take

English Online Dictionary. What means take‎? What does take mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”), from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (“to touch”), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch, take”) (see there for more). Gradually displaced Middle English nimen ("to take"; see nim), from Old English niman (“to take”). Cognate with Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk taka (“to take”), Norwegian Bokmål ta (“to take”), Swedish ta (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), Middle Dutch taken (“to grasp”), Dutch taken (“to take; grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). Compare tackle. Unrelated to Lithuanian tèkti (“to receive, be granted”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: tāk, IPA^(key): /teɪk/, [tʰeɪ̯k]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /tæɪk/
• Rhymes: -eɪk

Verb

take (third-person singular simple present takes, present participle taking, simple past took, past participle taken or (archaic or Scotland) tane)

1. (transitive) To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
   1. (transitive) To seize or capture.
   2. (transitive) To catch or get possession of (fish or game).

   3. (transitive, cricket) To catch the ball; especially as a wicket-keeper and after the batsman has missed or edged it.
   4. (transitive) To appropriate or transfer into one's own possession, sometimes by physically carrying off.

   5. (transitive) To exact.

   6. (transitive) To capture or win (a piece or trick) in a game.

2. (transitive) To receive or accept (something) (especially something given or bestowed, awarded, etc).

   • Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer.

   1. (transitive) To receive or accept (something) as payment or compensation.

   2. (transitive) To accept and follow (advice, etc).

   3. (transitive) To receive into some relationship.

   4. (transitive, intransitive, law) To receive or acquire (property) by law (e.g. as an heir).
      • 1913, Conrad v Conrad et al (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, Feb. 25, 1913), in The Southwestern Reporter, volumes 153-154, page 741:

        The only interest they have in the land arises under the will of E. J. Turnham, under which they take one half of the land.

3. (transitive) To remove.
   1. (transitive) To remove or end by death; to kill.

   2. (transitive) To subtract.

4. (transitive) To have sex with.
   • 2014 July 3, Susan Calman, during Mock the Week, series 13, episode 4:

     And the queen takes the bishop […] this is turning out to be quite the royal wedding!

   1. (vulgar) To admit (a penis or the penis of) into one’s bodily cavity.
5. (transitive) To defeat (someone or something) in a fight.
6. (transitive) To grasp or grip.

7. (transitive) To select or choose; to pick.

   • Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

8. (transitive) To adopt (select) as one's own.

9. (transitive) To carry or lead (something or someone).
   1. (transitive, especially of a vehicle) To transport or carry; to convey to another place.

   2. (transitive, of a path, road, etc.) To lead (to a place); to serve as a means of reaching.

   3. (transitive) To pass (or attempt to pass) through or around.

   4. (transitive) To escort or conduct (a person).
      • 2002(?), J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

        They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

   5. (reflexive) To go.
10. (transitive) To use as a means of transportation.

11. (obsolete) To visit; to include in a course of travel.
    • c. 1677, William Penn, Travels in Holland and Germany

      Almost a year since, R. B. and B. F. took that city, in the way from Frederickstadt to Amsterdam, and gave them a visit.
12. (transitive) To obtain for use by payment or lease.
    1. (transitive) To obtain or receive regularly by (paid) subscription.

13. (transitive) To consume.
    1. (transitive) To receive (medicine) into one's body, e.g. by inhalation or swallowing; to ingest.

    2. (transitive) To partake of (food or drink); to consume.

       • To such men as Mr. Hellyer, who every night take much strong drink, and on no occasion whatever take any exercise, sixty is the grand climacteric. He was, a year ago, just fifty-nine. Alas! he has not even reached his grand climacteric. Already he is gone. He was cut off by pneumonia, or apoplexy, last Christmas.

14. (transitive) To experience, undergo, or endure.
    1. (transitive) To undergo; to put oneself into, to be subjected to.

    2. (transitive) To experience or feel.
    3. (transitive) To submit to; to endure (without ill humor, resentment, or physical failure).
    4. (transitive) To suffer; to endure (a hardship or damage).
    5. (transitive) To participate in.
15. (transitive) To cause to change to a specified state or condition.

    He had to take it apart to fix it.

