- take
- I [[t]te͟ɪk[/t]]
USED WITH NOUNS DESCRIBING ACTIONS
♦(Take is used in combination with a wide range of nouns, where the meaning of the combination is mostly given by the noun. Many of these combinations are common idiomatic expressions whose meanings can be found at the appropriate nouns. For example, the expression take care is explained at care.)1) VERB You can use take followed by a noun to talk about an action or event, when it would also be possible to use the verb that is related to that noun. For example, you can say `she took a shower' instead of `she showered'.
[V n] She was too tired to take a shower...
[V n] Betty took a photograph of us...
[V n] I've never taken a holiday since starting this job...
[V n] There's not enough people willing to take the risk...
[V n] Walk around the property and take a good look at it from the outside...
[V n] We took a long walk through the pines.
2) VERB In ordinary spoken or written English, people use take with a range of nouns instead of using a more specific verb. For example people often say `he took control' or `she took a positive attitude' instead of `he assumed control' or `she adopted a positive attitude'.[V n] The Patriotic Front took power after a three-month civil war...
[V n] I felt it was important for women to join and take a leading role...
[V n] The constitution requires members of parliament to take an oath of allegiance...
II [[t]te͟ɪk[/t]] OTHER USES[V n] In Asia the crisis took a different form.
♦(Please look at category 51 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.)1) VERB If you take something, you reach out for it and hold it.[V n] Here, let me take your coat...
[V n by n] Colette took her by the shoulders and shook her...
[V n prep] She took her in her arms and tried to comfort her.
2) VERB If you take something with you when you go somewhere, you carry it or have it with you.[V n prep/adv] Mark often took his books to Bess's house to study...
[V n prep/adv] I'll take these papers home and read them...
[V n with n] You should take your passport with you when changing money...
[V n] Don't forget to take your camera.
3) VERB If a person, vehicle, or path takes someone somewhere, they transport or lead them there.[V n prep/adv] She took me to a Mexican restaurant...
[V n prep/adv] The school bus takes them to school and brings them back...
[V n prep/adv] She was taken to hospital.
4) VERB If something such as a job or interest takes you to a place, it is the reason for you going there.[V n prep/adv] He was a poor student from Madras whose genius took him to Cambridge...
[V n prep/adv] My work takes me abroad a lot.
5) VERB If you take something such as your problems or your business to someone, you go to that person when you have problems you want to discuss or things you want to buy.[V n prep/adv] You need to take your problems to a trained counsellor...
[V n prep/adv] In a true market, the customer can take business elsewhere.
6) VERB If one thing takes another to a particular level, condition, or state, it causes it to reach that level or condition.[V n prep/adv] A combination of talent, hard work and good looks have taken her to the top...
[V n prep/adv] The managing director had given himself a pay rise of 20%, taking his salary to ₤220,000...
[V n prep/adv] Her latest research takes her point further.
7) VERB If you take something from a place, you remove it from there.[V n with prep/adv] He took a handkerchief from his pocket and lightly wiped his mouth...
[V n with prep/adv] Opening a drawer, she took out a letter.
8) VERB If you take something from someone who owns it, you steal it or go away with it without their permission.[V n] He has taken my money, and I have no chance of getting it back...
[V n] The burglars took just about anything they could carry.
9) VERB If an army or political party takes something or someone, they win them from their enemy or opponent.[V n] A Serb army unit took the town...
[V n] Marines went in, taking 15 prisoners...
[V n] Labour took Edgbaston from the Conservatives.
10) VERB If you take one number or amount from another, you subtract it or deduct it.[V n with adv/prep] Take off the price of the house, that's another five thousand.
11) VERB: no passive, usu with brd-neg If you cannot take something difficult, painful, or annoying, you cannot tolerate it without becoming upset, ill, or angry.[V n] Don't ever ask me to look after those kids again. I just can't take it!...
[V n] Harry's rudeness to everyone was becoming hard to take.
Syn:stand, bear12) VERB If you take something such as damage or loss, you suffer it, especially in war or in a battle.[V n] They have taken heavy casualties.
