undertake
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌʌndəˈteɪk/
ipa: /ˌʌndɚˈteɪk/
ipa: /ˌɐndəˈtæɪk/
rhymes: -eɪk
Forms: form: undertakes
form: undertaking
form: undertook
form: undertaken
form: undirtake
Etymology: From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- + take (after undernim).
Senses: examples: text: This said, he sat; and expectation held
His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
To second, or oppose, or undertake
The perilous attempt.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 417-420:
synonyms: tackle
take on
set about
glosses: To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
examples: text: He undertook to exercise more in future.
text: […] if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us
With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
I’ll undertake to land them on our coast
And force the tyrant from his seat by war.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
glosses: To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
antonyms: overtake
glosses: To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.
examples: text: That is her ransom; I deliver her;
And those two counties I will undertake
Your grace shall well and quietly enjoy.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
text: […] if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals, or the Shells, Teeth, or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth, do but search the Hills after Rains, and the Sea-Shores after Storms, I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour.
ref: 1695, John Woodward, An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, London: Richard Wilkin, Part 4, pp. 222-223:
glosses: To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
glosses: To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
examples: text: Quince. […] you must needs play Pyramus.
Bottom. Well, I will undertake it.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: To assume, as a character; to take on.
examples: text: It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.
examples: text: Ne he his mouth would open unto wight,
Untill that Guyon selfe unto him spake,
And called Brigadore, (so was he hight,)
Whose voice so soone as he did undertake,
Eftsoones he stood as still as any stake,
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 34:
glosses: To have knowledge of; to hear.
examples: text: To the water side I must conduct your grace;
Then give my charge up to Sir Nicholas Vaux,
Who undertakes you to your end.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: To have or take charge of.
Derived terms: undertaker
undertaking