take charge

present singular third person takes charge · participle present taking charge · past took charge · participle past taken charge

1. Synonym of take control, especially in situations involving informal command over a group of people.

   Capello was missing his son's wedding in Milan to take charge - yet his reshaped England team gave him cause for a double celebration as they overturned the odds in front of a delighted Wembley gallery.

   2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport

   2 more examples

   The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Steam also takes charge of South Eastern (former P.L.M.) trains from Paris to Marseilles and the Riviera from Lyons onwards, and of Western Region trains from Le Mans onwards, as also between Paris and Dieppe and Le Havre.

   1958 July 28, 'Voyageur', “Modern French Locomotive Work—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 455

   Synonyms: take control