take: [12] Take was borrowed from Old Norse taka, whose modern descendants include Swedish taga and Danish tage. Now defunct relatives include Middle Dutch tāken ‘seize’ and Gothic tekan ‘touch’, and its ancestral meaning is probably ‘lay hands on’, but its ultimate origins are not known.
take (v.)
late Old English tacan "to take, seize," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; Swedish ta, past participle tagit), from Proto-Germanic *takan- (cognates: Middle Low German tacken, Middle Dutch taken, Gothic tekan "to touch"), from Germanic root *tak- "to take," of uncertain origin, perhaps originally meaning "to touch." As the principal verb for "to take," it gradually replaced Middle English nimen, from Old English niman, from the usual West Germanic *nem- root (source of German nehmen, Dutch nemen; see nimble).
OED calls take "one of the elemental words of the language;" take up alone has 55 varieties of meaning in that dictionary's 2nd print edition. Basic sense is "to lay hold of," which evolved to "accept, receive" (as in take my advice) c. 1200; "absorb" (take a punch) c. 1200; "choose, select" (take the high road) late 13c.; "to make, obtain" (take a shower) late 14c.; "to become affected by" (take sick) c. 1300.
Take five is 1929, from the approximate time it takes to smoke a cigarette. Take it easy first recorded 1880; take the plunge "act decisively" is from 1876; take the rap "accept (undeserved) punishment" is from 1930. Phrase take it or leave it is recorded from 1897. To take it out on (someone or something) "vent one's anger on other than what caused it" is by 1840.
take (n.)
1650s, "that which is taken," from take (v.). Sense of "money taken in" by a single performance, etc., is from 1931. Movie-making sense is recorded from 1927. Criminal sense of "money acquired by theft" is from 1888. The verb sense of "to cheat, defraud" is from 1920. On the take "amenable to bribery" is from 1930.
双语例句
1. These files have been zipped up to take up less disk space.
这些文档已经进行了压缩，以节省磁盘空间。
来自柯林斯例句
2. You have to take capital appreciation of the property into account.
你必须将该处房产的资本增值考虑在内。
来自柯林斯例句
3. "Take That" are the best group in the whole world. So there.
“接招”乐队是世界上最好的组合，就是这样的。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Mitchel's schedule had not permitted him to take time off.
米切尔的日程安排使他无法休假。
来自柯林斯例句
5. "I think I hear the telephone ringing."—"Okay, I can take a hint."
