take by storm

present singular third person takes by storm · participle present taking by storm · past took by storm · participle past taken by storm

1. transitivegovernmentTo capture by means of a sudden, overwhelming attack.

   The soldiers took the castle by storm.

   1 more example

   "Sir William took the castle by storm,," said Ravenswood, "and, like many a victor, had little reason to congratulate himself on his conquest."

   1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC

2. idiomatictransitiveTo seize, overpower, or captivate in a sudden and forceful manner.

   How I looked while these ideas were taking my spirit by storm, I cannot tell.

   1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 33, in Jane Eyre

   1 more example

   [A] startling interruption occurred at that moment, which took their whole attention by storm.

   1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 71, in Barnaby Rudge

3. idiomatictransitiveTo rapidly gain great popularity in (a place).

   Beatlemania took England and Europe by storm and proceeded to inundate American teenagers.

   1969, Arnold Shaw, The Rock Revolution, page 1

   1 more example

   This obscure reference ["Blind Tom"] applies to a blind negro musician who took the world by storm in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

   1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 1, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC