take
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: tāk
ipa: /teɪk/
ipa: [tʰeɪk]
ipa: [tʰæɪk]
ipa: [t(ʰ)eːk]
ipa: [tʰɛjk]
ipa: /tɛk/
ipa: /tæk/
rhymes: -eɪk
Forms: form: takes
form: taking
form: took
form: taken
form: tane
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: take
form: take
form: took
form: take
form: takest
form: took
form: tookst
form: tookest
form: takes
form: taketh
form: took
form: take
form: took
form: take
form: took
form: take
form: -
form: taking
form: taken
form: took
form: tek
Etymology: From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”), from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (“to touch”), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *te-th₂g- (“to touch, take”) (see there for details).
Gradually displaced native Middle English nimen (“to take”; see nim), from Old English niman (“to take”).
Cognates
Scots tak, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk taka (“to take”), Norwegian Bokmål ta (“to take”), Swedish ta (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), Middle Dutch taken (“to grasp”), Dutch taken (“to take; grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). English thack may be from the same root. Compare tackle. Despite superficial similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to take by hand, obtain”), which is instead cognate with English thig (“to beg”).
Senses: examples: text: They took Charlton's gun from his cold, dead hands.
text: I'll take that plate off the table.
text: All theſe Ceremonies thus being performed; the Prince which ſucceeded taketh a torch, and firſt putteth to the fire himſelfe, and after him all the reſt of the company, and by and by as the fire was kindled out of the toppe of the higheſt turret, an Eagle was let fly to carry vp his ſoule into heaven, and ſo he was afterward reputed, and by the Romanes adored among the reſt of the Gods: […]
ref: 1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […], →OCLC, book IV, pages 402–403:
text: That viſage miſ-becomes, thy Pipe / Caſt from thee, Warlike dame, / Take unto thee thy wonted Armes, / And keepe thy Cheekes in frame.
ref: 1637, Tho[mas] Heywood, Londini Speculum: Or, Londons Mirror, […], London: […] I[ohn] Okes […], →OCLC, signature B, verso:
text: She took the policeman’s helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Meeting Point”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 232:
text: We take, take, take until we can't take anymore. Maybe it's because our inner nature is not primarily one of giving, but of taking. Even these things we take that should balance our lives and give us rest do not. We make work out of them. We do them aggressively; always in control. Take.
ref: 1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York, N.Y.: Hyperion, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 67:
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
examples: text: take the guards prisoner
text: take prisoners
text: After a bloody battle, they were able to take the city.
text: Therefoꝛe cheere vp your mindes, pꝛapare to fight, / He that can take oꝛ ſlaughter Tamburlaine, / Shall rule the Pꝛouince of Albania.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
text: The river ran behind us and the town had been captured very handsomely but the mountains beyond it could not be taken and I was very glad the Austrians seemed to want to come back to the town some time, if the war should end, because they did not bombard it to destroy it but only a little in a military way.
ref: 1929 May–October, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 2, in A Farewell to Arms, 1st British edition, London: Jonathan Cape […], published 1929, →OCLC, book I, page 13:
text: The front line, ours and the Fascists', lay in positions of immense natural strength, which as a rule could only be approached from one side. Provided a few trenches have been dug, such places cannot be taken by infantry, except in overwhelming numbers.
ref: 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter III, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, page 32:
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
To seize or capture.
examples: text: took ten catfish in one afternoon
text: The horses appear to thrive well, yet they are small sized, and have lost so much strength, that they are unfit to be used in taking wild cattle with the lazo.
ref: 1839, Charles Darwin, chapter XII, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 248:
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
To catch or get possession of (fish or game).
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
To catch the ball; especially as a wicket-keeper and after the batsman has missed or edged it.
examples: text: Billy took her pencil.
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
To appropriate or transfer into one's own possession, sometimes by physically carrying off.
examples: text: take a toll
text: take revenge
text: "Load away now, and take thy revenge, my fine fellow," said Samoa to himself. But not yet.
ref: 1849, Herman Melville, chapter XXII, in Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 92:
text: It is only when we invoke the aid of pain for our self-gratification that she becomes evil and takes her vengeance for the insult done to her by hurling us into misery.
ref: 1913 November, Rabindranath Tagore, “The Problem of Evil”, in Sādhanā: The Realisation of Life, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 65:
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
To exact.
examples: text: took the next two tricks
text: took Smith's rook
synonyms: confiscate
seize
glosses: To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
To capture or win (a piece or trick) in a game.
examples: text: took third place
text: took bribes
text: The camera takes 35mm film.
text: Moꝛeouer, yee ſhall take no ſatiſfaction foꝛ the life of a murderer, which is guiltie of death, but he ſhalbe ſurely put to death.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 35:31, column 1:
text: You were lonely for a man
I said, "Take me as I am"
'Cause you might enjoy some madness for a while
ref: 1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses:
synonyms: word: garner
word: get
word: obtain
word: win
word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
antonyms: give
glosses: To receive or accept (something, especially something which was given).
examples: text: The store doesn't take checks.
text: She wouldn't take any money for her help.
text: Do you take plastic?
text: The vending machine only takes bills, it doesn't take coins.
text: I take no mony, but good vvords, raile not if I tell true, if I do not reuenge. Farevvell.
ref: c. 1590 (date written), [John Lyly], Mother Bombie. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, signature [E4], verso:
text: But I said that, so far as you employ it at all, bad work should be paid no less than good work; as a bad clergyman yet takes his tithes, a bad physician takes his fee, and a bad lawyer his costs.
ref: 1860 August–December, John Ruskin, “Essay I. The Roots of Honour.”, in “Unto This Last:” Four Essays on the First Principles of Political Economy, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 95:
synonyms: word: garner
word: get
word: obtain
word: win
word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
antonyms: give
glosses: To receive or accept (something, especially something which was given).
To receive or accept (something) as payment or compensation.
examples: text: take my advice
text: Between theſe, thoſe ſeem to do beſt who taking material and uſeful hints, ſometimes from ſingle matters of Fact, carry them in their Minds to be judg'd of, by what they ſhall find in Hiſtory to confirm or reverſe theſe imperfect Obſervations; which may be eſtabliſh'd into Rules fit to be rely'd on, when they are juſtify'd by a ſufficient and wary Induction of Particulars.
ref: a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, § 13, page 49:
synonyms: word: garner
word: get
word: obtain
word: win
word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
antonyms: give
glosses: To receive or accept (something, especially something which was given).
