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Glite Dictionary
to take to the skies

to take to the skies

4 4.6
To begin flying and rise into the sky
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : echar a volar
  • Come on, Pixie Dusters, let's take to the skies.
  • drones took to the skies
  • take to the skies again
  • planes will take to the skies

Scientists now know that this disease is one of the worst destroyers of biodiversity ever, and in their fight against it, they're taking to the skies.

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Examples

  • The helicopter took to the skies after a brief delay due to weather conditions.

  • We took to the skies in the name of discovery, to find something new, to change the world.

    The Aeronauts (2019)

  • The Flying Ace took to the skies.

    The Peanuts Movie (2015)

  • Eventually, a shadowy being could be seen as it took to the skies.

    The Mothman Legacy (2020)

  • Mauro Scappa and his wife, Chris, and their two children were among those who chose not to take to the skies.

    Blog text (23)

  • Our passengers included a reporter and photographer from Gold Coast Magazine, who took to the skies with us for a story on the Goodyear blimp's presence in South Florida.

    Blog text (13)

  • Red Bullish on Long Beach: Flugtag, the mammoth collection of hilarious aeronautic failures, will once again take to the skies, however briefly, in Long Beach in August 2013.

    Blog text (13)

  • As the sun rose, the birds took to the skies, filling the air with their cheerful songs.

  • After weeks of preparation, the astronauts took to the skies aboard the spacecraft.

Synonyms

to fly
vsto take to the skies
∞ 1.0

Move through the air using wings or in a plane

refers to the initial act of becoming airborne not ongoing travel
to take off
vsto take to the skies
478 1.9

To leave the ground and begin to fly

is the same idea expressed as a common idiom for starting flight
to soar
vsto take to the skies
97 1.8

To fly high and freely in the air like a bird or glider

means simply to start flying not necessarily high or effortless
to lift off
vsto take to the skies
20 3.9

To rise into the air from the ground like a plane or rocket

is the more general phrase for starting to be airborne for birds or planes
to take wing
vsto take to the skies
  • Literature
3 5.8

Begin to fly, like birds rising into the air or projects starting to do well

focuses on literal becoming airborne rather than figurative starting

Antonyms

to land
∞ 1.0

To come down and rest on a surface

to descend
150 2.7

Move from a higher to a lower place

How High

to soar
97 1.8
to take to the skies
4 4.6
to lift off
20 3.9
to taxi
  • Specialized
4 4.1

Surface Forms

take to the skies infinitive
taking to the skies present participle
takes to the skies third person singular
took to the skies past
taken to the skies past participle

Morphology

take + to + the + sky

The meaning 'to begin flying / become airborne' is directly derivable from combining 'take' (move/bring oneself) with the directional prepositional phrase 'to the skies' (into the sky), so the sense of moving up into the air is compositional. This follows a standard motion verb + direction pattern found cross-linguistically, making it immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The phrase take to the skies may come from the simple image of a bird or plane leaving the ground and rising into the open skies, with take showing the action of going up. So it means 'to begin flying' or 'to rise into the air'.