Go back the way it came: the usage of "the way"

Hello,

I made the snake go back the way it came.

I don’t understand the structure of the sentence. No “to” between go back and the way? How about “from” like “go back the way it came from”? Probably I wonder the usage of “the way” here.

Thank you in advance,
sweetpumpkin

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This is a collocation and is fine the way it’s written.

Yes it has a meaning similar to “it went back the direction it came from”. The meaning is that you scared it off, but the direction it came from or the direction it left is not specific, and doesn’t really matter. If the snake could talk it might be something like, “Whoops, this was a bad idea. I’m getting the heck out of here!” So the snake turns around and slithers away.

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