To accept and follow (advice, etc.).
examples: text: take a wife
text: The school only takes new students in the fall.
text: The therapist wouldn't take him as a client.
synonyms: word: garner
word: get
word: obtain
word: win
word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
antonyms: give
glosses: To receive or accept (something, especially something which was given).
To receive into some relationship.
examples: text: There was no intestacy, and they did not take under the will as heirs, but the widow and the children, under the residuary devise, take as tenants in common.
ref: 1831 June, J. Duncan, “Lodge against Simonton”, in Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, third edition, volume II, Philadelphia, P.A.: Kay & Brother, published 1880, page 442:
topics: law
synonyms: word: garner
word: get
word: obtain
word: win
word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
antonyms: give
glosses: To receive or accept (something, especially something which was given).
To receive or acquire (property) by law (e.g. as an heir).
examples: text: He took all the credit for the project, although he had done almost none of the work.
text: She took the blame, in the public's eyes, although the debacle was more her husband's fault than her own.
synonyms: word: garner
word: get
word: obtain
word: win
word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
antonyms: give
glosses: To receive or accept (something, especially something which was given).
To accept, be given (rightly or wrongly), or assume (especially as if by right).
examples: text: take two eggs from the carton
text: And therefore, according to the tenor of ſuch a covenant, he has made no proviſion to ſecure his people in any ſuch temporalties, but took from them all right of war and reſiſtance.
ref: a. 1717 (date written), Robert South, “Sermon VI”, in Five Additional Volumes of Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume X, London: […] Charles Bathurst, […], published 1744, →OCLC, page 187:
text: Nor can the Wooll be work'd, or made up, without being firſt greaſed or oiled: All which unctuous Matter muſt be taken forth again out of the Cloth before it can be worn.
ref: 1729, J[ohn] Woodward, An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, part I (Of the Fossils that are Real and Natural: […]), page 5:
ref: 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, pages Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door! / Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore.":
synonyms: word: knock off
word: subduct
word: abate
word: bate
word: deduct
word: knock off
word: remove
word: subduct
word: subtract
word: take
word: take away
word: take off
glosses: To remove.
examples: text: The earthquake took many lives.
text: The plague took rich and poor alike.
text: Cancer took her life.
text: He took his life last night.
synonyms: word: knock off
word: subduct
word: abate
word: bate
word: deduct
word: knock off
word: remove
word: subduct
word: subtract
word: take
word: take away
word: take off
word: do in
word: terminate
word: annihilate
word: bag
word: baptize
word: bereave of life
word: blight
word: bring down
word: bump off
word: bury
word: cack
word: compromised to a permanent end
word: croak
word: crush
word: dash
word: deactivate
word: dead
word: demolish
word: destroy
word: dispatch
word: dispose of
word: do
word: do in
word: dust
word: eliminate
word: end
word: eradicate
word: ex
word: exterminate
word: finish
word: finish off
word: flatten
word: grease
word: knock off
word: lay waste to
word: make away with
word: mortify
word: neutralize
word: obliterate
word: off
word: pay off
word: pick off
word: polish off
word: pop off
word: punch someone's ticket
word: put an end to
word: put down
word: put someone out of their misery
word: put six feet under
word: put to sleep
word: ravage
word: rub out
word: ruin
word: scotch
word: scupper
word: scuttle
word: send to eternity
word: send to hell
word: send to the grave
word: send to the great beyond
word: send to the next life
word: slay
word: slaughter
word: smash
word: smite
word: snuff
word: squash
word: stiff
word: stop someone's clock
word: take
word: terminate
word: terminate with extreme prejudice
word: top off
word: top
word: torpedo
word: take care of
word: take down
word: take out
word: waste
word: wax
word: wet
word: whack
word: wipe out
word: wreck
glosses: To remove.
To remove or end by death; to kill.
examples: text: Take one from three and you are left with two.
synonyms: word: knock off
word: subduct
word: abate
word: bate
word: deduct
word: knock off
word: remove
word: subduct
word: subtract
word: take
word: take away
word: take off
word: take away
word: subtract
word: take
word: take away
glosses: To remove.
To subtract.
examples: text: Sometimes he would have her standing up by the side of the bed, not bothering to undress, merely undoing his fly and using her like a cheap envelope to receive his lust. At others he would take her on the floor of her clothes closet and then leave her, locked in for the rest of the night, awash with his sex, until her embarrassed maid freed her the next morning.
ref: 1990, Pat Booth, Malibu, Crown Publishers, Inc., page 222:
text: I wonder what it would feel like to take two cocks at the same time.
ref: 2002 September 16, INCESTOR, “STORY: "Horny Peeping Sister" (6/9) (mf, voy, family) 566710”, in alt.sex.stories (Usenet):
text: He remembered her look of distress, her childish "Oh!" when he took her for the first time, clumsily, because he felt ashamed. And each time after that, each time they had sex together, though he tried to be as gentle as possible, he knew she was wearing the same expression, he avoided seeing her face, and thus it happened that instead of being a pleasure the sexual act became an ordeal.
ref: 1967 [1945], Georges Simenon, translated by Jean Stewart, Monsieur Monde Vanishes, New York, N.Y.; London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, →ISBN, page 126:
text: Modern Amsterdam is among Europe's most progressive cities, leading in such fields as design, fisting, felching, civil engineering, fashion, five-ways, pony play, computer science, and transportation. Its stock exchange is the oldest in Europe, and lovely Anastasia takes six men at once while shitting into a crystal goblet during her live show on the Bloedstraat at 11:30 p.m. every Tuesday.
