religion." Addison. (g) To seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a thief; to take up vagabonds. (h) To
admit; to believe; to receive. [Obs.]
The ancients took up experiments upon credit.
Bacon. (i) To answer by reproof; to reprimand; to berate.
One of his relations took him up roundly.
L'Estrange. (k) To begin where another left off; to keep up in continuous succession.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale.
Addison. (l) To assume; to adopt as one's own; to carry on or manage; as, to take up the quarrels of our neighbors;
to take up current opinions. "They take up our old trade of conquering." Dryden. (m) To comprise; to
include. "The noble poem of Palemon and Arcite . . . takes up seven years." Dryden. (n) To receive,
accept, or adopt for the purpose of assisting; to espouse the cause of; to favor. Ps. xxvii. 10. (o) To
collect; to exact, as a tax; to levy; as, to take up a contribution. "Take up commodities upon our bills."
Shak. (p) To pay and receive; as, to take up a note at the bank. (q) (Mach.) To remove, as by an
adjustment of parts; as, to take up lost motion, as in a bearing; also, to make tight, as by winding, or
drawing; as, to take up slack thread in sewing. (r) To make up; to compose; to settle; as, to take up a
quarrel. [Obs.] Shak. — To take up arms. Same as To take arms, above. — To take upon one's
self. (a) To assume; to undertake; as, he takes upon himself to assert that the fact is capable of proof.
(b) To appropriate to one's self; to allow to be imputed to, or inflicted upon, one's self; as, to take upon
one's self a punishment. — To take up the gauntlet. See under Gauntlet.
Take
(Take) v. i.
1. To take hold; to fix upon anything; to have the natural or intended effect; to accomplish a purpose; as,
he was inoculated, but the virus did not take. Shak.
When flame taketh and openeth, it giveth a noise.
Bacon.
In impressions from mind to mind, the impression taketh, but is overcome . . . before it work any manifest
effect.
Bacon. 2. To please; to gain reception; to succeed.
Each wit may praise it for his own dear sake,
And hint he writ it, if the thing should take.
Addison. 3. To move or direct the course; to resort; to betake one's self; to proceed; to go; — usually with to; as, the
fox, being hard pressed, took to the hedge.
4. To admit of being pictured, as in a photograph; as, his face does not take well.
To take after. (a) To learn to follow; to copy; to imitate; as, he takes after a good pattern. (b) To resemble; as,
the son takes after his father. — To take in with, to resort to. [Obs.] Bacon. — To take on, to
be violently affected; to express grief or pain in a violent manner. — To take to. (a) To apply one's
self to; to be fond of; to become attached to; as, to take to evil practices. "If he does but take to you,
. . . you will contract a great friendship with him." Walpole. (b) To resort to; to betake one's self to.
"Men of learning, who take to business, discharge it generally with greater honesty than men of the
world." Addison. — To take up. (a) To stop. [Obs.] "Sinners at last take up and settle in a contempt
of religion." Tillotson. (b) To reform. [Obs.] Locke. — To take up with. (a) To be contended to
receive; to receive without opposition; to put up with; as, to take up with plain fare. "In affairs which may
have an extensive influence on our future happiness, we should not take up with probabilities." I. Watts.
(b) To lodge with; to dwell with. [Obs.] L'Estrange. — To take with, to please. Bacon.
