, Pal. Pleas., I. 154. When hee sawe him to weepe.

1632.  Milton, Penseroso, 137. Where the rude Ax … Was never heard the Nymphs to daunt.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver, IV. iii. The Houyhnhnms … could hardly believe me to be a right Yahoo.

1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. xxiii. O’er Roslin … A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam.

1891.  T. Hardy, Tess, xxxiv. Unlocking the case, they found it to contain a necklace.

1912.  H. L. Cannon, in Eng. Hist. Rev., Oct., 665. The English appear to have used all the methods [etc.].

  † c.  in other constructions, equivalent to a that-clause as subject, in apposition, or after a prep. or than (cf. THAT conj. 1, 1 b, 1 c). Obs. (now sometimes replaced by the const. with for: see d).

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 117. Þere bið uuel to wunienne eni wise men.

1382.  Wyclif, Matt. xxiv. 6. It bihoueth thes thingis to be don.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 502. If gold ruste, what shal Iren doo. For if a preest be foul,… No wonder is, a lewed man to ruste.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., xviii. 31. A madyn to bere a chyld,… that were ferly.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, I. xvi. 60. It is better that we slee a coward than thorow a coward alle we to be slayne.

1474.  Coventry Leet Bk., 389. Vppon the peyn, who doth to be contrarie to lose … vj s. viij d.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. cxxxii[i.] 1. Beholde, how good & ioyfull a thinge it is, brethren to dwell together in vnite.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 33. A heauier taske could not haue beene impos’d, Than I to speake my griefes vnspeakeable.

1647.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1833), I. 143. Because of the rumour of sicknes to be begune in Warrington.

1678.  Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. iv. § 34. 534. Qua pateat Mundum Divino Numine verti … Whereby it may appear the World to be Governed by a Divine Mind.

  d.  preceded by for (with various constructions and shades of meaning): see FOR prep. 18.

  16.  With inf. after a dependent interrogative or relative; equivalent to a clause with may, should, etc. (Sometimes with ellipsis of whether before or in an alternative dependent question.)

a. 1300–.  [see HOW adv. 9].

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 558. She hath no wight to whom to make hir mone.

c. 1400.  R. Gloucester’s Chron. (Rolls), 9237 (MS. B.). Hii nuste wat to do.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., xxiii. 259. Godys son … Hase not where apon his hede to rest.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XIII. xix. 639. He … wyst not what to do.

1564.  Stapleton, trans. Staphylus’ Apol., Pref. 3. Looking of him to be directed where, howe, and when to strike.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. i. 56. To be, or not to be, that is the Question.

1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, II. 7. In doubt to act, or rest.

1896.  A. Austin, Eng. Darling, I. i. To know the worst Is the one way whereby to better it.

  b.  In absolute or independent construction after an interrogative, forming an elliptical question.

  This may be explained as an ellipsis of the principal clause (sense 16), or of ‘is one,’ ‘am I,’ etc., before the inf. (sense 11 b or c).

1713.  Addison, Cato, III. vii. But how to gain admission? for Access Is giv’n to none but Juba, and her Brothers.

1821.  Shelley, Hellas, 659. Whither to fly?

1835.  J. H. Newman, Lett. (1891), II. 87. But … how to hinder vexatious prosecutions? Ibid. (1841), 347. Talk carries off a good deal of irritation; but how to make talk innocent?

1875.  Morris, Æneid, XII. 489. Ah, what to do?

  17.  In absolute or independent construction, with subject expressed (in nom.) or omitted: in exclamations expressing astonishment, indignation, sorrow, or (after O or other interj.) longing.

a. 1450.  Cov. Myst., viii. 77. I to bere a childe that xal bere alle mannys blyss,… ho mythe have joys more?

1460.  Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 141. Seynt Thomas hast thou killid; and now to forsake the proteccion of alle Cristen men!

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 202. And I to sigh for her, to watch for her, To pray for her, go to! Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., III. i. 37. My owne flesh and blood to rebell.

1664.  Pepys, Diary, 27 March. But, Lord! to see how the trained bands are raised upon this.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., III. 93. O to forget her!

1832.  R. H. Froude, Rem. (1838), I. 257. Only to think that my stars should let me off so easily!

1842.  Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 175. I, to herd with narrow foreheads…!

1845.  Browning, Home Thoughts. Oh, to be in England!