take 
26. To ascertain, as by computation or mea- 
surement : as, to take the weight of anything. 
He [the tailor] views with studious Pleasure 
Your Shape, before he takes your Measure. 
Prior, Alma, I. 
The balance of our imports of grain, taken upon a num- 
ber of years, began to exceed the balance of our exports. 
S. Dowell, Taxes in England, IV. 10. 
27. To contain; comprehend; include. 
He whom the whole world could not (ate, 
The Word, which heaven and earth did make, 
Was now laid in a manger. 
B. Jontm, Hymn on the Nativity. 
We always take the account of a future state into our 
schemes about the concerns of this world, lip. Atterbury. 
28. To include in a course, as of travel; visit. 
The next morning I went to Dassamonpeack and sent 
Pemissapan word I was going to Crqatan, and tooie him 
in my way to complaine Osocon would haue stole my 
prisoner Skico. 
Ralph Layne, quoted in Capt. John Smith's Travels, I. 92. 
About a year since, R. B. and B. F. took that city, in the 
way from Frederickstadt to Amsterdam, and gave them a 
visit. Perm, Travels in Holland, etc. 
29. To resort to ; have recourse to ; avail one's 
self of; employ, as any appliance, means, or 
resource capable of service. 
The same Thursday at aftyr noon we tote our assys at 
the Mownte Syon, . . . and rode the same nyght to Beth- 
lem. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel], p. 46. 
There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 
Shot., J. C., iv. 8. 219. 
I tooke coach in company with two courteous Italian 
gentlemen. Evelyn, Diary, May 18, 1645. 
Take wings of fancy, and ascend. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxvi. 
30. To need; require; demand: often used 
with an impersonal subject: as, it took all our 
strength to row ashore. 
How long do you think it will take you to bring your 
thoughts together? George Eliot, Felix Holt, xxiii. 
31. To give; deliver. [Now rare.] 
There besyde is the Place where oure Lord take to 
Sloyses the 10 Comandementes of the Lawe. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 62. 
Pandarus gan hym the letre take, 
And seyde, "Pardee ! God hath holpen us." 
Chaucer, Tioilus, ii. 1318. 
He gaue a ryng on to Clarionas, 
And she toke hym another for certeyn. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 907. 
32. To inflict, as a blow, on; hence, to fetch 
(a person or an animal) a blow; strike. 
Ector . . . take his horse with his helis, hastid before, 
Gird euon to the grekes with a grete yre. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 6394. 
The potter yn the neke hem toke, 
To the gronde sone he yede. 
Robin Hood ami the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 21) 
A rascal takes him o'er the face, and fells him. 
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, ii. 2. 
Mr. William Vaux took Mr. Knightly a blow on the face. 
Court and Times of Charles /., I. 66. 
33. To betake : used reflexively. 
To alle the develles I me lake, . . . 
But it was told right to myselve. 
Rmn. of the Base, 1. 7590. 
Betere bote is noon to me 
Than to his mercy truli me take. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 11. 
Art thou a craftsman ? take thee to thine arte, 
And cast off slouth, which loytreth in the Campes. 
Gascoigne, Steele Olas (ed. Arber), p. 67. 
But for shame, and that I am a man at amirs, I would 
rnnne away, and take me to my legs. 
Heywood, Four Prentises of London (Works, ed. 1874, 
[II. 226). 
34. To conduct ; escort ; convey ; lead or carry. 
Take the stranger to my house, 
And with you take the chain. 
Shak., C. of E., iv. 1. 36. 
So Enid took his charger to the stall. 
Tennyson, Oeraint. 
I'll get him to take me about, I only a country fellow, 
and he up to all the ways of town. 
Mrs. Oliphanl, Poor Gentleman, xli. 
35. With nouns noting or implying motion, 
action, or procedure: to do, make, perform, 
execute, practise, or the like. In this sense the 
verb and its object often form a periphrasis for the verb 
suggested by the object : as, to take beginning, for to be- 
gin; to take resolution, for to resolve; to take a walk, for to 
walk; so also with to take one's way, course, journey, etc., 
and many other phrases noting progress or procedure. 
The synner took penaunce with good entent, 
And lefte al his wickld synne. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 99. 
I tooke my journey there hence by Coach towards Paris. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 14. 
Sound was the sleep he took, 
For he slept till it was noon. 
Lord John (Child's Ballads, I. 134). 
6164 
To secure him at home, he [Edward IV.) took Truce 
with the King of Scots for fifteen Years. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 206. 
Prince Doria going a Horseback to take the round one 
Night, the Soldier took his Horse by the Bridle. 
Bowell, Letters, ii. 54. 
O'er Scythian Hills to the Meotian Lake 
A speedy Flight we'll take. 
Congreve, Semele, ii. 1. 
