go to
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [FULL LIST]
go to verb phrase (+ verbal noun) To begin to, reach the point of. [DARE labels this usage “especially South, South Midland; this construction is apparently a 19th-century American development]
c1844 Beckner Shane Interview 237 They, of the station, just went back again to fiddling. 1860 Week in Smokies 125 Mister, the queen [bee] she goes to laying in February and lays on into spring. 1884 Smith Scrap Book 80 They ought to marry I reckon and go to raising fools for market. 1926 Hunnicutt Twenty Years 11 [W]e turned the dogs loose and the dogs went to trailing at once and barking their best. 1939 Hall Coll (Limestone TN) I moved to North Carolina, joined the CCs, come to Round Bottom, went to taking care of the horses. 1957 GSMNP-23:1:21 He went to going through there, and it got to snowing. 1977 Shackelford et al Our Appalachia 252 When he slapped this woman, guns went to popping. 1997 Dante OHP-53 They went to making a little bit of wages, and they kind of controlled part of their life.