catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Take \Take\, v. t. [imp. Took; p. p. Takend; p. pr. & vb. n.
     Taking.] [Icel. taka; akin to Sw. taga, Dan. tage, Goth.
     t[=e]kan to touch; of uncertain origin.]
     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. Hence, specifically:
        (a) 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 am 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.
        (b) 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.
        (c) 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.
        (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 judgments.             --I. Watts.
        (e) To form a likeness of; to copy; to delineate; to
            picture; as, to take picture of a person.
  
                  Beauty alone could beauty take so right.
                                                    --Dryden.
        (f) 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.
        (g) 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.
        (h) To lead; to conduct; as, to take a child to church.
        (i) To carry; to convey; to deliver to another; to hand
            over; as, he took the book to the bindery.
  
                  He took me certain gold, I wot it well.
                                                    --Chaucer.
        (k) To remove; to withdraw; to deduct; -- with from; as,
            to take the breath from one; to take two from four.
  
     2. In a somewhat passive sense, to receive; to bear; to
        endure; to acknowledge; to accept. Specifically:
        (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.
                                                    10.
        (b) To receive as something to be eaten or dronk; to
            partake of; to swallow; as, to take food or wine.
        (c) Not to refuse or balk at; to undertake readily; to
            clear; 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; 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.
        (f) 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.
  
     To be taken aback, To take advantage of, To take air,
        etc. See under Aback, Advantage, etc.
  
     To take aim, to direct the eye or weapon; to aim.
  
     To take along, to carry, lead, or convey.
  
     To take arms, to commence war or hostilities.
  
     To take away, to carry off; to remove; to cause deprivation
        of; to do away with; 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 recruit or refresh one's self.
  
     To take care, to exercise care or vigilance; to be
        solicitous. ``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; to abase or humble; as, to take down
            pride, or the proud. ``I never attempted to be
            impudent yet, that I was not taken down.''
            --Goldsmith.
        (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.
  
     To take effect, To take fire. See under Effect, and
        Fire.
  
     To take ground to the right or to the 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 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.'' --I. Watts.
        (h) To receive regularly, as a periodical work or
            newspaper; to take. [Eng.]
  
     To take in hand. See under Hand.
  
     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 issue. See under Issue.
  
     To take leave. See Leave, n., 2.
  
     To take a newspaper, magazine, or the like, to receive it
        regularly, as on paying the price of subscription.
  
     To take notice, to observe, or to observe with particular
        attention.
  
     To take notice of. See under Notice.
  
     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 anything; 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. --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.
        (k) To find place for; to dispose of; as, more scholars
            than preferments can take off. [R.] --Bacon.