Take

Tāke, v. t. [imp. took; p. p. taken; p. pr. & vb. n. taking.] [A-S. tacan, Icel. & O. Sw. taka, Sw. taga, Dan. tage, allied to Goth. tēkan, Lat. tangere, root tag, to touch.]

1Sense 1. In a more active sense, to lay hold of; to seize with the hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to seize; to get into one's hold or possession; to get; to procure; hence, specifically, (a.) To obtain possession of by force or artifice; to get the custody or control of; to reduce to one's power or will; to capture; to make prisoner; also, to come upon or befall;—said of a disease, misfortune, or the like; to fasten on; to attack; to seize; as, to take an army, a city, or a ship.

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.

(b.) To take captive the interest or affection of; to captivate; to engage; to interest; to charm.

Neither let her take thee with her eyelids. Prov. vi. 25.

Cleombrotus 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. T. Moore.

(c.) To make selection of; to choose; to elect; also, to turn to; to have recourse to; to betake one's self to;—in this latter sense often intransitive, with to; as, the sparrow takes a bush; the cat takes a tree.

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.

(d.) To employ; to use; to occupy; hence, to demand; to require; as, it takes so much cloth to make a coat.

This man always takes time . . . before he passes his judgment. Watts.

(e.) To form a likeness of; to espy; to delineate; to picture; as, to take a picture of a person.

Beauty alone could beauty take so right. Dryden.

(f.) To draw; to deduce; to derive. [Rare.]

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.

(g.) To assume; to adopt; to acquire, as shape; to permit to one's self; to indulge or engage in; to yield to; to enjoy or experience, as rest, revenge, delight, shame; to form and adopt, as a resolution;—used in general senses, limited by the following complement, in many rather idiomatic phrases; as, to take a resolution; I take the liberty to say.

Few are so wicked as to take delight In crimes unprofitable. Dryden.

2Sense 2. In a more passive sense, (a.) 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. 9.

(b.) To receive as something to be eaten or drunk; to partake of; to swallow; as, to take food; to take a glass of wine. (c.) Not to refuse or balk at; to undertake readily; to surmount or leap; as, to take a hedge or fence. (d.) 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. (e.) To admit, as something presented to the mind; not to dispute; to allow; also, to receive in thought; to entertain in opinion; to understand; to interpret; to regard or look upon; to suppose; as, to take a thing for granted; this I take to be the man's motive; to take men for spies.

You take me right. Bacon.

Charity, taken in its largest extent, is nothing else but the sincere love to God and our neighbor. Wake.

He took that for virtue and affection which was nothing but vice in disguise. South.

You'd doubt his sex, and take him for a girl. Tate.

(f.) To admit; to receive; to bear; to submit to; to agree 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; Now take the mold. Dryden.

3Sense 3. With prepositions, take means to convey, move, or remove; to conduct; to transfer; to recover; to assume, &c.; as,

To take advantage of, to catch by surprise; to make use of a favorable state of things to the prejudice of.—To take aim, to direct the eye or weapon; to aim.—To take air, to be divulged or made public; to be disclosed, as a secret. “The cabal, however, began to take air from the premature mutinous language of those concerned.” W. Scott.—To take along, to carry, lead, or convey.—To take arms, to commence war or hostilities.—To take away, to remove; to cause deprivation of; as, a bill for taking away the votes of bishops. “By your own law, I take your life away.” Dryden.—To take breath, to stop, as from labor, in order to breathe or rest; to be recruited or refreshed.—To take care, to be careful; to be solicitous:—with of or for. “Doth God take care for oxen?” 1 Cor. ix. 9.—To take care of, to have the charge or care of; to care for; to superintend or oversee.—To take down. (a.) To reduce; to bring down, as from a high, or higher, place; as, to take down a book; hence, to bring lower; to depress; as, to take down pride, or the proud. (b.) To swallow; as, to take down a potion. (c.) To pull down; to pull to pieces; as, to take down a house or a scaffold. (d.) To record; to write down; as, to take down a man's words at the time he utters them. (e.) To attack; to make an attack upon.—To take effect, to have the intended effect; to be efficacious.—To take fire, to become ignited or inflamed.—To take from. (a.) To deprive of. “Gentle gods, take my breath from me.” Shak. (b.) To deduct; to subtract; as, to take one number from another. (c.) To detract; to derogate.—To take ground to the right or left (Mil.), to extend the line to the right or left; to move, as troops, to the right or left.—To take heart, to gain confidence or courage; to be encouraged.—To take heed, to be careful or cautious. “Take heed what doom against yourself you give.” Dryden.—To take heed to, to attend to with care; as, take heed to thy ways.—To take hold of, to seize; to fix on.—To take horse, to mount and ride a horse.—To take in. (a.) To inclose; to fence. (b.) To encompass or embrace; to comprise; to comprehend. (c.) To draw into a smaller compass; to contract; to brail or furl; as, to take in sail. (d.) To cheat; to circumvent; to gull; to deceive. [Colloq.] (e.) To admit; to receive; as, a leaky vessel will take in water. (f.) To win by conquest. [Obs.]

