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Entry 27 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Take

/(tāk)/ · IPA /[tʰeɪk]/
01 p. p. Taken.
  1. 1.
    Taken.obs.
02 v. t. In an active sense; To lay hold of; to seize with the hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to get into one's hold or possession; to procure; to s…
imp. Took; p. p. Taken; p. pr. & vb. n. Taking
  1. 1.
    In an active sense; To lay hold of; to seize with the hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to get into one's hold or possession; to procure; to seize and carry away; to convey.
  2. 2.
    To obtain possession of by force or artifice; to get the custody or control of; to reduce into subjection to one's power or will; to capture; to seize; to make prisoner; as, to take an army, a city, or a ship; also, to come upon or befall; to fasten on; to attack; to seize; -- said of a disease, misfortune, or the like.
    “This man was taken of the Jews.” — Acts xxiii. 27.
    “Men in their loose, unguarded hours they take; Not that themselves are wise, but others weak.” — Pope.
    “They that come abroad after these showers are commonly taken with sickness.” — Bacon.
    “There he blasts the tree and takes the cattle And makes milch kine yield blood.” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    To gain or secure the interest or affection of; to captivate; to engage; to interest; to charm.
    “Neither let her take thee with her eyelids.” — Prov. vi. 25.
    “Cleombroutus was so taken with this prospect, that he had no patience.” — Wake.
    “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 me more than all the outshining loveliness of her companions.” — Moore.
  4. 4.
    To make selection of; to choose; also, to turn to; to have recourse to; as, to take the road to the right.
    “Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.” — 1 Sam. xiv. 42.
    “The violence of storming is the course which God is forced to take for the destroying . . . of sinners.” — Hammond.
  5. 5.
    To employ; to use; to occupy; hence, to demand; to require; as, it takes so much cloth to make a coat; it takes five hours to get to Boston from New York by car.
    “This man always takes time . . . before he passes his judgments.” — I. Watts.
  6. 6.
    To form a likeness of; to copy; to delineate; to picture; as, to take a picture of a person.
    “Beauty alone could beauty take so right.” — Dryden.
  7. 7.
    To draw; to deduce; to derive.[R.]
    “The firm belief of a future judgment is the most forcible motive to a good life, because taken from this consideration of the most lasting happiness and misery.” — Tillotson.
  8. 8.
    To assume; to adopt; to acquire, as shape; to permit to one's self; to indulge or engage in; to yield to; to have or feel; to enjoy or experience, as rest, revenge, delight, shame; to form and adopt, as a resolution; -- used in general senses, limited by a following complement, in many idiomatic phrases; as, to take a resolution; I take the liberty to say.
  9. 9.
    To lead; to conduct; as, to take a child to church.
  10. 10.
    To carry; to convey; to deliver to another; to hand over; as, he took the book to the bindery; he took a dictionary with him.
    “He took me certain gold, I wot it well.” — Chaucer.
  11. 11.
    To remove; to withdraw; to deduct; -- with from; as, to take the breath from one; to take two from four.
  12. 12.
    In a somewhat passive sense, to receive; to bear; to endure; to acknowledge; to accept.
  13. 13.
    To accept, as something offered; to receive; not to refuse or reject; to admit.
    “Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer.” — Num. xxxv. 31.
    “Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore.” — 1 Tim. v. 10.
  14. 14.
    To receive as something to be eaten or drunk; to partake of; to swallow; as, to take food or wine.
  15. 15.
    Not to refuse or balk at; to undertake readily; to clear; as, to take a hedge or fence.
  16. 16.
    To bear without ill humor or resentment; to submit to; to tolerate; to endure; as, to take a joke; he will take an affront from no man.
  17. 17.
    To admit, as, something presented to the mind; not to dispute; to allow; to accept; to receive in thought; to entertain in opinion; to understand; to interpret; to regard or look upon; to consider; to suppose; as, to take a thing for granted; this I take to be man's motive; to take men for spies.
    “You take me right.” — Bacon.
    “Charity, taken in its largest extent, is nothing else but the science love of God and our neighbor.” — Wake.
    “[He] took that for virtue and affection which was nothing but vice in a disguise.” — South.
    “You'd doubt his sex, and take him for a girl.” — Tate.
  18. 18.
    To accept the word or offer of; to receive and accept; to bear; to submit to; to enter into agreement with; -- used in general senses; as, to take a form or shape.
    “I take thee at thy word.” — Rowe.
    “Yet thy moist clay is pliant to command; . . . Not take the mold.” — Dryden.
  19. 19.
    To make a picture, photograph, or the like, of; as, to take a group or a scene.[Colloq.]
  20. 20.
    To give or deliver (a blow to); to strike; hit; as, he took me in the face; he took me a blow on the head.[Obs. exc. Slang or Dial.]
    “For now Troy's broad-wayed town He shall take in.” — Chapman.
    “The ancients took up experiments upon credit.” — Bacon.
    “One of his relations took him up roundly.” — L'Estrange.
    “Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale.” — Addison.
03 v. i. To take hold; to fix upon anything; to have the natural or intended effect; to accomplish a purpose; as, he was inoculated, but the virus d…
  1. 1.
    To take hold; to fix upon anything; to have the natural or intended effect; to accomplish a purpose; as, he was inoculated, but the virus did not take.
    “When flame taketh and openeth, it giveth a noise.” — Bacon.
    “In impressions from mind to mind, the impression taketh, but is overcome . . . before it work any manifest effect.” — Bacon.
  2. 2.
    To please; to gain reception; to succeed.
    “Each wit may praise it for his own dear sake, And hint he writ it, if the thing should take.” — Addison.
  3. 3.
    To move or direct the course; to resort; to betake one's self; to proceed; to go; -- usually with to; as, the fox, being hard pressed, took to the hedge.
  4. 4.
    To admit of being pictured, as in a photograph; as, his face does not take well.
Phrases & compounds
To take after — To learn to follow; to copy; to imitate; as, he takes after a good pattern.
To take in with — to resort to.
To take on — to be violently affected; to express grief or pain in a violent manner.
To take to — To apply one's self to; to be fond of; to become attached to; as, to take to evil practices.
To take up — To stop.
To take up with — To be contended to receive; to receive without opposition; to put up with; as, to take up with plain fare.
To take with — to please.
04 n. That which is taken, such as the quantity of fish captured at one haul or catch, or the amouont of money collected during one event; as, th…
  1. 1.
    That which is taken, such as the quantity of fish captured at one haul or catch, or the amouont of money collected during one event; as, the box-office take.
  2. 2.
    The quantity or copy given to a compositor at one time.(Print.)