Etimology
From Middle English to, from Old English tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō ~ *ta, from Proto-Indo-European *de ~ *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe (“to”), German zu (“to”), West Frisian ta (“to”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ndaj (“towards”), Irish do (“to, for”), Breton da (“to, for”), Welsh i (“to, for”), Russian до (do, “to”). Doublet of too.
preposition
to
Indicating destination: In the direction of, so as to arrive at.
Used to indicate the target or recipient of an action.
Used to indicate result of action.
Used to indicate a resulting feeling or emotion.
Used after an adjective to indicate its application.
Denotes the end of a range.
(obsolete) As a.
Used to indicate a ratio or comparison; compared to, as against.
(arithmetic) Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation.
(time) Preceding the next hour.
Used to describe what something consists of or contains.
According to.
(Canada, Cornwall (UK), Newfoundland, Wales, West Midlands (UK)) At.
Examples
We are walking to the shop.
Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.
I gave the book to him.
I spoke to him earlier.
He devoted himself to education.
They drank to his health.
His face was beaten to a pulp.
To everyone's great relief, the tuneless carol singers finally ceased their warbling.
similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking.
It takes 2 to 4 weeks to process typical applications.
With God to friend ; with The Devil to fiend ; lambs slaughtered to lake ; took her to wife ; was sold to slave .
one to one = 1:1
ten to one = 10:1.
I have ten dollars to your four.
The hoſt of Xerxes, which by fame is ſaidTo drinke the mightie Parthian Araris,Was but a handfull to that we will haue.
In total, the Reds had 28 shots to their opponent's nine, and 15 corners to the Baggies' three.
Three squared or three to the second power is nine.
Three to the power of two is nine.
Three to the second is nine.
What's the time? – It's quarter to four in the afternoon .
Antonym: past
It’s quarter to
Anyone could do this job; there's nothing to it.
There's a lot of sense to what he says.
The name has a nice ring to it.
Our holiday did not go to plan.
Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y.
Where are you to?
adverb
to (not comparable)
(regionalism) Toward a closed, touching or engaging position.
(nautical) Into the wind.
Misspelling of too.
Examples
Please push the door to.
He went in his room, pushed the door to, without fastening the latch.
Related words
synonyms
(toward a closed, touching or engaging position): closed, shut
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "toward a closed, touching or engaging position"): open, ajar
Etimology
From Hindi तो (to)