Word.ws English Dictionary

taking to one's heels

taking to one's heels is the present participle and gerund of take to one's heels.

Meaning of take to one's heels

Verb

take to one's heels (third-person singular simple present takes to one's heels, present participle taking to one's heels, simple past took to one's heels, past participle taken to one's heels)

  1. (idiomatic) To leave, especially to flee or run away.
    • [T]hen, confused and frightened, he took to his heels; and, not knowing what he did, made off as fast as he could lay his feet to the ground.1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in Oliver Twist
    Synonyms:
    make tracks

Questions about taking to one's heels

What is taking to one's heels the present participle and gerund of?
Taking to one's heels is the present participle and gerund of take to one's heels.

Words near taking to one's heels in the dictionary

  1. taking to
  2. taking to court
  3. taking to drink
  4. taking to heart
  5. taking to one's bosom
  6. taking to one's heels
  7. taking to task
  8. taking to the bank
  9. taking to the bricks
  10. taking to the cleaner's
  11. taking to the cleaners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking to one's heels (page history and authors); take to one's heels (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “taking to one's heels.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taking_to_one%27s_heels. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.