871

take off clothes/shoes etc.

- to remove clothes shoes etc.
"Please take off your shoes before you enter our house."

take off one's hat to (someone)

- to offer praise for someone's good accomplishments
You have to take off your hat to the person who organized the sporting event.

take off time

- to be absent from work
I was sick and I had to take off a week from work.

take off weight

- to decrease one's weight
My friend is trying to take off weight with her new diet.

take offense at (someone or something)

- to become resentful of someone or something
The audience took offense at the remarks by the comedian.

take office

- to begin serving as an elected or appointed official

The new mayor of the city is expected to take office next week.

take on (someone)

- to give a job to someone, to hire/employ someone
The factory took on fifty new employees last month.


872

take on (something)

- to begin to do something, to commit oneself to something
Recently my father has begun to take on too many things at work and he has become
very tired.

take on (something)

- to load (something)
The ship took on most of its cargo the week before it left the port.

take on the look/appearance of (something)

- to begin to have the look of something
My friend has begun to take on the look of a university professor although he has only
been working at the university for a short time.

take on too much

- to undertake to do too much work or too many tasks

My aunt is taking on too much and is very tired recently.

take one's cue from (someone)

- to use another's behavior or reactions as a guide to one's own
The musicians took their cue from the conductor when the orchestra performed the
musical piece.

take one`s hat off to (someone)

- to admire/respect/praise someone
You have to take your hat off to our boss. He has built his company from almost
nothing.





873

take one's leave of (someone)

- to say goodbye to someone and leave
The Princess took her leave of the Queen and left the room.

take one's own life

- to kill oneself, to commit suicide
The young man took his own life several weeks ago.


take one`s own medicine

- to accept punishment without complaining
He likes to criticize others but he can never take his own medicine when others
criticize him.
take one`s time

- to do something without hurrying
My friend took his time to return the book that he had borrowed.

take out a loan

- to get a loan of money
I had to take out a loan to buy the car.

take out (someone)

- to go on a date with someone
I finally had a chance to take out the new woman from my class last week.

take out (something)

- to remove something from somewhere, to extract something
The teacher asked us to take out our books.
I took out some onions from the refridgerator.


874

take over (something)


- to take control of something, to take command of something
A large foreign company took control of our company last month.

take part in (something)

- to participate in something
"Are you planning to take part in the seminar next week?"

take pity on (someone or something)

- to feel sorry for someone or something
I took pity on the man who was begging and I gave him some money.

take place

- to happen, to occur
The soccer game took place on the coldest day of the year.

take precedence over (someone or something)

- to have the right to come before someone or something else
The rights of people who do not smoke take precedence over the rights of smokers in
many cities.

take pride in (something)

- to do something with pride
The couple take pride in their beautiful house.


take responsibility for (someone or something)

- to accept responsibility for (someone or something)
My friend refuses to take responsibility for his problems.


875

take root

- to begin to take hold or have effect
The ideas of honesty and good manners are beginning to take root in the school
children.

take shape

- to begin to be organized and specific (plans/ideas/arguments)
The plans for our school reunion are beginnning to take shape.

take sick/ill

- to become ill
The little boy took sick early last night.

take sides

- to support one side or the other side
"You should not take sides in some arguments or both sides will be angry at you."

take (someone or something) at face value


- to take someone or something as it first appears to be
I took the sign at face value and drove very slowly through the construction area.

take (someone) at his or her word

- to believe what someone says and act accordingly
I decided to take the woman at her word when she invited me to see her pottery
demonstration.







876

take (someone's) breath away

- to overwhelm someone with beauty or grandeur
The beauty of the mountains took my breath away.

take (someone or somewhere) by storm

- to win the favor of someone or somewhere, to become popular with a group of
people
The new rock band took the country by storm.

take (someone) by surprise


- to startle someone, to surprise someone
The sudden resignation of the mayor took everyone by surprise.

take (someone) down a notch/peg or two

- to reprimand/scold someone who is acting arrogant, to make someone less proud or
sure of himself or herself
The manager took the secretary down a notch or two with his criticism of her work.

take (someone) for a ride

- to play a trick on or fool someone, to take unfair advantage of someone
The used car salesman took me for a ride. The car that I bought is not very good.

take (someone) for an idiot/fool

- to assume that someone is stupid
The salesman tried to take me for a fool when he tried to sell me the car for a very
high price.






877

take (someone) for granted


- to accept someone without gratitude or as a matter of course
Everybody takes the office clerk for granted and nobody ever thanks her.

take (someone) for (someone or something)

- to mistake someone for someone or something
The man took the boy for a robber and called the police.

take (someone) hostage

- to kidnap or seize someone to be a hostage
The bank robbers took several people hostage during the bank robbery.

take (someone) into one's confidence

- to tell a secret to someone and trust that person to keep the secret
The bank manager took the customer into his confidence and told him about the
banking problems.

take (someone or something) on

- to undertake to deal with someone or something
I decided to take the extra work on in order to make some extra money.

take (someone's) part

- to take a side in an argument
My friend always takes my part when I am having an argument with someone.

take (someone's) pulse


- to measure the beats of a person's pulse
The doctor took the patient's pulse when she arrived at the hospital.


878

take (someone or something) seriously

- to think that someone or something is important
The principal did not take the suggestion of the teacher seriously.

take (someone) to task

- to scold someone for something that they have done wrong
The supervisor took me to task for arriving late for work.

take (someone) to the cleaners

- to take/win all of someone`s money, to cheat someone
The salesman took the woman to the cleaners when he sold her the bad product.
The man went to the casino and was taken to the cleaners by the card dealers.

take (someone) under one`s wing/wings

- to protect and help someone
The supervisor took the new employee under his wing and began to teach him about
the company.

take (someone) up on (something)


- to take advantage of someone's offer of something
I took my friend up on his offer to let me borrow his new car.

take (someone or something) wrong

- to misunderstand someone or something
The man took what I said wrong and became very angry.







879

take (something)

- to endure something
I find it very difficult to take the woman's constant complaining.

take (something) by storm

- to capture something by a sudden or very bold attack
The army took the town by storm and was able to capture all of the enemy soldiers.

take (something) for granted

- to assume that something is a certain way or is correct

"I took it for granted that you knew him. Otherwise I would have introduced you."

take (something) in stride

- to accept good or bad luck and continue on
The boxer took his loss in stride and began to prepare for his next fight.
take (something) into account

- to remember and consider something
"Please take into account the fact that the girl has only been studying French for a few
weeks."

take (something) lying down

- to endure something unpleasant without fighting back
I am very angry and will not take what he says lying down.

take (something) on faith

- to accept or believe something with little or no evidence
I took it on faith that the friend of my boss was an honest person.


880

take (something) on the chin

- to experience and endure a direct blow or assault
The man always takes things on the chin and he never complains.


take (something) out on (someone or something)

- to direct one's anger or fear onto someone or something
The woman often takes her anger out on her husband.

take (something) personally

- to interpret a remark as if it were meant for or critical of oneself
I wish that my colleague would not take everything that I say personally.

take (something) the wrong way

- to understand something as wrong or insulting
The waiter took my comments the wrong way and became a little angry.

take (something) to heart

- to consider something seriously
You should not really take what he says to heart. He is really very kind.

take (something) to one's grave

- to carry a secret with you until you die
The woman plans to take the secret about her sister to her grave.

take (something/it) to the bank

- to have/do something that is a sure thing, to do/have something that you can count
on no matter what happens
The business proposal is a sure thing and you can take it to the bank.