ref: 2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia of Existing Information: In 27 Excruciating Volumes, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 8:
text: And the queen takes the bishop...this is turning out to be quite the royal wedding! [winks at the camera]
ref: 2014 July 3, Mock the Week, season 13, episode 4, Susan Calman (actor):
synonyms: word: have
word: sleep with
word: Formal terms
word: bed
word: coit
word: coitize
word: dight
word: enjoy
word: feague
word: go in unto
word: go to bed with
word: have
word: know
word: lie by
word: lie with
word: love
word: mount
word: occupy
word: penetrate
word: season
word: seduce
word: sleep with
word: take
word: Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with"
word: Informal and slang terms
word: ball
word: bang
word: bauf
word: beep
word: be with
word: bone
word: boff
word: boink
word: bonk
word: boom-boom
word: dick
word: diddle
word: dig out
word: do
word: doink
word: drill
word: eff
word: expletive deleted
word: feck
word: fill
word: frack
word: frak
word: frick
word: frig
word: fuck
word: get into someone's pants
word: get over on
word: get up in
word: give someone one
word: give someone the time
word: go with
word: have one's way with
word: have one's wicked way with
word: hit
word: hump
word: jape
word: jump
word: jump someone's bones
word: knob
word: knock
word: knock off
word: know someone in the biblical sense
word: lay
word: love up
word: make
word: nail
word: plough
word: plug
word: poke
word: pork
word: pound
word: prig
word: pump
word: ream
word: rock
word: roger
word: root
word: run through
word: rut
word: sard
word: schlong
word: screw
word: see to
word: service
word: shaft
word: shag
word: shelve
word: slay
word: slip it to
word: smash
word: smush
word: stallionize
word: swive
word: tap
word: tup
word: wap
glosses: To have sex with.
examples: text: Don't try to take that guy. He's bigger than you.
text: The woman guarding us looks like a professional, but I can take her!
text: "I'll stop 'em'" cried Quilp, diving into the little counting-house and returning with a thick stick, "I'll stop 'em. Now my boys fight away. I'll fight you both, I'll take both of you, both together, both together!"
ref: 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Sixth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 111:
text: "What is cruel now was not cruel then," he said; "it was a way of fighting; it was what is called an ambush now—enticing your enemy, and then taking him at a disadvantage. And if you did not do that to him he would do it to you. And when a man is mad with anger or revenge, what does he care for anything?"
ref: 1878, William Black, “Fionaghal”, in Macleod of Dare. […], volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 57:
synonyms: beat
glosses: To defeat (someone or something) in a fight.
examples: text: He took her hand in his.
text: The young females ſeeing him approach in ſuch haste; and according to cuſtom, expecting a dance; inſtantly aſſembled in a circle, and took each other by the hand: but Gulchenrouz, coming up out of breath, fell down, at once, on the graſs.
ref: 1786, [William Beckford], translated by [Samuel Henley], An Arabian Tale, from an Unpublished Manuscript: […] [Vathek], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, pages 119–120:
english: Vathek
translation: Vathek
text: She sat half upright, supported on Henrietta's shoulder; and, taking her father's hand, she clasped it with her husband's.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Sick Room”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 142:
synonyms: word: grab
word: nim
word: beclasp
word: begrasp
word: begrip
word: belock
word: clasp
word: clench
word: clinch
word: cling
word: clutch
word: enclasp
word: fang
word: fondle
word: glaum
word: grab
word: grabble
word: grasp
word: grip
word: hang on
word: hold on
word: hold tight
word: hold
word: nab
word: nim
word: seize
word: stranglehold
word: take
glosses: To grasp or grip.
examples: text: Take whichever bag you like.
text: She took the best men with her and left the rest to garrison the city.
text: I'll take the blue plates.
text: I'll take two sugars in my coffee, please.
text: Salv. We can think no other, if we do but conſider the way he taketh to confute their aſſertion; the confutation of which confiſts in the demolition of buildings, and the toſſing of ſtones, living creatures and men themſelves up into the Air.
ref: 1661, Galilæus Galilæus Lyncæus [i.e., Galileo Galilei], “The Systeme of the World: In Four Dialogues. […]. The Second Dialogue.”, in Thomas Salusbury, transl., Mathematical Collections and Translations, tome I, 1st part, London: […] William Leybourne, →OCLC, page 168:
text: Heeding the wise caution of his com rades, he took the habit of wearing the ring only at night. Wrapped in his blanket, he stealthily slipped the golden circlet over his little finger, and, as he averred, "slept all the better for it."
ref: 1882, Bret Harte, “[Found at Blazing Star]”, in Flip; and Found at Blazing Star, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 117:
glosses: To select or choose; to pick.
examples: text: She took his side in every argument.
text: take a stand on the important issues
glosses: To select or choose; to pick.
To adopt (select) as one's own.
examples: text: She took her sword with her everywhere she went.
text: I'll take the plate with me.
text: Perſonal offence I have given them none. The part they take againſt me is from zeal to the cauſe. It is well! It is perfectly well! I have to do homage to their juſtice.
ref: 1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], London: […] J. Owen, […], and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 2:
antonyms: bring
glosses: To carry or lead (something or someone).
examples: text: The next bus will take you to Metz.
text: I took him for a ride
text: I took him down to London.
text: All I claim for the ten-horse-power Citroën is this: that it works. In a modest and unassuming way, not very rapidly, indeed, but steadily and reliably, it takes one about.
ref: 1925, Aldous Huxley, Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, part I (Travel in General), page 16:
antonyms: bring
glosses: To carry or lead (something or someone).
To transport or carry; to convey to another place.
raw_tags: of a vehicle
examples: text: These stairs take you down to the basement.
text: Stone Street took us right past the store.
text: Our old wooden Battersea bridge takes me over the river; in ten minutes' swift trotting I am fairly away from the monster and its bricks.
ref: 1884, James Anthony Froude, Thomas Carlyle: A History of His Life in London, 1834–1881 […], volume I, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 188:
topics: road
transport
antonyms: bring
glosses: To carry or lead (something or someone).
To lead (to a place); to serve as a means of reaching.
raw_tags: of a path
examples: text: She took the steps two or three at a time.
text: He took the curve / corner too fast.
text: The pony took every hedge and fence in its path.
antonyms: bring
glosses: To carry or lead (something or someone).
