Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BE-TAKE', v.t. [pret. betook; pp. betaken. be and take. Sax. betæcan.]

1. To take to; to have recourse to; to apply; to resort; with the reciprocal pronoun; as, to betake ourselves to arms, or to action. It generally implies a motion toward an object, as to betake ourselves to a shady grove; or an application of the mind or faculties, corresponding with such motion, as to betake ourselves to study or to vice.
2. Formerly, to take or seize. [Obs.] – Spenser.