uptake
English
Etymology
From Middle English uptaken, equivalent to up- + take.
Pronunciation
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
uptake (countable and uncountable, plural uptakes)
- Understanding; comprehension.
- Absorption, especially of food or nutrient by an organism.
- The act of lifting or taking up.
- (dated) A chimney.
- (dated) The upcast pipe from the smokebox of a steam boiler towards the chimney.
Derived terms
- quick or slow on the uptake
- reuptake
Translations
absorption
|
|
Verb
uptake (third-person singular simple present uptakes, present participle uptaking, simple past uptook, past participle uptaken)
- (archaic) To take up, to lift.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:
- He hearkned to his reason, and the childe / Vptaking, to the Palmer gaue to beare [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:
- To absorb, as food or a drug by an organism.
- To accept and begin to use, as a new practice.
Anagrams
- take up, take-up, takeup