To pass (or attempt to pass) through or around.
examples: text: He took her to lunch at the new restaurant, took her to the movies, and then took her home.
text: And fain would take thee with me, in the Dell / Of Peace and mild Equality to dwell, / Where Toil ſhall call the charmer Health his Bride, / And Laughter tickle Plenty's ribleſs ſide!
ref: 1796, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “To a Young Ass, It's Mother Being Tethered Near It”, in Poems on Various Subjects, London: […] G[eorge] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinsons, and J[oseph] Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 93:
text: Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 25:
text: 'You had better wait here,' said the wizard to the dwarves; 'and when I call or whistle begin to come after me — you will see the way I go — but only in pairs, mind, about five minutes between each pair of you. Bombur is fattest and will do for two, he had better come alone and last. Come on Mr. Baggins! There is a gate somewhere round this way.' And with that he went off along the hedge taking the frightened hobbit with him.
ref: 1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Queer Lodgings”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, London: Unwin Books, George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC, page 108:
antonyms: bring
glosses: To carry or lead (something or someone).
To escort or conduct (a person).
examples: text: In a rare example of clemency Pope John assured him of a pardon, perhaps on the grounds that the innocent monk had merely been the victim of Louis's overbearing ambitions. Nicholas then took himself to Avignon where in August 1330 he formally renounced his claim to the papacy.
ref: 2007, Edwin B. Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, New York, N.Y.: BlueBridge, published 2008, →ISBN, page 59:
antonyms: bring
glosses: To carry or lead (something or someone).
To go.
examples: text: take the ferry
text: I took a plane.
text: He took the bus to London, and then took a train to Manchester.
text: He's 96 but he still takes the stairs.
glosses: To use as a means of transportation.
examples: text: She took a condo at the beach for the summer.
text: He took a full-page ad in the Times.
ref: 1873, Charles Reade, chapter IV, in A Simpleton: A Story of the Day […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 113:
text: We understand that His Royal Highness Prince Florestan, who has been for some little time in this country, has taken the mansion in Carlton Gardens, recently occupied by the Marquis of Katterfelto. The mansion is undergoing very considerable repairs, but it is calculated that it will be completed in time for the reception of His Royal Highness by the end of the autumn; His Royal Highness has taken the extensive moors of Dinniewhiskie for the coming season.
ref: 1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], chapter IX, in Endymion […], volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 95:
glosses: To obtain for use by payment or lease.
examples: text: They took two magazines.
text: I used to take The Sunday Times.
glosses: To obtain for use by payment or lease.
To obtain or receive regularly by (paid) subscription.
examples: text: take two of these and call me in the morning
text: take the blue pill
text: I take aspirin every day to thin my blood.
text: Frankly, he tells me, he's really disappointed in my attitude. He hopes ah'm not taking drugs, scrutinising my face as if he can tell.
ref: 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 73:
glosses: To receive (medicine or drugs) into one's body, e.g. by inhalation or swallowing; to ingest.
examples: text: The general took dinner at seven o'clock.
text: To such men as Mr. Hellyer, who every night take much strong drink, and on no occasion whatever take any exercise, sixty is the grand climacteric. He was a year ago just fifty-nine. Alas! he has not even reached his grand climacteric. Already he is gone. He was cut off by pneumonia, or apoplexy, last Christmas.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 48:
text: He was conscious that other officers tried to avoid eating at the same time, and everyone was gready relieved when he stopped coming there altogether and began taking his meals in his trailer.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Major Major Major Major”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 89:
glosses: To consume (food or drink).
examples: text: take sun-baths
text: take a shower
text: She made the decision to take chemotherapy.
glosses: To undergo; to put oneself into, to be subjected to.
examples: text: She takes pride in her work.
text: I take offence at that.
text: to take a dislike
text: to take pleasure in his opponent's death
text: Man taketh paine, God giueth gaine, / Man doth his best, God doth the rest, / Man well intendes, God foizon sendes, / else want he shall.
ref: 1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, “The Authors life.”, in A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC, stanza 37, page 214:
text: Taking great ioy / If you will daine his faculties imploy / But in the mean’st ingenious quality.
ref: 1599, W. Kinsayder or Theriomastix [pseudonyms; John Marston], “Humours”, in The Scourge of Villanie. […], London: […] I[ames] R[oberts], →OCLC; republished as G[eorge] B[agshawe] Harrison, editor, The Scourge of Villanie (The Bodley Head Quartos; 13), London: John Lane, The Bodley Head […]; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company, 1925, →OCLC, page 117:
text: Thinks I to myself, "Sol, you're run off your course again. This is some rich city man's summer 'cottage' and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning." So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 18:
glosses: To experience or feel.
examples: text: took a pay cut
text: take a joke
text: If you're in an abusive relationship, don't just sit and take it; you can get help.
text: The hull took a lot of punishment before it broke.
text: I can take the noise, but I can't take the smell.
text: That truck bed will only take two tons.
text: […] and, kind of the ultimate example of the plans for the R-class was to refit them with huge bulges, almost monitor-style bulges, to be able to take multiple air-dropped torpedo attacks, but also to just, literally, slap on four inches of deck armor.
ref: 2022 September 11, Drachinifel, 56:34 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 213 (Part 1), YouTube, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2022:
glosses: To submit to; to endure (without ill humor, resentment, or physical failure).
examples: text: The ship took a direct hit and was destroyed.
text: Her career took a hit.
text: This gap had been caused by the sweep of tempest that went up the valley at the climax of the storm. The wall, being low, had taken little harm; but the great west gable of the Abbey had been smitten, and swung on its back, as a trap-door swings upon its hinges.
ref: 1894, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, “His Last Bivouac”, in Perlycross: A Tale of the Western Hills, London: Sampson Low, Marston, & Company […], →OCLC, page 429:
glosses: To suffer; to endure (a hardship or damage).
examples: text: She took a vacation to France but spent the whole time feeling miserable that her husband couldn't be there with her.
text: Aren't you supposed to take your math final today?
text: Despite my misgivings, I decided to take a meeting with the Russian lawyer.
glosses: To participate in.
examples: text: He had to take it apart to fix it.
text: She took down her opponent in two minutes.
text: In 1961, they lined up a lawyer and an underwriter to take the company public. And they retained an accounting firm to produce audited financial statements.
ref: 2011, Thomas M. Bloch, Many Happy Returns: The Story of Henry Bloch, America's Tax Man, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN, page 86:
glosses: To cause to change to a specified state or condition.
examples: text: He took the news badly.
text: Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:
glosses: To regard in a specified way.
examples: text: took the decision to close its last remaining outlet
text: took a dim view of city officials
glosses: To conclude or form (a decision or an opinion) in the mind.
examples: text: Don't take my comments as an insult.
text: if she took my meaning
text: The author explained the theory of Dove, which, if we took him correctly, was, that the lustre of bodies and particularly the metallic lustre arose from the light coming from the one stratum of the superficial particles of bodies interfering on the eye with the light coming from other and deeper strata,—the regular symmetrical arrangement of the particles in these bodies producing effects somewhat analogous to that of mother-of-pearl
ref: 1853 January, The American Journal of Science and Arts, volume 15, number 43, →ISSN, page 125:
text: More than a third of the new flats will be a mix of council rent and "affordable" rent – definitions vary but often this is taken to mean that their cost won't exceed 80% of the normal market rate.
ref: 2022 October 29, Felix Bazalgette, “'It was more than a pub' – the story of five boozers forced to call last orders”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2023:
glosses: To understand (especially in a specified way).
examples: text: take her word for it
text: take him at his word
text: Ax. Oh! name the mighty Ranſom, task my Power, / Let there be Danger, Difficulty, Death, / T' enhance the Price. / Baj. I take thee at thy word, / Bring me the Tartar’s Head.
ref: 1702, N[icholas] Rowe, Tamerlane. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 36:
glosses: To believe, to accept the statements of.
examples: text: I took him to be a person of honor.
text: He was often taken to be a man of means.
text: Do you take me for a fool?
text: Do you take me to be stupid?
text: Looking at him as he came into the room, I took him for his father.
text: For (as I heare ſay) ſuche your conditions are, / To ye be worthie fauour of no liuing man, / To be abhorred of euery honeſt man. / To be taken for a woman enclined to vice.
ref: c. 1552 (date written), Nicholas Udall, [Ralph Roister Doister], [London]: [s.n.], published 1566?; republished as Edward Arber, editor, Roister Doister. […] (English Reprints), London: Muir & Paterson, […], 24 July 1869, →OCLC, pages 51–52:
text: When we were ashore we had to walk a couple of miles through the forest in search of the village in which we were to sleep, a place called Tiaro, and when we found it, about two in the morning, the first innkeeper whom we knocked up, a German, took us for bushrangers and would not let us in.
ref: 1873, Anthony Trollope, “[Queensland.] Gold.”, in Australia and New Zealand. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 80:
text: The dimensions of the ark, if we take a cubit to be equal to 1½ feet, are 450 × 75 × 45 feet. It is to be built in three stories and to contain rooms or nests for Noah's family and the animals.
ref: 1950, E[wdin] Basil Redlich, The Early Traditions of Genesis, London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., page 108:
glosses: To assume or suppose; to reckon; to regard or consider.
examples: text: take it from her comments she won't be there.
text: I'm not sure what moral to take from that story.
text: And the firm belief of a future Judgment, which ſhall render to every man according to his deeds, if it be well conſider'd, is to a reaſonable nature the moſt forcible motive of all other to a good life; becauſe it is taken from the conſideration of the greateſt and moſt laſting happineſs and miſery that Humane nature is capable of.
ref: 1671, John Tillotson, “Phil[ippians] iij. 8.”, in Sermons Preach’d upon Several Occasions, London: […] A[nne] M[axwell] for Sa[muel] Gellibrand, […], →OCLC, page 196:
glosses: To draw, derive, or deduce (a meaning from something).
examples: text: "As I Lay Dying" takes its title from Book XI of Homer's "Odyssey"
text: The benign or milder Species takes its Originall from a bilious hot ſerum: the other is commonly ſaid to proceed from Aduſtion in the Bloud, with a mixture of Choler or ſalt Phlegm.
ref: 1676, Richard Wiseman, “The First Book. A Treatise of Tumours.”, in Severall Chirurgicall Treatises, London: […] E. Flesher and J. Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took, […], →OCLC, page 55:
glosses: To derive (as a title); to obtain from a source.
examples: text: took a chill
text: to take cold
glosses: To catch or contract (an illness, etc.).
glosses: To come upon or catch (in a particular state or situation).
examples: text: took her fancy
text: took her attention
text: I know not why, but there was a something in those half-seen features,—a charm in the very shadow that hung over their imagined beauty,—which took my fancy more than all the out-shining loveliness of her companions.
ref: 1839, Thomas Moore, The Epicurean: A Tale, London: John Macrone, page 33:
glosses: To captivate or charm; to gain or secure the interest or affection of.
examples: text: cloth that takes dye well
text: The flu shot didn't take (on me).
text: the leather that takes a certain kind of polish
glosses: To absorb or be impregnated by (dye, ink, etc.); to be susceptible to being treated by (polish, etc.).
raw_tags: of a material
examples: text: The British brought the ship into Haifa harbor. The ship was taking seawater in 4 places, and the passengers had been without fresh water for the last few days of their voyage, with several ill from drinking seawater.
ref: 1972, Anne Sinai, Israel & the Arabs: Prelude to the Jewish State, New York, N.Y.: Facts on File, Inc., →ISBN, pages 107–108:
glosses: To let in (water).
raw_tags: of a ship
examples: text: Looks like it's gonna take a taller person to get that down.
text: Finishing this on schedule will take a lot of overtime.
text: If the summary of the Tientsin society as accurate, a famine population of.more than 14,000,000 is already bad enough. If it takes five dollars to keep one of them alive, the task of relieving the whole population affected will require nearly $80,000,000.
ref: 1921 January 15, Millard's Review of the Far East, volume XV, number 7, →OCLC, page 357:
text: I know now what he was trying to do, but Atticus was only a man. It takes a woman to do that kind of work.
ref: 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 13, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 145:
text: It took an effort to restrain himself, and in a level voice to reassure earnest young Mark in his David Ogilvy-clone outfit that even the most red-faced colonels in England were unlikely to be upset by his banal formulation.
ref: 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 36:
text: While it takes courage to come out, the acceptance of parents and other family members can really help the person coming out to accept themselves.
