Betake
[bɪ'teɪk] or [bɪ'tek]
Definition
(v. t.) To take or seize.
(v. t.) To have recourse to; to apply; to resort; to go; -- with a reflexive pronoun.
(v. t.) To commend or intrust to; to commit to.
Checked by Jean
Definition
v.t. to take one's self to to go (with self): to apply or have recourse:—pa.t. betook′; pa.p. betāk′en.
Edited by Cecilia
Examples
- To that water--cause of my woes, perhaps now to be their cure, I would betake myself. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- But there is no end to lamentation, when we betake ourselves to such subjects. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- They were going to lock up mill and stables for the night, and then betake themselves home. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Where he may betake himself to I can't say. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I would betake me with them to some wild beast's den, where a tyger's cubs, which I would slay, had been reared in health. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Whither betake them? Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Bishop then betook himself up-stairs, and the other magnates gradually floated up after him until there was no one left below but Mr Merdle. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- When at last she left you, you lapsed at once into deep reverie: you betook yourself slowly to pace the gallery. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- He betook himself to books with ardour, and reposed from study in the society he best loved, that of his sister and myself. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Having arrived at this conclusion, he betook himself to the tap. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Arthur Clennam, with the card in his hand, betook himself to the address set forth upon it, and speedily arrived there. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Wamba stopt short in the midst of a jest, and betook himself to sword and target. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Editor: Philip