Sekirov Dictionary

take up

verb 23
take-up noun 3
forms 6

verb23

To lift; to raise.
•
To occupy; to consume (space or time).
- The books on finance take up three shelves.
- All my time is taken up with looking after the kids.
To set about doing or dealing with (something).
•
To begin doing (an activity) on a regular basis.
- I’ve taken up knitting.
- I wish to take up mathematics.
•
To address or discuss (an issue).
- Let’s take this up with the manager.
•
(Canada) To review the solutions to a test or other assessment with a class.
- You have 30 minutes for the quiz. We’ll take up the answers at 1 o'clock.
•
To accept, to adopt (a proposal, offer, request, cause, challenge, etc.).
- I never said thank you for taking up our case. — 1993
•
To accept (a proposal, offer, request, cause, challenge, etc.) from.
- Shall we take them up on their offer to help us move?
•
To implement, to employ, to put into use.
- So I’d imagine if they were to take up this system, or a similar system, we should be able to build quicker. — 2008
•
To take, to assume (one’s appointed or intended place).
- She took up her post at the foot of the stairs.
•
To begin functioning in (a role or position), to assume (an office).
- He took up his post as assistant director last Friday.
(Australia, New-Zealand) To begin occupying and working (a plot of uncultivated land), to break in.
•
To pick up.
- I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. — 1611
•
To remove (a ground or floor surface, including the bed of a road or the track of a railway).
- We're going to have to take up the floorboards.
•
To resume, to return to something that was interrupted.
- Let’s take up where we left off.
•
To shorten (a garment), especially by hemming.
- If we take up the sleeves a bit, that shirt will look much better on you.
•
To tighten or wind in (a rope, slack, etc.)
- The reel automatically took up the slack.
To absorb (a liquid), to soak up.
•
To join in (saying something).
- They took up the cry of their oppressed compatriots.
To begin to support or patronize, to sponsor (a person), to adopt as protégé.
(UK) To pay off, to clear (a debt, loan, mortgage, etc.).
To reprove or reproach (a person).
•
(no longer used) To arrest (a person).
- The police took up the suspect.

take-up noun3

The act of taking something up, by tightening, absorption, or reeling in.
•
Acceptance (of a proposal, offer, request, etc.); uptake.
- the take-up of benefits by the unemployed
That which takes up or tightens; specifically, a device in a sewing machine or loom for drawing up the slack thread as the needle rises, in completing a stitch.

forms

took up · taken up · taking up · takes up · take ups · take-ups

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