Meanings
- Elaboration of to.
- obsolete outside dialect or poetic useExpressing purpose: in order to.
What went ye out for to see?
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 7:253 more examples
Farewell! Farewell! / Farewell, my fairy fay! / Oh, I'm off to Louisiana / For to see my Susy Anna, / Singing, "Polly-wolly-doodle" all the day!
c. 1843, “Polly-Wolly-Doodl[e]”, in Hoyt Parmelee et al., compilers, A Collection of Songs and Ballads as Sung by Alpha Kappa Phi and Germanæ Sodales Societies, of Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, Hillsdale, Mich.: Leader Steam Print, published 1885, →OCLC, page 11“Mr. Woilde, we ‘ave come for tew take yew Where felons and criminals dwell: We must ask yew tew leave with us quoietly^([sic]) For this is the Cadogan Hotel.”
1937, John Betjeman, The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan HotelAll that I need for to be satisfied is a woman who's nothing like me
2004, Jackie Greene, “Honey I Been Thinking About You”, in Sweet Somewhere Bound - obsolete outside dialect or poetic useAs a general infinitive marker.
It does me good fur to look at you, Pip.
1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter I, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 101 more example
In the desert you can remember your name, / 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
1971, Dewey Bunnell, “A Horse with No Name”, performed by America
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Cite this entry
for to. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20to
“for to.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20to. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “for to,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20to.
Source: for to on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.