/up"tayk'/ , n.
1. apprehension; understanding or comprehension; mental grasp: quick on the uptake.
2. an act or instance of taking up; a lifting: the uptake of fertilizer by machines.
3. Also called take-up . Mach. a pipe or passage leading upward from below, as for conducting smoke or a current of air.
4. Physiol. absorption.
[ 1810-20; UP- + TAKE; cf. take-up ]