If you please to action me, take your course. 
Gentleman Instructed, p. 525. (Davies, under action.) 
We took our last adieu, 
And up the snowy Splugen drew. 
Tennyson, The Daisy. 
He [Sir Robert Peel] was called upon at a trying moment 
to take a step on which assuredly much of the prosperity 
of the people and nearly all the hopes of his party along 
with his own personal reputation were imperilled. 
J. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, xix. 
Specifically (a) To execute by artistic means, as a draw- 
ing or painting, or a photograph ; also, to obtain a like- 
ness or picture of : as, to take a person or a landscape. 
Here is the same face, taken within this half-hour, said 
the artist, presenting her with another miniature. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xx. 
As the young people frisked about innocently, Mr. 
Brackett and I succeeded in taking some half-dozen in- 
teresting and instructive groups and single figures. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 626. 
(b) To make by writing ; Jot down : as, to take notes ; 
hence, to obtain in the form of notes or other memoranda : 
as, to take a speech in shorthand. 
A chield 's aiming you taking notes, 
An', faith, he'll prent it. 
Burns, Captain Grose's Peregrinations. 
(c) In music, to execute at a specified rate of speed; 
hence, to adjust at a given rate : as, to take the tempo 
slowly. 
The musical part of the service was, to begin with, 
taken slow incredibly slow. 
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 95. 
36. To admit to sexual intercourse : said of the 
female. Take care. See care. Take Ink, an order 
to put more ink on a printing-roller. Taken aback. See 
abacki. To be taken in the mainort, to be taken 
with the mainort. See mainor. To be taken sick, 
to become sick ; fall ill. To make one take the dust. 
See dust^. To take aback. See taken aback, under 
abacki. To take account of, to note; mark; make a 
note of. 
This man walked about and took account 
0/all thought, said, and acted. 
Browning, How it Strikes a Contemporary. 
To take action, a dare, advice, a grinder. See the 
nouns. To take advantage of. See advantage, . To 
take aim, to direct or level a weapon or a missile at an 
object. To take air. See oiri. To take a leaf out 
of one's book. See (wot. To take amiss. See amiss. 
To take a name in vain, an Insult, a rise out of. 
See noTMl, insult, risel. To take arms. See arm?. 
To take a season, a seat, a side, a step, a turn. See 
the nouns. To take a thing in snufft. See uw/i. 
To take back, to withdraw ; recall ; retract. [Colloq.] 
I've disgusted you I see that; but I didn't mean to. 
I I take it back. Howells, Silas Lapham, xv. 
To take bail for. See 6a2.-To take battlet, to fight. 
And y in his quarel took bataile 
Ajen my fadir to amend his mys. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 50. 
To take bearings. See bearing. To take bogt. See 
60172. To take breath, or to take a long breath, to 
pause, as from labor or exertion, in order to breathe or 
rest ; rest, refresh, or recruit one's self after fatigue. 
Before I proceed, I would take some breath. Bacon. 
The world slumbered or took breath in his [Hippocrates's] 
resolutions divers hundreds of years. Donne, Letters, xvii. 
To take by storm, by the hand, etc. See the nouns. 
To take captive. See captive. To take checkt, 
cold, counsel, courset. See the nouns. To take 
down, (a) To lower the power, spirit, pride, or vanity of ; 
abase; humble: as, to take down a conceited upstart. 
Compare to take down a peg, under peg. 
Doe you thinke he is nowe soe daungerous an enemye 
as he is counted, or that it is soe harde to take him downe 
as some suppose? Spenser, State of Ireland. 
In a good time that man both wins and wooes 
That takes his wife downe in her wedding shooes. 
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (Works, II. 94). 
(b) To swallow : as, to take down a draught or a dose. 
Sir, kill me rather ; I will take down poison, 
Eat burning coals, do anything. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 6. 
(c) To pull down ; remove by taking to pieces : as, to take 
down a house or a scaffolding, (d) To put in writing ; write 
down ; record ; note : as, to take down a sermon in short- 
hand ; to take down a visitor's address; to take down a wit- 
ness's statement. To take earth, in fox-hunting, to 
escape into its hole : said of the fox ; hence, figuratively, 
to conceal one's self. 
Follow yonder fellow, and see where he takes earth. 
Scott, Kenilworth, iv. 
To take effect. Seee/ec. To take exception. See 
exception, 4. To take fire, flay, foott, form. See the 
nouns. To take for granted. See grants, u. . To 
take French leave. See French. To take heart. See 
heart. To take heart of grace. See grace. To take 
heed, (a) To beware ; be careful ; use caution : often 
followed by of or to. 
I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my 
tongue. Ps. xxxix. 1. 
take 
Asper (I urge it as your friend), tnke heed, 
The days are dangerous, full of exception. 
