like to

Re-analysis of like (to) (an adjective meaning "likely") as an adverb. (Forms like liked to and would have liked to are from re-analysis as a verb.)

• (Southern American English) IPA^(key): [laɪk.tə], [laːk.tə]

like to (not comparable)

1. (Southern US) nearly; almost
   • 1995, Elizabeth Kytle, The Voices of Robby Wilde, page 204:

     And the wall facing the hall was almost all glass. It looked more like a store display window than a room. Rob didn't know about all this until a week later when she was back on her ward; but when she told him, he like to died.

• would have liked to

• Keltoi