TAKE IN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does take in mean? 

• TAKE IN (verb)
  The verb TAKE IN has 17 senses:

1. provide with shelter

2. fool or hoax

3. suck or take up or in

4. visit for entertainment

5. call for and obtain payment of

6. see or watch

7. express willingness to have in one's home or environs

8. fold up

9. take up mentally

10. earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages

11. hear, usually without the knowledge of the speakers

12. accept

13. take in, also metaphorically

14. take up as if with a sponge

15. serve oneself to, or consume regularly

16. take into one's family

17. make (clothes) smaller

  Familiarity information: TAKE IN used as a verb is very familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAKE IN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide with shelter

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

domiciliate; house; put up (provide housing for)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fool or hoax

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

befool; cod; dupe; fool; gull; put on; put one across; put one over; slang; take in

Context example:

You can't fool me!

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

betray; deceive; lead astray (cause someone to believe an untruth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

kid; pull the leg of (tell false information to for fun)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

take-in (the act of taking in as by fooling or cheating or swindling someone)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Suck or take up or in

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

absorb; take in

Context example:

A black star absorbs all matter

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

suck; suck in (attract by using an inexorable force, inducement, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Visit for entertainment

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

take in the sights

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

see; visit (go to see a place, as for entertainment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Call for and obtain payment of

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

collect; take in

Context example:

he collected the rent

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

take (take into one's possession)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

farm (collect fees or profits)

raise (collect funds for a specific purpose)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Sense 6

Meaning:

See or watch

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

catch; see; take in; view; watch

Context example:

see a movie

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

watch (look attentively)

Verb group:

see (perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

visualise; visualize (view the outline of by means of an X-ray)

spectate (be a spectator in a sports event)

preview (watch (a movie or play) before it is released to the general public)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue take in the movie

Sense 7

Meaning:

Express willingness to have in one's home or environs

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

invite; receive; take in

Context example:

The community warmly received the refugees

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

induct (admit as a member)

assume (take up someone's soul into heaven)

absorb (assimilate or take in)

welcome (receive someone, as into one's house)

see (receive as a specified guest)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot take in Sue

Sense 8

Meaning:

Fold up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

gather in; take in

Context example:

take in the sails

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

furl; roll up (form into a cylinder by rolling)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

incorporate (unite or merge with something already in existence)

coal (take in coal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 9

Meaning:

Take up mentally

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

absorb; assimilate; ingest; take in

Context example:

he absorbed the knowledge or beliefs of his tribe

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

acquire; larn; learn (gain knowledge or skills)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

imbibe (receive into the mind and retain)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 10

Meaning:

Earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

bring in; clear; earn; gain; make; pull in; realise; realize; take in

Context example:

He clears $5,000 each month

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Verb group:

make (act in a certain way so as to acquire)

clear; net; sack; sack up (make as a net profit)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

eke out; squeeze out (make by laborious and precarious means)

profit; turn a profit (make a profit; gain money or materially)

rake off (take money from an illegal transaction)

bring home; take home (earn as a salary or wage)

rake in; shovel in (earn large sums of money)

gross (earn before taxes, expenses, etc.)

bear; pay; yield (bring in)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They take in the money

Sense 11

Meaning:

Hear, usually without the knowledge of the speakers

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

catch; overhear; take in

Context example:

We overheard the conversation at the next table

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

hear (perceive (sound) via the auditory sense)

"Take in" entails doing...:

listen (hear with intention)

Verb group:

catch; get (perceive by hearing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody INFINITIVE

Sense 12

Meaning:

Accept

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

take in; take up

Context example:

The cloth takes up the liquid

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

have; receive (get something; come into possession of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

fuel (take in fuel, as of a ship)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 13

Meaning:

Take in, also metaphorically

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

absorb; draw; imbibe; soak up; sop up; suck; suck up; take in; take up

Context example:

She drew strength from the minister's words

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

mop; mop up; wipe up (to wash or wipe with or as if with a mop)

blot (dry (ink) with blotting paper)

sponge up (absorb as if with a sponge)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 14

Meaning:

Take up as if with a sponge

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

sop up; suck in; take in; take up

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

consume; have; ingest; take; take in (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 15

Meaning:

Serve oneself to, or consume regularly

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

consume; have; ingest; take; take in

Context example:

I don't take sugar in my coffee

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take in"):

cannibalise; cannibalize (eat human flesh)

habituate; use (take or consume (regularly or habitually))

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

eat (take in solid food)

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

booze; drink; fuddle; hit the bottle (consume alcohol)

partake; touch (consume)

eat; feed (take in food; used of animals only)

fill; replete; sate; satiate (fill to satisfaction)

sample; taste; try; try out (take a sample of)

sop up; suck in; take in; take up (take up as if with a sponge)

sup (take solid or liquid food into the mouth a little at a time either by drinking or by eating with a spoon)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They take in more bread

Sense 16

Meaning:

Take into one's family

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

adopt; take in

Context example:

They adopted two children from Nicaragua

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

take (take into one's possession)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Sense 17

Meaning:

Make (clothes) smaller

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Please take in this skirt--I've lost weight

Hypernyms (to "take in" is one way to...):

alter; change; vary (become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

let out (make (clothes) larger)

 Context examples 

"I'll give you a piece of bread," she said, after a pause; "but we can't take in a vagrant to lodge. It isn't likely."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Altogether, I am well off, when I tell my income on the fingers of my left hand, I pass the third finger and take in the fourth to the middle joint.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The ninth house rules the knowledge you take in through study and international travel.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

When you're short of breath, it's hard or uncomfortable for you to take in the oxygen your body needs.

(Breathing Problems, NIH)

A device or material designed to take in or attenuate a force or substance.

(Absorber Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

“I thank you, sir, for the kind interest which you take in me,” said I.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What is this but a take in?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

When you breathe, your lungs take in oxygen from the air and deliver it to the bloodstream.

(Lung Diseases, Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health)

The organs that take in food and turn it into products that the body can use to stay healthy.

(Digestive system, NCI Dictionary)

Besides, the servant's room enabled them to take in two boarders instead of one.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)