For now Troy's broad-wayed town He shall take in. Chapman.

(g.) To receive into the mind or understanding. “Some bright genius can take in a long train of propositions.” Watts. (h.) To receive regularly, as a periodical work or newspaper; to take. [Eng.]—To take in hand, to undertake; to attempt to execute.—To take in vain, to employ or utter, as in an oath. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Ex. xx. 7.—To take leave, to bid adieu or farewell.—To take notice. (a.) To observe, or to observe with particular attention. (b.) To show by some act that observation is made; to make remark.—To take oath, to swear with solemnity, or in a judicial manner.—To take off. (a.) To remove, as from the surface or outside; to remove from the top of any thing; as, to take off a load; to take off one's hat. (b.) To cut off; as, to take off the head, or a limb. (c.) To destroy; as, to take off life. (d.) To remove; to invalidate; as, to take off the force of an argument. (e.) To withdraw; to call or draw away. “Keep foreign ideas from taking off the mind from its present pursuit.” Locke. (f.) To swallow; as, to take off a glass of wine. (g.) To purchase; to take in trade. “The Spaniards having no commodities that we will take off.” Locke. (h.) To copy; to reproduce. “Take off all their models in wood.” Addison. (i.) To imitate; to mimic; to personate. (j.) To find place for; to dispose of; as, more scholars than preferments can take off. [Rare.]—To take on, to assume; to take upon one's self; as, to take on a character or responsibility.—To take one's own course, to act one's pleasure; to pursue the measures of one's own choice.—To take order with, to check. [Obs.] Bacon.—To take out. (a.) To remove from within a place; to separate; to deduct. (b.) To draw out; to remove; to clear or cleanse from; as, to take out a stain or spot from cloth.—To take a paper, or the like, to receive regularly, on paying the price of subscription; as, to take a newspaper.—To take part, to share; as, they take part in our rejoicing.—To take part with, to unite with; to join with.—To take place. (a.) To happen; to come, or come to pass. (b.) To have effect; to prevail. “Where arms take place, all other pleas are vain.” Dryden.—To take root. (a.) To live and grow, as a plant. (b.) To be established, as principles.—To take sides, to join one of two differing parties; to take an interest in one party.—To take stock. See STOCK.—To take advantage of, to use any advantage offered by; to employ to advantage.—To take the air, to expose one's self to the open air; to walk or ride in the open air.—To take the field (Mil.), to encamp; to commence the operations of a campaign.—To take to heart, to be sensibly affected by; to feel sensibly.—To take up. (a.) To lift; to raise. (b.) To buy or borrow; as, to take up goods to a large amount; to take up money at the bank. (c.) To begin; as, to take up a lamentation. Ezek. xix. (d.) (Surg.) To fasten with a ligature. (e.) To engross; to employ; to engage the attention with; as, to take up the time. (f.) To take for a permanence. “Arnobius asserts that men of the finest parts took up their rest in the Christian religion.” Addison. (g.) To seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a thief; to take up vagabonds. (h.) To admit; to believe. “The ancients took up experiments upon credit.” Bacon. (i.) To answer by reproof; to reprimand. “One of his relations took him up roundly.” L'Estrange. (j.) To begin where another left off.

Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale. Addison.

(k.) To occupy; to fill; as, to take up a great deal of room. (l.) To assume; to carry on or manage for another; as, to take up the quarrels of our neighbors. (m.) To comprise; to include. “The noble poem of Palemon and Arcite takes up seven years.” Dryden. (n.) To adopt; to assume; as, to take up current opinions. “They take up our old trade of conquering.” Dryden. (o.) To receive, accept, or adopt for the purpose of assisting; to espouse the cause of; to favor. (p.) To collect; to exact, as a tax. (q.) To pay and receive; as, to take up a note at the bank.—To take up arms, to begin war; to begin resistance by force.—To take up one's connection, to terminate one's relations.—To take upon one's self. (a.) To assume; to undertake; as, he takes upon himself to assert that the fact is capable of proof. (b.) To appropriate to one's self; to allow to be imputed to one's self; as, to take upon one's self a punishment.—To take up the gauntlet. See GAUNTLET.