ref: 2009, Rachel Hagger-Holt, Sarah Hagger-Holt, Living It Out, Norwich, Norfolk: Canterbury Press, →ISBN, page 82:
text: TIME was it took a war to close a financial exchange. Now all it needs is a glitch in technology. On August 26th trading on Eurex, the main German derivatives exchange, opened as usual; 20 minutes later it shut down for about an hour.
ref: 2013 August 31, “Code blue”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2023:
glosses: To require (a person, resource or thing in order to achieve an outcome).
examples: text: He took a seat in the front row.
glosses: To proceed to fill.
examples: text: His collection takes a lot of space.
glosses: To fill, occupy, require, or use up (space).
examples: text: Unloading the moving truck took us half a day, but this mess of a house will take us all weekend to tidy up. It takes ages to finish house moving!
text: Hunting that whale takes most of his free time.
text: The trip will take about ten minutes.
text: It takes a while to get used to the smell.
text: "Barbara, what I have to confess will amaze and grieve you," began Lucinda, with grave tenderness. "But it is best for your happiness, for the future that I see can be yours. And surely best for all of us Huetts. It has taken me years—years to come to this decision—to break one aspect of our happy home life here for a possible fuller and better one."
ref: 1940, Zane Grey, chapter 12, in 30,000 on the Hoof, Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. Black, →OCLC, page 193:
glosses: To fill or require: to last or expend (an amount of time).
examples: text: He took that opportunity to leave France.
text: When that happened, he almost gave up the idea of asking what he had come to ask. But then the opportunity arose, and he took it, then waited breathlessly for her answer.
ref: 2000, Cameron Judd, The Overmountain Men: A Novel, Nashville, T.N.: Cumberland House, →ISBN, page 166:
text: He took the pause to allow himself time to begin to catalog all the surfaces he may have touched during the scuffle.
ref: 2001, Stephen White, The Program, Waterville, M.E.: Thorndike Press, →ISBN, page 365:
glosses: To avail oneself of; to exploit.
examples: text: take a walk
text: take action/steps/measures to fight drug abuse
text: take a trip
text: take aim
text: take the tempo slowly
text: The kick is taken from where the foul occurred.
text: Pirès ran in to take the kick.
text: The throw-in is taken from the point where the ball crossed the touch-line.
text: We had ſome very agreeable Converſations upon this Subject; and once he told me, with a kind of more than ordinary Concern upon his Thoughts, that he was greatly beholden to me for taking this hazardous and diffiult^([sic]) Journey; for that I had kept him Honeſt; […]
ref: 1724, [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunate Mistress; […] [Roxana], London: […] E. Applebee, […], published 1740, →OCLC, page 94:
english: Roxana
translation: Roxana
text: Unarmed he issues, and with but the spear / That Judas jousted with, he takes an aim, / Which through the chest of Florence drives it sheer.
ref: 1853, Dante [Alighieri], “Canto XX”, in C[harles] B[agot] Cayley, transl., Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Purgatory: Translated in the Original Ternary Rhyme, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 146, lines 73–75:
text: At last they reached a little bay, and began to take soundings.
ref: 1891, Oscar Wilde, “The Young King”, in A House of Pomegranates, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine & Co […], →OCLC, page 12:
glosses: To practice; perform; execute; carry out; do.
examples: text: took the form of a duck
text: took shape
text: a god taking the likeness of a bird
glosses: To assume or perform (a form or role).
To assume (a form).
examples: text: take the part of the villain/hero
glosses: To assume or perform (a form or role).
To perform (a role).
examples: text: take office
text: take the throne
text: Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.
ref: 2013 August 10, “Cronies and capitols”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2023:
glosses: To assume or perform (a form or role).
To assume and undertake the duties of (a job, an office, etc.).
examples: text: he took the oath of office last night
text: On this, they withdrew to a tenisground in the neighbourhood of Berſailles, as the moſt convenient place they could find, and, after renewing their ſeſſion, took an oath never to ſeparate from each other, under any circumſtance whatever, death excepted, until they had eſtabliſhed a conſtitution.
ref: 1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution, London: […] J. S. Jordan, […], →OCLC, page 106:
glosses: To bind oneself by.
examples: text: go down two blocks and take the next left
text: take the path of least resistance
text: Theſ. This way the Stag tooke.
ref: 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act III, scene v, page 45:
text: After getting out of Beloved Ali's cab he'd picked up a copy of the News and the Post, then had taken an erratic route home, walking fast, as if trying to escape something....Ellen DeGeneres, posters proclaimed, was coming soon to the Beacon Theatre.
ref: 2001, Salman Rushdie, chapter 6, in Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 69:
glosses: To go into, through, or along.
examples: text: the witness took the stand
text: the next team took the field
glosses: To go into, through, or along.
To go or move into.
examples: text: take cover/shelter/refuge
glosses: To have and use one's recourse to.
examples: text: take her pulse / temperature / blood pressure
text: take a census
text: He firſt took my Altitude by a Quadrant, and then with Rule and Compaſſes, deſcribed the Dimenſions and Out-lines of my whole Body, all which he enter'd upon Paper, and in ſix days brought my Clothes very ill made, and quite out of ſhape, by happening to miſtake a Figure in the Calculation.
ref: 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), pages 23–24:
glosses: To ascertain or determine by measurement, examination or inquiry.
examples: text: He took a mental inventory of his supplies.
text: She took careful notes.
text: The days when he was plain George Pyke, humble clerk in a solicitor’s office, and used to thrill at the soft voice of Lucy Maynard as she took the order for his frugal lunch at the Holborn Viaduct Cabin, had long since faded from his memory.
ref: 1924 May 24 – July 12, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “A Marriage Has Been Arranged”, in Bill the Conqueror: His Invasion of England in the Springtime, 10th edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1931, →OCLC, § 2, page 6:
glosses: To write down; to get in, or as if in, writing.
examples: text: She took a video of their encounter.
text: Could you take a picture of us?
text: The police took his fingerprints.
glosses: To make (a photograph, film, or other reproduction of something).
examples: text: The photographer will take you sitting down.
text: to take a group/scene
glosses: To make a picture, photograph, etc. of (a person, scene, etc.).
examples: text: took me for ten grand
glosses: To obtain money from, especially by swindling.
examples: text: As a child, she took ballet.
text: Next semester, I plan to take math, physics, literature, and art history.
qualifier: now chiefly by enrolling in a class or course
glosses: To apply oneself to the study of.
examples: text: take matters as they arise
glosses: To deal with.
examples: text: I've had a lot of problems recently: take last Monday, for example. My car broke down on the way to work. Then […] etc.
glosses: To consider in a particular way, or to consider as an example.
examples: text: He'll probably take this one.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To decline to swing at (a pitched ball); to refrain from hitting at, and allow to pass.
examples: text: This verb takes the dative; that verb takes the genitive.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: To accept as an input to a relation.