13) VERB: no passive If something takes a certain amount of time, that amount of time is needed in order to do it.[V n n] Since the roads are very bad, the journey took us a long time...
[V n] I had heard an appeal could take years...
[V n to-inf] The sauce takes 25 minutes to prepare and cook...
[V n n to-inf] The game took her less than an hour to finish...
[V n -ing] You must beware of those traps - you could take all day getting out of them...
[it V n to-inf] It takes 15 minutes to convert the plane into a car by removing the wings and the tail...
[it V n n to-inf] It had taken Masters about twenty hours to reach the house...
[it V n for n to-inf] It took thirty-five seconds for the hour to strike.
14) VERB: no passive If something takes a particular quality or thing, that quality or thing is needed in order to do it.[V n] At one time, walking across the room took all her strength...
[V n] We want to get married and start a family and all. But that takes money...
[it V n to-inf] It takes courage to say what you think...
[it V n to-inf] It takes the bark of three whole trees to make enough of the drug to treat a single patient...
[it V n before cl] It takes a pretty bad level of performance before the teachers will criticize the students.
Syn:15) VERB If you take something that is given or offered to you, you agree to accept it.[V n] When I took the job I thought I could change the system, but it's hard...
[V n] His sons took his advice.
Syn:16) VERB If you take a feeling such as pleasure, pride, or delight in a particular thing or activity, the thing or activity gives you that feeling.[V n in n/-ing] They take great pride in their heritage...
[V n from n/-ing] The government will take comfort from the latest opinion poll.
Syn:17) VERB If a shop, restaurant, theatre, or other business takes a certain amount of money, they get that amount from people buying goods or services. [mainly BRIT](in AM, usually use take in)[V amount] The firm took ₤100,000 in bookings.
18) N-SING: usu the N You can use take to refer to the amount of money that a business such as a store or theatre gets from selling its goods or tickets during a particular period. [mainly AM](in BRIT, usually use takings)It added another $11.8 million to the take, for a grand total of $43 million.
19) VERB If you take a prize or medal, you win it.[V n] `Poison' took first prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival...
[V n] Christie took the gold medal in the 100 metres.
20) VERB If you take the blame, responsibility, or credit for something, you agree to accept it.[V n] His brother Raoul did it, but Leonel took the blame and kept his mouth shut...
[V n] She's reluctant to take all the credit.
Syn:21) VERB If you take patients or clients, you accept them as your patients or clients.[V n] Some universities would be forced to take more students than they wanted...
[V n] They were told that Dr Albright wasn't taking any new patients.
22) VERB If you take a telephone call, you speak to someone who is telephoning you.[V n] Douglas telephoned Catherine at her office. She refused to take his calls.
23) VERB If you take something in a particular way, you react in the way mentioned to a situation or to someone's beliefs or behaviour.[V n adv/prep] Unfortunately, no one took my messages seriously...
[V n adv/prep] Her husband had taken the news badly...
I was determined to take the news in a calm and dignified manner.
24) VERB: usu imper You use take when you are discussing or explaining a particular question, in order to introduce an example or to say how the question is being considered.[V n] There's confusion and resentment, and it's almost never expressed out in the open. Take this office, for example...
[V n prep/adv] You can attack this problem from many angles, but let's take one thing at a time...
[V-ed] Taken in isolation these statements can be dangerous fallacies.
Syn:25) VERB If you take someone's meaning or point, you understand and accept what they are saying.[V n] They've turned sensible, if you take my meaning...
[V n] `I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's what happens.' - `I take your point.'
Syn:26) VERB If you take someone for something, you believe wrongly that they are that thing.[V n for n] She had taken him for a journalist...
[V n for n] Do you take me for an idiot?...
[V n to-inf] I naturally took him to be the owner of the estate.
27) VERB If you take something from among a number of things, you choose to have or buy it.[V n] `I'll take the grilled tuna,' Mary Ann told the waiter.
28) VERB If you take a road or route, you choose to travel along it.[V n prep/adv] From Wrexham centre take the Chester Road to the outskirts of town...
[V n prep/adv] He had to take a different route home...
