to've

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: tove, Tove, tøve, töve, and tővé

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

to +‎ 've

Pronunciation

[edit]

Contraction

[edit]

to've

  1. to have (with to as infinitive)
    • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; [], London: John Murray, [], →OCLC:
      "Lord, Paul! you ought to've sent an 'ailstone into that little black 'un."
    • 1857, Samuel H. Hammond, Wild northern scenes, page 166:
      I've met with some queer adventures, as you call them, in these woods too; some that I wouldn't have gone out arter if I'd known what they were to 've been afore I started.
    • 2006, Jane Stevenson, Good women: three novellas, page 25:
      The fireplace is supposed to've been there since about 1900, so in an ideal world, we'd have old-white panelling and a dado.
    • 2010, Arlen Blumhagen, Mount: A Mountain Man's Adventures:
      That damned thing had to've been fifteen hundred feet long by five hundred feet wide and over a hundred feet tall.

Anagrams

[edit]