To take up Meaning, Definition & Usage

Definitions
  1. . (a) To lift; to raise. Hood. (b) To buy or borrow; as, to take up goods to a large amount; to take up money at the bank. (c) To begin; as, to take up a lamentation . Ezek. xix. 1. (d) To gather together; to bind up; to fasten or to replace; as, to take up raveled stitches ; specifically (Surg.), to fasten with a ligature. (e) To engross; to employ; to occupy or fill; as, to take up the time; to take up a great deal of room . (f) To take permanently . "Arnobius asserts that men of the finest parts . . . took up their rest in the Christian religion." Addison. (g) To seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a thief; to take up vagabonds. (h) To admit; to believe; to receive. Obs.
    The ancients took up experiments upon credit. Bacon.
    (i) To answer by reproof; to reprimand; to berate.
    One of his relations took him up roundly. L'Estrange.
    (k) To begin where another left off; to keep up in continuous succession.
    Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale. Addison.
    The second volume takes up where the first left off. (l) To assume; to adopt as one's own; to carry on or manage; as, to take up the quarrels of our neighbors; to take up current opinions. "They take up our old trade of conquering." Dryden. (m) To comprise; to include. "The noble poem of Palemon and Arcite . . . takes up seven years." Dryden. (n) To receive, accept, or adopt for the purpose of assisting; to espouse the cause of; to favor. Ps. xxvii. 10. (o) To collect; to exact, as a tax; to levy; as, to take up a contribution. "Take up commodities upon our bills." Shak. (p) To pay and receive; as, to take up a note at the bank. (q) (Mach.) To remove, as by an adjustment of parts; as, to take up lost motion, as in a bearing; also, to make tight, as by winding, or drawing; as, to take up slack thread in sewing . (r) To make up; to compose; to settle; as, to take up a quarrel . Obs. Shak. (s) To accept from someone, as a wager or a challenge. "J. took M. up on his challenge."
Definitions
  1. . (a) To stop. Obs.
    "Sinners at last take up and settle in a contempt of religion." Tillotson
    . (b) To reform. Obs. Locke.

Webster 1913