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Take up

noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of take-up. alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable

    "In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%."

Verb
  1. 1
    To lift; to raise.; To pick up. transitive

    "I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house."

  2. 2
    pursue or resume wordnet
  3. 3
    To lift; to raise.; To remove (a ground or floor surface, including the bed of a road or the track of a railway). transitive

    "We're going to have to take up the floorboards."

  4. 4
    return to a previous location or condition wordnet
  5. 5
    To lift; to raise.; To absorb (a liquid), to soak up. transitive
Show 29 more definitions
  1. 6
    adopt wordnet
  2. 7
    To lift; to raise.; To shorten (a garment), especially by hemming. transitive

    "If we take up the sleeves a bit, that shirt will look much better on you."

  3. 8
    take up as if with a sponge wordnet
  4. 9
    To lift; to raise.; To tighten or wind in (a rope, slack, etc.) transitive

    "The reel automatically took up the slack."

  5. 10
    take out or up with or as if with a scoop wordnet
  6. 11
    To occupy; to consume (space or time). transitive

    "The books on finance take up three shelves."

  7. 12
    take in, also metaphorically wordnet
  8. 13
    To take, to assume (one’s appointed or intended place). transitive

    "She took up her post at the foot of the stairs."

  9. 14
    take up a liquid or a gas either by adsorption or by absorption wordnet
  10. 15
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To begin doing (an activity) on a regular basis. transitive

    "I’ve taken up knitting."

  11. 16
    accept wordnet
  12. 17
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To begin functioning in (a role or position), to assume (an office). transitive

    "He took up his post as assistant director last Friday."

  13. 18
    occupy or take on wordnet
  14. 19
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To address or discuss (an issue). transitive

    "Let’s take this up with the manager."

  15. 20
    take up and practice as one's own wordnet
  16. 21
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To accept, to adopt (a proposal, offer, request, cause, challenge, etc.). transitive

    "I never said thank you for taking up our case."

  17. 22
    begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job wordnet
  18. 23
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To accept (a proposal, offer, request, cause, challenge, etc.) from. transitive

    "Shall we take them up on their offer to help us move?"

  19. 24
    turn one's interest to wordnet
  20. 25
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To join in (saying something). transitive

    "They took up the cry of their oppressed compatriots."

  21. 26
    take up time or space wordnet
  22. 27
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To resume, to return to something that was interrupted. ambitransitive, transitive

    "Let’s take up where we left off."

  23. 28
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To implement, to employ, to put into use. transitive

    "So I’d imagine if they were to take up this system, or a similar system, we should be able to build quicker."

  24. 29
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To review the solutions to a test or other assessment with a class. Canada, transitive

    "You have 30 minutes for the quiz. We’ll take up the answers at 1 o'clock."

  25. 30
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To begin occupying and working (a plot of uncultivated land), to break in. Australia, New-Zealand, transitive
  26. 31
    To set about doing or dealing with (something).; To pay off, to clear (a debt, loan, mortgage, etc.). British, transitive
  27. 32
    To arrest (a person). archaic, transitive

    "The police took up the suspect."

  28. 33
    To reprove or reproach (a person). transitive

    "[…] he talked strangely of Mr. Law […] wearing a pair of stockings that a ploughman would not have picked off a dunghill; upon which last expression I took him up for saying that Mr. Law carried his expression beyond truth, when he himself exposed what he thought wrong with so much vivacity, and Dr. Hartley said that he thought there I had him; […]"

  29. 34
    To begin to support or patronize, to sponsor (a person), to adopt as protégé. transitive

See also for "take up"

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