[V n] It forked in two directions. He had obviously taken the wrong fork.
29) VERB If you take a house or flat, you rent it, usually for only a short time.[V n] My wife and I have taken the cottage for a month.
30) VERB If you take something such as a newspaper, you buy it or have it delivered to your home on a regular basis. [mainly BRIT][V n] Before the Chronicle I used to take the Guardian.
31) VERB If you take a car, train, bus, or plane, you use it to go from one place to another.[V n] It's the other end of the High Street. We'll take the car, shall we?...
[V n prep/adv] She took the train to New York every weekend...
[V n prep/adv] We'll take a taxi home.
32) VERB If you take a subject or course at school or university, you choose to study it.[V n] Students are allowed to take European history and American history.
33) VERB If you take a test or examination, you do it in order to obtain a qualification.[V n] She took her driving test in Greenford...
[V n] She travelled to India after taking her A levels.
34) VERB If you take someone for a subject, you give them lessons in that subject. [mainly BRIT][V n for n] The teacher that took us for economics was Miss Humphrey.
Syn:35) VERB If someone takes drugs, pills, or other medicines, they take them into their body, for example by swallowing them.[V n] She's been taking sleeping pills...
[V n] I have never taken illegal drugs.
36) VERB If you take food or drink, you eat or drink it.[V n] She made a habit of coming in to take tea with Nanny Crabtree...
If you don't take milk, cheese or yoghurt, other sources of calcium are important.
37) VERB If you take a note or a letter, you write down something you want to remember or the words that someone says.[V n] She sat expressionless, carefully taking notes...
[V n] Take a letter, Miss Singleton.
38) VERB If you take a measurement, you find out what it is by measuring.[V n] By drilling, geologists can take measurements at various depths...
[V n] If he feels hotter than normal, take his temperature.
39) VERB: no passive If a place or container takes a particular amount or number, there is enough space for that amount or number.[V amount] The place could just about take 2,000 people.
40) VERB If you take a particular size in shoes or clothes, that size fits you.[V n] 47 per cent of women in the UK take a size 16 or above.
41) VERB If something such as a drug or a dye takes, it has the effect or result that is intended.If the cortisone doesn't take, I may have to have surgery.
42) N-COUNT A take is a short piece of action which is filmed in one continuous process for a cinema or television film.She couldn't get it right - she never knew the lines and we had to do several takes.
43) N-SING: N on n, usu supp N Someone's take on a particular situation or fact is their attitude to it or their interpretation of it.What's your take on the new government? Do you think it can work?...
That sort of thing gives you a different take on who you are.
Syn:44) PHRASE: PHR with cl, oft PHR that You can say `I take it' to check with someone that what you believe to be the case or what you understand them to mean is in fact the case, or is in fact what they mean.I take it you're a friend of the Kellings, Mr Burr...
I take it that neither of you reads `The Times'...
`You've no objection, I take it?' - `Of course not.'
Syn:I presume45) PHRASE: PHR with cl You can say `take it from me' to tell someone that you are absolutely sure that what you are saying is correct, and that they should believe you.Take it from me - this is the greatest achievement by any Formula One driver ever.
Syn:believe me46) CONVENTION If you say to someone `take it or leave it', you are telling them that they can accept something or not accept it, but that you are not prepared to discuss any other alternatives.A 72-hour week, 12 hours a day, six days a week, take it or leave it.
47) PHRASE: take inflects If someone takes an insult or attack lying down, they accept it without protesting.The government is not taking such criticism lying down.
48) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n If something takes a lot out of you or takes it out of you, it requires a lot of energy or effort and makes you feel very tired and weak afterwards.He looked tired, as if the argument had taken a lot out of him...
Having loads of children takes it out of you.
49) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR pron-refl If something takes you out of yourself, it makes you feel better and so you forget all your worries and unhappiness.Donating time and energy to others can take you out of yourself.
50) PHRASE: V inflects If someone tells you to take five or to take ten, they are telling you to have a five or ten minute break from what you are doing. [mainly AM, INFORMAL]Phrasal Verbs:- take in- take off- take on- take out- take to- take up
English dictionary. 2008.
