to

particle

1. A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.

   “I want to leave.”

   “He asked me what to do.”

   “I have places to go and people to see.”

   “To err is human.”

   “Who am I to criticise? I've done worse things myself.”

2. As above, with the verb implied.

   “"Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed."”

   “If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to.”

3. Used to indicate an obligation on the part of, or a directive given to, the subject.

   “You are to go to the store and buy a bottle of milk.”

4. (India, North, colloquial)A filler word common amongst urban Indians.

   “I am to so bored right now.”

conj

1. In order to.

   “I went to the shops to buy some bread.”

prep

1. In the direction of; towards.

   “She looked to the heavens.”

2. Indicating destination or final position: In the direction of, so as to arrive at or reach.

   “We are walking to the shop.”

   “The water came right to the top of this wall.”

   “The coconut fell to the ground.”

   “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.”

3. Used to indicate the target or recipient of an action.

   “I gave the book to him.”

   “I spoke to him earlier.”

   “He devoted himself to education.”

   “They drank to his health.”

4. So as to contact, press against, impact, etc.

   “I fixed the notice to the wall.”

   “Put your shoulder to the door.”

   “To clutch/clasp/hold/press one's hanky to one's mouth/nose/forehead.”

5. So as to become or reach: indicating a terminal state resulting from an action.

   “His face was beaten to a pulp.”

   “I sang my baby to sleep.”

   “Whisk the mixture to a smooth consistency.”

6. So as to bring about or elicit (an effect or outcome).

   “He made several bad-taste jokes to groans from the audience.”

   “I tried complaining, but it was to no effect.”

   “To everyone's great relief, the tuneless carol singers finally ceased their warbling.”

7. Used after an adjective to indicate its application.

   “similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking.”

8. Indicating a degree or level reached.

   “It was to a large extent true.”

   “We manufacture these parts to a very high tolerance.”

   “This gauge is accurate to a second.”

   “My car does 25 miles to the gallon.”

   “I started out by wrapping the first thread around a ruler for 1 inch and found that it had 24 wraps to the inch.”

9. Used to describe what something consists of or contains.

   “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.”

   “There are 100 pence to the pound.”

10. Denotes the end of a range.

    “It takes 2 to 4 weeks to process typical applications.”

11. (obsolete)As a.

    “With God to friend (with God as a friend); with The Devil to fiend (with the Devil as a foe); lambs slaughtered to lake (lambs slaughtered as a sacrifice); took her to wife (took her as a wife); was sold to slave (was sold as a slave).”

12. Used to indicate a ratio or comparison; compared to, as against.

    “one to one = 1:1”

    “ten to one = 10:1.”

    “I have ten dollars to your four.”

    “The odds on that horse are seven to two.”

    “The hoſt of Xerxes, which by fame is ſaid To drinke the mightie Parthian Araris, Was but a handfull to that we will haue.”

13. Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation.

    “Three squared or three to the second power is nine.”

    “Three to the power of two is nine.”

    “Three to the second is nine.”

14. Preceding (the stated hour).

    “What's the time? – It's quarter to four in the afternoon (or 3:45 pm).”

15. (informal)Preceding (the stated hour).

    “It’s quarter to (3:45, or 4:45, or whatever time ending in 45 would make the most sense)”

16. According to.

    “Our holiday did not go to plan.”

17. (Canada, Newfoundland, Wales)At.

    “Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y.”

    “Where are you to?”

    “"What's that to you?" said Trevool, rather sharply, "worn't I to a berrin? […]”

18. Used more-or-less idiomatically with various verbs: keep to the left, agree to the proposal, attend to the matter, etc. See the individual entries.

adv

1. (UK, US, not-comparable, regional)Toward a closed, touching, or engaging position.

   “Please push the door to.”

   “He went in his room, pushed the door to, without fastening the latch.”

   “Aware of the loud beating of my own heart I pulled the door to against the increasing rain.”

2. (not-comparable)Into the wind.
3. (alt-of, misspelling, not-comparable)Misspelling of too.

name

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, informal)Abbreviation of Toronto: the largest city in Ontario and in Canada.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of Tocantins: a state of Brazil.
3. A surname.

noun

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of time-out.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of turnover.
3. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of tournament organizer.

verb

1. to organize a tournament, to be a TO

   “TOing”