Also 6 tayke, 9 Sc. and north. dial. tak, takke: cf. TACK sb.2 [f. TAKE v.]
1. † a. = TACK sb.2 2, a lease of land or of a farm for a term of years. Obs.
1511. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 24. I will that my wif & my childre have my take in my fermhold in Kendale. Ibid. (1542), VI. 157. Also I give to my wif my take of yeres of the parsonadge of Kellyngton.
1599. Knaresb. Wills (Surtees), I. 220. All the tayke of my farmehold to bringe up my children withall.
b. The act of taking or leasing (land); the land taken; a holding; cf. TACK sb.2 2 b. dial.
1805. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 80. The quantity of land he must till, would occupy so much of his time, that the take would … be injurious to him.
c. 1850. Northampt. Dialect. This is my neighbour’s take that we are on now, and that yonder is Lord B.’s.
1896. Daily News, 19 Sept., 2/5. A few new ‘takes’ have been at less money, but old tenants have had to be content with a 10, 5, and … 1 per cent. allowance.
1905. Tuckwell, Remin. Radical Parson, xi. 157. He … will increase his take, build a cottage on it through a building society [etc.].
2. That which is taken or received in payment, or as proceeds of some business or transaction; pl. takings, receipts. In quot. 1654, ? impost, contribution imposed.
1654. Nicholas Pap. (Camden), II. 41. The take off 200,000 crownes is now sett, and the Emperor declared his present shallbe apart.
1870. J. Blaikie, Goths & Vandals, x. 182. During these sixty-one years the ‘take’ was often prodigious, so that four bushels might occasionally be purchased on the spot for a halfpenny, and in one season 2,938,000 barrels were secured, ample proof of the extraordinary abundance.
1891. Daily News, 14 Sept., 2/1. Confident of large ‘takes’ for to-day and Sunday.
1892. Stevenson, Across the Plains, 193. [They] depart, if the ‘take’ be poor, leaving debts behind them.
1905. Westm. Gaz., 15 June, 11/1. The current [railway] returns include the long-distance Whitsuntide takes.
† 3. A seizure; a spell of magic or witchcraft; enchantment. Obs. rare.
[Cf. TAKE v. 7, quot. 1598.]
1678. Quack’s Academy, 7. He has a Take upon him, or is Planet-struck.
4. ‘Taking’ or captivating quality, charm. rare.
1794. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Ellen, IV. 179. Her face … had that kind of harmony and take in it, which when it has once pleased, will not cease to do so.
5. An act of taking or capturing an animal, or (usually) a number of animals (esp. fish) at one time; also the quantity so caught; a catch.
1753. Scots Mag., Aug., 422/1. There was a great take of herrings.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), II. 60/1. The yearly ‘take’ of larks is 60,000.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 339. Of late years … greater takes have been effected off those of New England alone, than from the great fishery of Newfoundland itself.
1859. Bain, Emotions, x. 189. The pleasure of each successful throw … rendering it easy [for the angler] to go on for a long time without a take.
1876. Smiles, Sc. Natur., vi. 101. The weather … gave promise of an abundant ‘take’ of moths.
1880. A. P. Graves, Irish Songs & Ballads, 110. Gragalmachree, 1.
| At the foot of Newry Mountain, to a stream in the wood | |
| One day I went fishing, and the take was so good | |
| That the very first moment my angle was out | |
| My hook it was fast in a fine plunging trout. |
1883. Daily Tel., 25 June, 7/1. Small boats being used to ferry the takes of fish to the smacks or steamers.
b. The action or process of catching fish, etc.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., iii. (1858), 43. We … became knowing, about the take and curing of herrings.
1881. A. Lang, Library, 11. The ‘take,’ as anglers say, is ‘on’ from half-past seven to half-past nine a.m.
6. An act, or the action, of taking (in general).
1816–. [see GIVE AND TAKE 2, 3].
1885. Times, 25 May, 9. At each take there is a certain amount of waste.
b. Chess, etc. The taking of a piece or pieces.
1870. Hardy & Ware, Mod. Hoyle, Draughts, 107. Such a dashing ‘take’ as this would not be likely to happen in actual play.
1903. Times, Lit. Suppl., 31 July, 236/3. A good problem seldom commences with a check or take.
7. Printing. A portion of copy taken at one time by a compositor to be set up in type; = TAKING vbl. sb. 5 c.
1864. in Webster.
1871. Printers’ Register, 6 Nov. The first ‘take’ of copy which fell to our share was about two and a half pages of 12 mo Long Primer.
1882. J. Southward, Pract. Print. (1884), 146. The compositor is bound to write his name on his copy, with a mark showing where he began to set…. Each of these portions is … called a ‘take.’
1890. W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 192. In the small hours of the morning … the last speech is coming in on relays of flimsy telegrams, and the compositors are working short ‘takes’ of half a dozen lines apiece.
b. The amount taken down at one time by each one of a staff of reporters.
1872. J. S. Jeans, West. Worthies, 98. The take of reporters became very much shortened, until they now seldom exceed a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes.