To have to be used with (a certain grammatical form, etc.).
examples: text: The function takes two arguments, an array of size n and an integer k.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To accept as an input to a relation.
To accept (zero or more arguments).
examples: text: take a ticket
qualifier: Greece
glosses: To buy.
examples: text: My husband and I have a dysfunctional marriage. He just takes and takes; he never gives.
glosses: To get or accept (something) into one's possession.
examples: text: And ſo likewiſe Flame percuſſing the Aire ſtrongly, (as when Flame ſuddenly taketh, and openeth,) giueth a Noiſe; So, Great Flames, whiles the one implelleth the other, giue a bellowing Sound.
ref: 1631, Francis [Bacon], “II. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching Sounds; and First Touching the Nullity and Entity of Sounds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 119, page 40:
glosses: To engage, take hold or have effect.
examples: text: the dye didn't take
text: Boiling pasta with a bit of the sauce in the water will help the sauce "take."
glosses: To engage, take hold or have effect.
To adhere or be absorbed properly.
qualifier: dye
raw_tags: of ink
examples: text: not all grafts take
text: I started some tomato seeds last spring, but they didn't take.
text: The cradles are supported under their centres by shores, on which the keel takes. The ends of the cradles are hinged, and can drop down clear when the boat is being hoisted or lowered.
ref: 1884, S[tephen] B[leecker] Luce, Aaron Ward, Text-book of Seamanship. […], New York, N.Y.: D. Van Nostrand, page 179:
glosses: To engage, take hold or have effect.
To begin to grow after being grafted or planted; to (literally or figuratively) take root, take hold.
raw_tags: of a plant
examples: text: At the depot, Hook climbed out, slamming the door twice before the latch took. A train idled on the main track, the engine hissing as it waited for the crew change. From the windows, passengers watched on at the world outside.
ref: 2009, Sheldon Russell, The Yard Dog, New York, N.Y.: Minotaur Books, →ISBN, page 210:
glosses: To engage, take hold or have effect.
To catch; to engage.
raw_tags: of a mechanical device
examples: text: Each VVit may praiſe it, for his ovvn dear Sake, / And hint He vvrit it, if the Thing ſhou'd take.
ref: 1716 March 21 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “Prologue. Spoken by Mr. [Robert] Wilks.”, in The Drummer; or, The Haunted House. A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1716 (indicated as 1715), →OCLC:
text: Here was only cruelty and pain; where was the loving side of Christianity? "When I was young," I said, "I was vaccinated with religion, but the vaccination didn't take."
ref: 1967, Richard Martin Stern, The Kessler Legacy, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 103:
glosses: To engage, take hold or have effect.
To win acceptance, favor or favorable reception; to charm people.
examples: text: They took ill within 3 hours.
text: She took sick with the flu.
glosses: To become; to be affected in a specified way.
examples: text: 'Photographs never do give anything but a pale imitation, you know, but the likenesses, as likenesses, are good. She "takes well" as they say, and those were done lately.'
ref: 1881, Jessie Fothergill, chapter IX, in Kith and Kin: A Novel, volume II, London: Robert Bentley and Son, page 259:
glosses: To be able to be accurately or beautifully photographed.
examples: text: I don't know but she would, but just then poor Sukey came in, and looked so frightened and scarey—Sukey is a pretty gal, and looks so trembling and delicate, that it's kinder a shame to plague her, and so I took and come away for that time.
ref: 1843, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Mayflower; Or, Sketches of Scenes and Characters Among the Descendants of the Pilgrims, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, page 34:
text: Speed-the-Plough lurched round on his elbow and regarded him indifferently. "Moighty foin, that be! D'ye call that Doctrin'? He bean't al'ays, or I shoon't be scrapin' my heels wi' nothin' to do, and what's warse, nothin' to eat. Why, look heer. Luck 's luck, and bad luck's the con-trary. Varmer Bollop, t'other day, has's rick burnt down. Next night his gran'ry's burnt. What do he tak' and go and do? He takes, and goes, and hangs unsel', and turns us out o' 'ploy. God warn't above the Devil then, I thinks, or I can't make out the reckonin'."
ref: 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 100:
text: As made Queen 'Lizzybeth swear like blazes, and ketched poor old Dizzy sich a smack o' the face, as sent 'im up in a corner a-wimperin' with 'is 'ankercher to 'is nose, as made Gladstin give a grin, tho' he took good care to keep out of old Betsey's way, as glared at 'im; and then took and turned on me and says, "Let me give you a turn, for you're a-layin' on your back too much."
ref: 1875, Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brown at the Crystal Palace, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 100:
text: I took and beat the devil out of him. I got him against the wall, and the back of his head bumped the wall just when my fist hit his chin, and he went out like a light, and that's how he come to have that big cut on his chin, like you was talking about.
ref: 1943, Max Brand [pseudonym; Frederick Schiller Faust], Silvertip's Trap, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, page 30:
text: […] I went and kicked the door in and took care of some other people. Then I took and went back to the hotel—" ¶ "The hotel where you live, right? The Gilbert Hotel?" ¶ "Right. I took and went back to the hotel, took a shower, went out and talked to a police officer—" ¶ "A police officer. Sheriff's deputy? LAPD? What's his name?" ¶ "Can't recall. Jim. Charlie, could be."
ref: 1985, Darcy O'Brien, Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers, New York, N.Y.; Scarborough, Ont.: New American Library, page 34:
glosses: An intensifier.
examples: text: Jeſus perceaved there wylynes ãd ſayde: Why tempte ye me ye ypocrytes: lett me ſe the tribute money. And they toke hym a peny.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew xxij:[19], folio xxxi, verso:
glosses: To deliver, bring, give (something) to (someone).