    She took down her opponent in two minutes.
16. (transitive) To regard in a specified way.
17. (transitive) To conclude or form (a decision or an opinion) in the mind.

18. (transitive) To understand (especially in a specified way).
19. (transitive) To accept or be given (rightly or wrongly); assume (especially as if by right).

20. (transitive) To believe, to accept the statements of.
    • c. 1674-1718, Nicholas Rowe:

      I take thee at thy word.

21. (transitive) To assume or suppose; to reckon; to regard or consider.
22. (transitive) To draw, derive, or deduce (a meaning from something).
    • c. 1630-1694,, John Tillotson, Sermon V, The Excellency of the Christian Religion:

      And the firm belief of a future Judgment, which shall render to every man according to his deeds, if it be well consider'd, is to a reasonable nature the most forcible motive of all other to a good life; because it is taken from the consideration of the greatest and most lasting happiness and misery that human nature is capable of.

23. (transitive) To derive (as a title); to obtain from a source.

24. (transitive) To catch or contract (an illness, etc).

25. (transitive) To come upon or catch (in a particular state or situation).
26. (transitive) To captivate or charm; to gain or secure the interest or affection of.

    • Neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
27. (transitive, of a material) To absorb or be impregnated by (dye, ink, etc); to be susceptible to being treated by (polish, etc).

28. (transitive, of a ship) To let in (water).
29. (transitive) To require.
30. (transitive) To proceed to fill.

31. (transitive) To fill, to use up (time or space).

32. (transitive) To avail oneself of.

33. (transitive) To practice; perform; execute; carry out; do.

    • To such men as Mr. Hellyer, who every night take much strong drink, and on no occasion whatever take any exercise, sixty is the grand climacteric.

34. (transitive) To assume or perform (a form or role).
    1. (transitive) To assume (a form).

    2. (transitive) To perform (a role).

    3. (transitive) To assume and undertake the duties of (a job, an office, etc).
35. (transitive) To bind oneself by.

36. (transitive) To move into.

37. (transitive) To go into, through, or along.

38. (transitive) To have and use one's recourse to.

39. (transitive) To ascertain or determine by measurement, examination or inquiry.

40. (transitive) To write down; to get in, or as if in, writing.

41. (transitive) To make (a photograph, film, or other reproduction of something).

42. (transitive, dated) To take a picture, photograph, etc of (a person, scene, etc).

43. (transitive) To obtain money from, especially by swindling.

44. (transitive, now chiefly by enrolling in a class or course) To apply oneself to the study of.

45. (transitive) To deal with.

46. (transitive) To consider in a particular way, or to consider as an example.

47. (transitive, baseball) To decline to swing at (a pitched ball); to refrain from hitting at, and allow to pass.

48. (transitive) To accept as an input to a relation.
    1. (transitive, grammar) To have to be used with (a certain grammatical form, etc).

    2. (transitive, mathematics, computing) To accept (zero or more arguments).

49. (intransitive) To get or accept (something) into one's possession.

50. (intransitive) To engage, take hold or have effect.
    1. (Of ink; dye; etc.) To adhere or be absorbed properly.

    2. (of a plant, etc) To begin to grow after being grafted or planted; to (literally or figuratively) take root, take hold.
    3. (of a mechanical device) To catch; to engage.
    4. (possibly dated) To win acceptance, favor or favorable reception; to charm people.
       • c. 1672-1719, Joseph Addison:

         Each wit may praise it for his own dear sake, / And hint he writ it, if the thing should take.

    5. To have the intended effect.
51. (intransitive, copulative) To become; to be affected in a specified way.

52. (intransitive, possibly dated) To be able to be accurately or beautifully photographed.
53. (intransitive, dialectal, proscribed) An intensifier.
54. (transitive, obsolete) To deliver, bring, give (something) to (someone).
55. (transitive, obsolete outside dialects and slang) To give or deliver (a blow, to someone); to strike or hit.

Usage notes

• In a few informal sociolects, the past form took is sometimes replaced by the proscribed form taked.
• Similarly, the participle taken is sometimes replaced by the equally proscribed tooken.
• In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb take had the form takest, and had tookest for its past tense.
• Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form taketh was used.

Conjugation

Quotations

• 1686, John Dryden, To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew

  Beauty alone could beauty take so right.

