verb
Etymology: Middle English taken up, from taken to take + up
transitive verb
1.
a. : to pick up
took up the morning paper and left the room
take up longhandled nets and go forth into the salt marshes — Hugh Cave
: lift , raise
take her up tenderly — Thomas Hood †1845
b. : to remove by lifting or pulling up from a settled position
took the carpets up each spring
city was taking the old streetcar tracks up
noise of workers taking up the street
c. : to pick up with the intention of using
first time he had taken up his pen in days
private gentlemen who had taken up arms against the king — H.E.Scudder
take up the life of some eminent public man … often an autobiography — G.M.Young
d. : to allow to mount : take aboard
train stops on signal to take up passengers
2. : to carry or conduct to a higher place
3. : to take into possession : assume possession of
chartered or, as they then called it, taken up for the voyage — Manchester Guardian Weekly
told that all available accommodation was taken up — Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
as
a. : to begin to occupy (land)
new industries to start … and new land to take up — F.D.Roosevelt
have taken up the fertile plains and valleys — A.L.Kroeber
first taken up for sheep in 1882, it was abandoned twenty years later — George Farwell
b. : to buy up
scalpers took all available tickets up
c. : to borrow at interest
arranged to take up a new loan
d. : to pay the amount of (as a note or loan) : pay in full for (as stock bought on a margin)
e. : to gather in
take up a collection
take up contributions
f. : to remove from the possession of another : take away
has his license taken up by the policeman who issues the summons — New York Times
authorization from the attorney general to take up the alien's border-crossing identification card — U.S. Code
4. : to receive, accept, or adopt for the purpose of assisting : lend one's favor or support to : proceed to patronize
is taken up by the daughter of the college's athletic director — K.S.Davis
rabble-rousing broadcaster … who was taken up by rich men and conservative politicians — Elmer Davis
amazed at the suddenness with which you will be taken up by the best people — New Republic
the universities were taking him up — Times Literary Supplement
5.
a. : to take or accept as one's own (as a belief, idea, practice) : come to use, do, or believe in : adopt
took up the practice of walking to work
took up the use of toothbrush, nail file, clothes brush — Dixon Wecter
outline style also was taken up and modified by the Court artists — O. Elfrida Saunders
Latin accentual verse did not take up the principle of regularity — H.O.Taylor
b. : to invest oneself with : take on oneself : assume
ready to take up an active and aggressive attitude to any … problem — J.H.Plumb
no suggestion in his work … that corruption is an affectation taken up in order to astonish the bourgeoisie — Roger Fry
c. : to receive into itself or upon its surface and hold : sorb
the elastic roller thus takes up the color from the pores of the wood — Scribner's
plants generally take up nitrogen as nitrates — C.B.Palmer
invading yeast was taken up by the phagocytic cells — Immunity
6.
a. : to enter upon (as a business, profession, subject of study)
took up his father's trade
disliked the subject and wished he had not taken it up
is thinking of taking up the violin
town … has taken up art in its old age — S.T.Williamson
: engage in
passengers streamed off … to take up their daily chores — H.A.Smith
b. : to take in hand : proceed to deal with
effect is to compel Congress to take up one industrial situation at a time — T.W.Arnold
expected his case to be taken up at the next session
c. : concern oneself or itself with
his next lecture would take up early Christian art
takes up again a situation he dealt with … more than forty years — Paul Pickrel
d. : to make (as a cause) one's own concern : espouse , support
a reputation for taking up unpopular causes
7. : to check or interrupt by dissent or reproof : rebuke , reprimand
author should not take up his reviewer on matters of judgment — Patric Dickinson
before she could take him up for it the door … opened — H.L.Davis
8.
a. : to proceed to occupy (as a place or position) : establish oneself in
restored emperor took up his residence at the “eastern capital” — F.A.Ogg & Harold Zink
was invited to take up his abode in the town — American Guide Series: Rhode Island
took up quarters in an abandoned schoolhouse
studied in Italy, returning to take up a canonry — S.F.Mason
would return ready and equipped to take up jobs — Lamp
b. : to occupy (as space, time) entirely or exclusively and often so as to obstruct : fill up
only exit was taken up with two bicycles and a baby carriage
spoken programs … take up more than 70 percent of our radio time — Americas
afternoons that are not taken up with baptisms or visits — Frank Hamilton
darkness … which takes up the largest area in his pictures — C.W.H.Johnson
c. : to engage (as a person, the mind, the attention) fully : engross , employ
had been reading it to himself, and … seemed all taken up with it — Dorothy C. Fisher
ideas, interests, and occupations that take up the attention of the community — Edward Sapir
is too much taken up with the children — Rachel Henning
9.
a. : to constrict (as an artery) by tying up
b. : to pull up or pull in (as by drawing or winding) so as to tighten or to shorten
take up the slack in a rope
take up stirrup leathers
take a brake cable up
c. : to gather or pull together and make fast
take a dropped stitch up
d. : to remove looseness from (as by adjustment of parts)
take up lost motion in a machine bearing
10. : to take into custody : arrest , seize
had been taken up for crap shooting — R.M.Lovett
Jews were also taken up in the streets and trams — Manchester Guardian Weekly
11. : accept ; especially : to respond favorably to (as a bet, challenge, proposal or the one offering it)
men threaten a strike and … he invites them to try running the company … they take him up — Robert Hatch
bragging kid who made a pass at me … was scared half to death when I took him up on it — James Jones
12. : to begin again (as something left off) or take over from another
your turn to take up the tale — John Buchan
another band took up the tune — Elsie Singmaster
secretary had now joined us and took up the discussion — Oscar Handlin
: resume
took the story up again where she had left off
should take up life vigorously again — H.A.Overstreet
13. Scotland : comprehend , understand : to get the point of (as a joke, an allusion) : appreciate
intransitive verb
1. dialect : to come to a stop : restrain oneself ; especially : to stop short in some bad practice
2. of weather : clear
3.
a. : to make a beginning especially where another has left off
practitioner is often required to take up where the theorist … is obliged to leave off — K.W.Thompson
b. of a school : to begin a session
4.
a. : to become shortened : draw together : shrink
b. : to close up of itself (as of a leak)
•
- take up for
- take up the cudgels
- take up the hatchet
- take up with