examples: text: He took me a blow on the head.
glosses: To give or deliver (a blow, to someone); to strike or hit.
examples: text: Now about a Year ſince, R. B. and B. F. took that City in the Way from Frederickſtadt to Amſterdam, and gave them a Viſit: In which they informed them ſomewhat of Friend's Principles, and recommended the Teſtimony of TRUTH to them, as both a nearer and more certain Thing than the utmoſt of De Labadie's Doctrine. They left them tender and loving.
ref: 1677, William Penn, A Collection of the Works of William Penn: […], volume I, London: […] J. Sowle, […], published 1726, page 60:
text: But it seems that he did not attend to this circumstance at present; for in May, he set out again for Epworth, and took Manchester in his way, to see his friend Mr. Clayton, who had now left Oxford.
ref: 1793, John Whitehead, The Life of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A. […], Dublin: […] John Jones, […], published 1805, page 441:
glosses: To visit; to include in a course of travel.
examples: text: Beauty alone could beauty take ſo right: / Her dreſs, her ſhape, her matchleſs grace, / Were all obferv'd, as well as heavenly face.
ref: a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew, […]”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 216:
glosses: To portray in a painting.
glosses: Used in phrasal verbs: take in, take off, take on, take out, take to, take something to, take up.
Synonyms: word: appropriate
word: bag
word: catch
word: expropriate
word: grab
word: grasp
word: grip
word: help oneself
word: hook
word: impropriate
word: make free with
word: nab
word: nim
word: pocket
word: sack
word: seize
word: take
Hypernyms: word: receive
Hyponyms: word: arrogate
word: capture
word: commandeer
word: confiscate
word: deprive
word: harvest
word: reharvest
word: snatch
word: steal
word: strip
Derived terms: word: are you taking any medications
word: betake
word: be taken bad
word: be taken ill
word: be taken sick
word: care-taking
word: foretake
word: fortake
word: for the taking
word: get taken in
word: have drink taken
word: have one's name taken
word: leave-taking
word: like taking candy from a baby
word: lunatics have taken over the asylum
word: mistake
word: note-taking
word: ontake
word: out-take
word: overtake
word: partake
word: piss-taking
word: point taken
word: prize-taking
word: profit-taking
word: profit taking
word: put and take
word: put-and-take
word: risk-taking
word: take aback
word: take a bath
word: take a beat
word: take a Bex
word: take a bite
word: take a bow
word: take a breather
word: take a chance
word: take a chill pill
word: take a crap
word: take across
word: take action
word: take a decision
word: take a dive
word: take a dookie
word: take a dump
word: take advantage
word: take a flying fuck
word: take after
word: take against
word: take a gamble
word: take a hit
word: take-all
word: take a load off
word: take along
word: take a look
word: take amiss
word: take an l
word: take apart
word: take a pew
word: take a picture
word: take a piss
word: take a pitch
word: take a raincheck
word: take a rain check
word: take a risk
word: take around
word: take a run at
word: take a running jump
word: take aside
word: take a spill
word: take a spin
word: take a toll
word: take a tumble
word: take a view
word: take away
word: take a whack at
word: take back
word: take bread and salt
word: take breath
word: take captive
word: take charge
word: take coals to Newcastle
word: take comfort
word: take cover
word: take credit
word: take down
word: take easy
word: take exception to
word: take five
word: take flight
word: take for a drive
word: take for a ride
word: take for a spin
word: take for granted
word: take form
word: take French leave
word: take a French leave
word: take fright
word: take guard
word: take heart
word: take hold
word: take home
word: take-home pay
word: take hostage
word: take in
word: take in hand
word: take in turn
word: take issue to
word: take issue with
word: take it as it comes
word: take it away
word: take it easy
word: take it like a man
word: take it on the chin
word: take it or leave it alone
word: take it out on
word: take it outside
word: take its rise
word: take matters into one's own hands
word: taken short
word: take oath
word: take off
word: take offence
word: take offense
word: take off one's chest
word: take off the table
word: take on
word: take one's cue from
word: take oneself off
word: take one's eyes off
word: take one's eyes off the ball
word: take one's life in one's hands
word: take one's rest
word: take one's rise
word: take one's sweet little time
word: take one's time
word: take one's turn
word: take on strength
word: take out
word: take over
word: take-over
word: take part
word: take personally
word: take place
word: take pleasure
word: take potluck
word: take pride
word: take roll
word: take round
word: take serious
word: take several seats
word: take shape
word: take shipping
word: take sides
word: take silk
word: take slave
word: taken slave
word: take some beating
word: take some doing
word: take someone down the garden path
word: take someone for all they've got
word: take someone out back
word: take someone prisoner
word: take someone's life
word: take someone to brown town
word: take something off someone's hands
word: take something to one's grave
word: take something to the face
word: take something to the head
word: take stock
english: thou form
translation: thou form
word: takest
word: take that
word: take the biscuit
word: take the cake
word: take the coward's way out
word: take the fall
word: take the Fifth
word: take the gilt off the gingerbread
word: take the law into one's hands
word: take the mask off
word: take the matter into one's own hands
word: take the mick
word: take the mickey
word: take the micky
word: take the piss
word: take the place of
word: take the purple
word: take the register
word: take the ride
word: take the roll
word: take the shilling
word: take the stage
word: take the trouble
word: take the wrong way
word: take through
word: take time
word: take time off
word: take time out
word: take to
word: take to drink
word: take to extremes
word: take to heart
word: take to one's bed
word: take to one's heels
word: take to one side
word: take to pound town
word: take to the bank
word: take to the cleaner's
word: take to the field
word: take to the grave
word: take to the next level
word: take to the streets
word: take turns
word: take umbrage
word: take under
word: take-under
word: take underwing
word: take up
word: take up cudgels
word: take up for
word: take upon
word: take up residence
word: take up with
word: take vows
word: take with
word: take with a pinch of salt
word: take your change out of that
word: take your oil
word: taking up the mantle
word: time-taking
word: turn-taking
word: undertake
word: uptake
word: withtake
word: wrongtake
word: you can't take it with you
Related terms: word: taker
word: taking