Synonyms

• (to get into one's possession): confiscate, seize; see also Thesaurus:take
• (military: to gain a position by force): capture, conquer, seize
• (to receive or accept something): garner, get, obtain, win; see also Thesaurus:receive
• (to remove): knock off, subduct; see also Thesaurus:remove
• (to kill): do in, off, terminate; see also Thesaurus:kill
• (to subtract): take away; see also Thesaurus:subtract
• (to have sex with): have, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
• (to defeat in a fight): beat
• (to grasp with the hands): grab, grasp, grip, nim; see also Thesaurus:grasp
• (to consume): ingest, swallow

Antonyms

• (to accept): give
• (to carry): bring
• drop

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

take (plural takes)

1. The or an act of taking.
   • 1999, Impacts of California sea lions and Pacific harbor seals […] (published by the United States National Marine Fisheries Service), page 32:

     The 1994 Amendments address the incidental take of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing, not the direct lethal take of pinnipeds for management purposes.

2. Something that is taken; a haul.
   1. Money that is taken in, (legal or illegal) proceeds, income; (in particular) profits.

   2. The or a quantity of fish, game animals or pelts, etc which have been taken at one time; catch.
3. An interpretation or view, opinion or assessment; perspective; a statement expressing such a position.

4. An approach, a (distinct) treatment.

5. (film) A scene recorded (filmed) at one time, without an interruption or break; a recording of such a scene.

6. (music) A recording of a musical performance made during an uninterrupted single recording period.
7. A visible (facial) response to something, especially something unexpected; a facial gesture in response to an event.
8. (medicine) An instance of successful inoculation/vaccination.
9. (rugby, cricket) A catch of the ball (in cricket, especially one by the wicket-keeper).
10. (printing) The quantity of copy given to a compositor at one time.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take
• intake
• outtake
• spit take
• taking, taking
• uptake

References

Anagrams

• Kate, kate, keta, teak

Chinese

Etymology

From English take.

Pronunciation

Verb

take (Hong Kong Cantonese)

1. to consume (drugs)

   • 企硬！take嘢衰硬！ [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

     From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZvEs8ePnLE

     kei⁵ ngaang⁶! tik¹ je⁵ seoi¹ ngaang⁶! [Jyutping]

     Stand firm! Taking drugs certainly causes one to make grave mistakes!

2. (film) to film, to record a scene

Noun

take

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, film) take; attempts of recording or filming at one time (Classifier: 個／个 c)

Classifier

take

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Classifier for attempts.

   一take過／一take过 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ tik¹ gwo³ [Jyutping]  ―  in one attempt

Japanese

Romanization

take

1. Rōmaji transcription of たけ

Marshallese

Etymology

Borrowed from English turkey, named after Turkey, from Middle English Turkye, from French Turquie, Medieval Latin Turcia, from Turcus (“Turk”), from Byzantine Greek Τοῦρκος (Toûrkos), from Persian ترک‎ (tork), from Middle Persian twlk' (Turk), from an Old Turkic autonym, Türk or Türük.

Pronunciation

• (phonetic) IPA^(key): [tˠɑɡe]
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /tˠækej/
• Bender phonemes: {takȩy}

Noun

take

1. a turkey

References

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French taquet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /take/

Noun

take

1. power switch.

Middle English

Etymology 1

Verb

take (third-person singular simple present taketh, present participle takende, first-/third-person singular past indicative toke, past participle taken)

1. Alternative form of taken

Verb

take

1. Alternative form of taken: past participle of taken

Etymology 2

Noun

take (plural takes)

1. Alternative form of tak (“tack (small nail)”)

Etymology 3

Verb

take (third-person singular simple present taketh, present participle takende, takynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle taked)

1. Alternative form of takken

Etymology 4

Noun

take (plural takes)

1. Alternative form of tak (“tack (fee paid to keep swine)”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

take (present tense tek, past tense tok, past participle teke, passive infinitive takast, present participle takande, imperative tak)

1. Alternative form of taka

Pilagá

Verb

take

1. want

   se-take — I want

References

• 2001, Alejandra Vidal, quoted in Subordination in Native South-American Languages