TAKE UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does take up mean? 

• TAKE UP (verb)
  The verb TAKE UP has 13 senses:

1. pursue or resume

2. adopt

3. turn one's interest to

4. take up time or space

5. begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job

6. take up and practice as one's own

7. occupy or take on

8. take up a liquid or a gas either by adsorption or by absorption

9. take out or up with or as if with a scoop

10. accept

11. take in, also metaphorically

12. take up as if with a sponge

13. return to a previous location or condition

  Familiarity information: TAKE UP used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAKE UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pursue or resume

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

take up a matter for consideration

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

embark; enter (set out on (an enterprise or subject of study))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Adopt

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

fasten on; hook on; latch on; seize on; take up

Context example:

take up new ideas

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

adopt; embrace; espouse; sweep up (take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Turn one's interest to

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

He took up herpetology at the age of fifty

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

turn (channel one's attention, interest, thought, or attention toward or away from something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Sense 4

Meaning:

Take up time or space

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

take up the slack

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

fill; occupy (occupy the whole of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

start; take up

Context example:

start a new job

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

take office (assume an office, duty, or title)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Take up and practice as one's own

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

adopt; borrow; take over; take up

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

accept; have; take (receive willingly something given or offered)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 7

Meaning:

Occupy or take on

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

assume; strike; take; take up

Context example:

strike a pose

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

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Verb group:

fill; occupy; take (assume, as of positions or roles)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Take up a liquid or a gas either by adsorption or by absorption

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

sorb; take up

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

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

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

absorb (become imbued)

adsorb (accumulate (liquids or gases) on the surface)

chemisorb (take up a substance by chemisorption)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 9

Meaning:

Take out or up with or as if with a scoop

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

lift out; scoop; scoop out; scoop up; take up

Context example:

scoop the sugar out of the container

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

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

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

dip (scoop up by plunging one's hand or a ladle below the surface)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 10

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 up" is one way to...):

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

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

fuel (take in fuel, as of a ship)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 11

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 up"):

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 12

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 up" is one way to...):

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 13

Meaning:

Return to a previous location or condition

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

resume; take up

Context example:

The painting resumed its old condition when we restored it

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

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I shall take up as little of your valuable time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar experiences.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Cancer cells take up more C-11 choline than normal cells, so the pictures can be used to find cancer cells in the body.

(C-11 choline PET-CT scan, NCI Dictionary)

Some take up amine precursors and have been called APUD cells.

(Endocrine Cell of the Gastrointestinal System, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

There was nothing less for Lady Russell to do, than to admit that she had been pretty completely wrong, and to take up a new set of opinions and of hopes.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The tumor cells take up the iobenguane I 123, and a machine is used to detect where the cancer cells are in the body.

(Iobenguane I-123, NCI Dictionary)

“You deliver the bacteria, they take up carbon dioxide, and with energy from the light, they form oxygen.”

(Oxygen-Producing Bacteria Could Help Heart Attack Sufferers, VOA News)

Insulin triggers cells throughout the body to take up sugar from the blood.

(Developing Insulin-Producing Cells to Treat Diabetes, NIH)

Then I will take up no more of your time.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then she would take up another pen, and begin to write, and say in a low voice, “Oh, it's a talking pen, and will disturb Doady!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"How trees take up, transport and evaporate water can influence societally important extreme events, like severe droughts, that affect people and entire cities."

(How trees affect the weather, National Science Foundation)