Take, v. t. [imp.
Took (?); p. p. Takend (?); p. pr.
& vb. n. Taking.] [Icel. taka; akin to Sw.
taga, Dan. tage, Goth. tēkan 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. -- 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
for. See under Order. -- To take order
with, to check; to hinder; to repress. [Obs.]
Bacon. -- To take orders. (a)
To receive directions or commands. (b)
(Eccl.) To enter some grade of the ministry. See Order,
n., 10. -- 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.
(c) To produce for one's self; as, to take out a
patent. (d) To put an end to; as, to take
the conceit out of a man. (e) To escort;
as, to take out to dinner. -- To take over,
to undertake; to take the management of. [Eng.] Cross (Life of
G. Eliot). -- 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, root, sides,
stock, etc. See under Place, Root,
Side, etc. -- To take the air.
(a) (Falconry) To seek to escape by trying to
rise higher than the falcon; -- said of a bird. (b)
See under Air. -- To take the field.
(Mil.) See under Field. -- To take
thought, to be concerned or anxious; to be solicitous.
Matt. vi. 25, 27. -- To take to heart. See
under Heart. -- To take to task, to
reprove; to censure. -- To take up.
(a) To lift; to raise. Hood.
(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.
1. (d) To gather together; to bind up; to fasten or
to replace; as, to take up raveled stitches; specifically
(Surg.), to fasten with a ligature. (e)
To engross; to employ; to occupy or fill; as, to take up the
time; to take up a great deal of room. (f)
To take permanently. "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; to receive. [Obs.]
The ancients took up experiments upon
credit.
Bacon.
(i) To answer by reproof; to reprimand; to
berate.
One of his relations took him up
roundly.
L'Estrange.
(k) To begin where another left off; to keep up in
continuous succession.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale.
Addison.
(l) To assume; to adopt as one's own; to carry on or
manage; as, to take up the quarrels of our neighbors; to take
up current opinions. "They take up our old trade of
conquering." Dryden. (m) To comprise; to
include. "The noble poem of Palemon and Arcite . . . takes up
seven years." Dryden. (n) To receive, accept, or
adopt for the purpose of assisting; to espouse the cause of; to favor.
Ps. xxvii. 10. (o) To collect; to exact, as a
tax; to levy; as, to take up a contribution. "Take up
commodities upon our bills." Shak. (p) To pay
and receive; as, to take up a note at the bank.
(q) (Mach.) To remove, as by an adjustment of
parts; as, to take up lost motion, as in a bearing; also, to make
tight, as by winding, or drawing; as, to take up slack thread in
sewing. (r) To make up; to compose; to settle; as,
to take up a quarrel. [Obs.] Shak. -- To take
up arms. Same as To take arms, above. --
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, or inflicted upon, one's self; as,
to take upon one's self a punishment. -- To take up the
gauntlet. See under Gauntlet.