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, Ind. 
(&) To take notice ; pay attention ; attend ; listen. 
God ne takth none hede of zuiche tales. 
Ayenbtte of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 175. 
To take hold : commonly with of or on. (a) To get a 
grasp or grip : as, to take hold of a rope. 
Ten men . . . shall take hold of the skirt of him that Is 
a Jew, saying, We will go with you : for we have heard 
that God is with you. Zech. viii. 23. 
(6) To gain possession, control, or influence. 
Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 
Ex. xv. 14. 
I pray, sir, tell me, is it possible 
That love should of a sudden take such hold ? 
Shak., T. of the S., i. 1. 152. 
(c) To take advantage ; make use. 
Captaine Gorges tooke hold of y opportunitie. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 149. 
(d) To lay hold, for or as for management or adjustment. 
Some take hold of suits only for an occasion to cross 
some other. Bacon, Suitors (ed. 1887). 
To take horse. See horsel. To take huff, to become 
huffy or pettish ; take offense. 
If the American actress came over, of course she would 
insist on playing Violante ; then Miss Carmine would take 
huff, and there was sure to be a row ! 
Whyte MelviUe, White Rose, II. vii. 
To take in. (at) To capture ; conquer. 
He hath mused of taking kingdoms in. 
Shak., A. and C., iii. 13. 83. 
Should a great beauty resolve to take me in with the 
artillery of her eyes, it would be as vain as for a thief to 
set upon a new-robbed passenger. Suckling. 
(b) To receive ; admit ; give entrance or admittance to. 
By our cognation to the body of the first Adam, we took 
in death. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 594. 
The captain told them we wanted to take in water. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 241. 
After a long day's journey of thirty-one miles, we 
reached a house which we had been told look in travel- 
lers. B. Hall, Travels in N. A. , II. 257. 
(c) To receive into one's house: said of work undertaken 
to be done at home. 
His wife . . . had tried to help him support their fam- 
ily of young children by giving private lessons and by tak- 
ing in sewing. The Cent,ury, XXXVII. 33. 
(d) To inclose, fence, or reclaim, as land. 
Upon the sea-coasts are parcels of land that would pay 
well for the taking in. Mortimer. 
(e) To encompass or embrace ; include ; comprehend. 
This love of our country is natural to every man. . . . 
It takes in our families, relations, friends, and acquain- 
tance. Addison, Freeholder, No. 5. 
It may be supposed that this lake [Brulos), which is now 
of so great an extent, takes in all the other lakes men- 
tioned by the antients to the east 
Pococke, Description of the East, 1. 16. 
Specifically, to include in one's course or experience, as 
by seeing, visiting, or enjoying. 
The Bensons would not be persuaded out of their fixed 
plan to take in ... the White Mountains. 
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 293. 
(/) To reduce to smaller compass ; make less in length or 
width ; contract ; brail or furl, as a sail ; make smaller, as 
a garment. 
At night we took off our main bonnet, and took in all our 
sails, save our maincourse and mizzen. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, L 21. 
Sure every one of me frocks must be taken in, it 's such 
a skeleton I'm growing. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xliii. 
(g) To receive into the mind ; comprehend ; perceive. 
He took in the sense of a statement very slowly through 
the medium of written or even printed characters. 
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iii. 1. 
We only take in any discourse if our memory retains the 
earlier words while we are hearing those which follow. 
Lotze, Microcosmus (trans.), I. 220. 
o accept as true ; believe : as. he took in whatever we 
. 
told him. [Colloq.] (i) To take by subscription, as a mag- 
azine or newspaper. Compare def. 3 (e). [Eng.] 
Few working-class homes in England fail to take in some 
kind of paper on the day of rest. 
Nineteenth Century, XX. 110. 
(J) To dupe; cheat; gull. 
Hostess. I took you in last night, I say. 
Syntax. Tis true ; and if this bill I pay, 
You'll take me in again to-day. 
W. Combe, Dr. Syntax's Tour, i. 4. (Davies.) 
Some critics declared that Mr. Cobden had been simply 
taken in; that the French Emperor had "bubbled " him. 
J. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, xli. 
To take In hand. See hand. To take in patiencet. 
See patience. To take in the Slack (navi.\ to draw in 
the loose or relaxed part of a rope until it becomes taut. 
To take into account. See account. To take into 
one's confidence. See confidence. To take into one's 
head, to conceive the idea of ; form a plan or intention of. 
Apparently Rousseau was an advanced boy, for, after 
these clerical duties were over, and he had returned to 
Paris, he took it into his own head to paint a view of the 
Montmartre hill. The Century, XLI. 573. 
To take into one's own hand or hands, to assume the 
management or execution of, as a personal duty, right, or 
privilege. 
