adv. Now formal or arch. [OE. þǽr tó, þǽrtó: see THERE 17 and TO prep.] To that (or those things), to it (or them).
1. To that place, thing, affair, etc., in various senses of TO prep.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 378. Pæt he us ʓebringe to his ecan ʓebeorscipe, seðe þurh his to-cyme us ðærto ʓelaðode. Ibid. (c. 1000), Saints’ Lives, xxv. 227. Mathathias … ofsloh … þæs cynincges ðeʓn þe hine ðær to neadode.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 6. Hwoa se nimeð þing on hond and bihat hit … to donne, heo bint hire þerto.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 103. His nest … þar to þu stele in o day & leydest þar on þi fule ey.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 178. Moyses and meny mo mercy shullen synge; And I shal daunce þer to.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 34. Ne to put more þer to, ne to draw þer fro.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 40. Smell also therto in cas it stynke.
1445. trans. Claudian, in Anglia, XXVIII. 275. Where he þat is worthy is callid therto.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxxxi. 247. Nere therto there was a lytell wode.
1538. Starkey, England, I. ii. 53. Such as haue byn long vsyd therto.
1611. Bible, Isa. xliv. 15. He maketh it a grauen image, and falleth downe thereto.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., IV. xxxvii. 59. The edge of the disk will be perpendicular thereto.
1875. F. Hall, in Lippincott’s Mag., XVI. 749/2. All circumstances of the provocation thereto being dispassionately considered.
1892 Law Times Rep., LXV. 582/1. The posts … are fixed thereto by iron dogs and dowels.
2. With words denoting pertinence, suitability, etc., expressed or implied: (Belonging, pertinent, suitable, needful) to that matter or thing; (according) therewith; for that matter, parpose, etc.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 494. On oðre healfe stod ðæs monan cræt … and ða oxan ðærto. Ibid. (c. 1000), Saints’ Lives, xxix. 129. Ures hælendes ʓerip mæniʓ-feald is … and feawa wyrhtan þær-to.
c. 1305. St. Andrew, 33, in E. E. P. (1862), 99. Hou miȝte hit beo, þat his wille were þerto?
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Irel., 6. His hert was mych there-to.
1454. E. E. Wills (1882), 133. My bed of grene sylke, wiþ the testour & Canape ther-to.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., I. 24. If our cunnyng be ther-too.
1539. Tonstall, Serm. Palm Sund. (1823), 85. Hauynge tyme therto.
1556. Aberdeen Regr. (1848), I. 294. All materiallis neidfull therto.
1626. Gouge, Serm. Dignity Chivalry, § 4. Preparation for Warre, Exercises thereto.
1748. G. White, Serm., in Jrnl. Sacred Lit,. III. (N.S.), (1863), July, 299. Nothing more is needful thereto, than to keep our Hearts free from Envy, & Covetuousness, & Pride, & the like destructive Sins.
1871. Browning, Pr. Hohenst.-Schw. 643. Now for the means thereto.
3. Added to that, in addition to that; besides, also, moreover. Now arch. and poet.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xiv. [xvii.] (1890), 202. Nowiht aʓnes … butan his cyricean and þær to feower æceras.
c. 1000. Ælfric, De Vet. Test. (Gr.), 14. Ic ʓesett hæbbe … wel feowertiʓ larspella on Engliscum ʓereorde and sumne eacan þær to.
a. 1121. O. E. Chron., an. 1102. Se eorl Rotbert … hæfde þone eorldom her on lande on Scrobbesbyriʓ … & micel rice þær to.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 67. His apostles … and monie oðre þere to.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 153. A Prioresse … Hir mouth ful smal, and ther to softe and reed. Ibid., 353. Ibid., Squire’s T., 11.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, 103. To falle from richesse into lowe astate, and thereto pouerte.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xi. (1592), 160. Man reasoneth and discourseth, because he is Man: and were he thereto vnchangeable, he were a God.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. xlvi. Thereto of substance strange, so thinne and slight.
1830. Tennyson, Talking Oak, 196. I would have paid her kiss for kiss, With usury thereto.
1887. Morris, Odyss., XI. 287. As Cromius and Nestor,… And thereto the glorious Pero.
