taking

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English

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Etymology

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By surface analysis, take +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈteɪkɪŋ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪkɪŋ

Adjective

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taking (comparative more taking, superlative most taking)

  1. Alluring; attractive.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “The Tenth Century”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), page 128:
      […] a Proteus-Devil appeared unto him, changing into Shapes, but fixing himself at last into the form of a Fair Woman. Strange, that Satan (so subtil in making his Temptations most taking) should preferre this form […]
    • 1793, Charles Dibdin, chapter 9, in The Younger Brother‎[1], volume 2, London: for the author, page 263:
      His speech from the hustings was very original, and therefore very taking.
    • 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native‎[2], Book 3, Chapter 1:
      “Yes, Paris must be a taking place,” said Humphrey. “Grand shop-winders, trumpets, and drums; and here be we out of doors in all winds and weathers—”
    • 1909, Frank Sidgwick, Love and battles, page 291:
      The gentleman had left for London after lunch. Yes, alone; but he had lunched in the hotel with a lady. A young lady. A very taking young lady. She called him uncle. But walked away in another direction as his cab started. The porter's eye was beginning to twinkle; […]
  2. (obsolete) Infectious; contagious.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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taking (countable and uncountable, plural takings)

  1. The act by which something is taken.
    • 1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 27, in Lord Jim‎[4], Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood, page 290:
      At the taking of the stockade he had distinguished himself greatly by the methodical ferocity of his fighting.
    • 2010, Ian Ayres, Optional Law: The Structure of Legal Entitlements, page 75:
      Second, they argue that giving the original owner a take-back option might lead to an infinite sequence of takings and retakings if the exercise price for the take-back option (i.e., the damages assessed at each round) is set too low.
  2. (uncountable) A seizure of someone's goods or possessions.
  3. (uncountable) A state of mental distress, resulting in excited or erratic behavior (in the expression in a taking).
    • 1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III, Scene III:
      What a taking was hee in, when your husband askt who was in the basket?
    • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, vol. 2, ch. 16, p. 321:
      "[...] at last, he proceeded from staring to touching; he put out his hand and stroked one curl, as gently as if it were a bird. He might have stuck a knife into her neck, she started round in such a taking.
      "'Get away, this moment! How dare you touch me? Why are you stopping there?' she cried, in a tone of disgust. [...]
    • 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter 30, in Far from the Madding Crowd‎[5]:
      “And, dear miss, you won’t harry me and storm at me, will you? because you seem to swell so tall as a lion then, and it frightens me! Do you know, I fancy you would be a match for any man when you are in one o’ your takings.”
    • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 102:
      ‘Poor soul - she was quite in a taking. You see, she’d opened the door to the next compartment by mistake.’
    • 1970, Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave‎[6], New York: Fawcett Crest, Book 1, Chapter 2, p. 26:
      “[...] there’ll be a beating for someone, by my reckoning, if he’s not there by the time the King’s looking round for him. He’s been in a rare taking since the outriders came in, that I can tell you.”
  4. (in the plural, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Cash or money received (by a shop or other business, for example).
    Synonyms: income, receipts
    Fred was concerned because the takings from his sweetshop had fallen again for the third week.
    Count the shop's takings.
    • 1929, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in A Room of One’s Own‎[7], London: The Hogarth Press, published 1931, page 60:
      [...] the woman who keeps the greengrocer’s shop was adding up the day’s takings with her hands in red mittens.
    • 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 586:
      According to T. B. Sands in his history of the M.S.W.J.R. (Oakwood Press: 8s 6d) Fay at first had to await cash takings from stations before he could pay his staff; [...].
    • 1995, Rohinton Mistry, chapter 12, in A Fine Balance‎[8], Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, pages 554–555:
      The child was not returned to the mother. [...] strangers giving him suck found it easier to display the utter despair in their faces that made for successful begging, whereas if [the mother] had had the pleasure of clasping her little son to her bosom all day, it would have been impossible to keep a spark of joy, however tiny, out of her eyes, which would have adversely affected the takings.
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Translations

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Verb

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taking

  1. present participle and gerund of take
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
      Athelstan Arundel walked home […], foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.

Tagalog

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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taking (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜃᜒᜅ᜔)

  1. (Taal Batangas) boy
    Synonyms: totoy, toto, tuto, itoy

See also

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Anagrams

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