prep.
- expressing direction or position in relation to a location, point, or condition.
▸chiefly Brit. (in telling the time) before (the hour specified).
- identifying the person or thing affected.
- identifying a relationship between one person or thing and another.
▸indicating a rate of return:
ten miles to the gallon.
- indicating that two things are attached.
- governing a phrase expressing someone's reaction:
to her astonishment, he smiled.
- used to introduce the second element in a comparison.
- placed before a debit entry in accounting.
infinitive marker
- used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the infinitive.
▸
(about to)
forming a future tense with reference to the immediate future.
- used without a verb following when the missing verb is clearly understood:
she said she didn't want to.
adv.
so as to be closed or nearly closed.
Etymology
OE tō (adv. and prep.), of W. Gmc origin.