Note: Such usage is now obsolete or illiterate. In colloquial usage, to often stands for, and supplies, an infinitive already mentioned; thus, he commands me to go with him, but I do not wish to.
5. In many phrases, and in connection with many other words, to has a pregnant meaning, or is used elliptically. Thus, it denotes or implies: (a) Extent; limit; degree of comprehension; inclusion as far as; as, they met us to the number of three hundred. We ready are to try our fortunes To the last man. Shak. Few of the Esquimaux can count to ten. Quant. Rev.
(b) Effect; end; consequence; as, the prince was flattered to his ruin; he engaged in a war to his cost; violent factions exist to the prejudice of the state. (c) Apposition; connection; antithesis; opposition; as, they engaged hand to hand. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face. 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
(d) Accord; adaptation; as, an occupation to his taste; she has a husband to her mind. He to God's image, she to his was made. Dryden.
(e) Comparison; as, three is to nine as nine is to twenty-seven; it is ten to one that you will offend him. All that they did was piety to this. B. Jonson.
(f) Addition; union; accumulation. Wisdom he has, and to his wisdom, courage. Denham.
(g) Accompaniment; as, she sang to his guitar; they danced to the music of a piano. Anon they move In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood Of flutes and soft recorders. Milton.
(h) Character; condition of being; purpose subserved or office filled. [In this sense archaic] "I have a king here to my flatterer." Shak. Made his masters and others . . . to consider him to a little wonder. Walton.
Note: To in to-day, to-night, and to-morrow has the sense or force of for or on; for, or on, (this) day, for, or on, (this) night, for, or on, (the) morrow. To-day, to-night, to-morrow may be considered as compounds, and usually as adverbs; but they are sometimes used as nouns; as, to-day is ours. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow; Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. Shak. To and again, to and fro. [R.] — To and fro, forward and back. In this phrase, to is adverbial. There was great showing both to and fro. Chaucer. — To-and-fro, a pacing backward and forward; as, to commence a to- and-fro. Tennyson. — To the face, in front of; in behind; hence, in the presence of. — To wit, to know; namely. See Wit, v. i.
Note: To, without an object expressed, is used adverbially; as, put to the door, i. e., put the door to its frame, close it; and in the nautical expressions, to heave to, to come to, meaning to a certain position. To, like on, is sometimes used as a command, forward, set to. "To, Achilles! to, Ajax! to!" Shak.