take in

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

1. transitiveTo receive.

   The company took in more than forty million euros last year.

2. transitiveTo receive and properly absorb or comprehend.

   The news is a lot to take in right now.

   2 more examples

   I was so sleepy that I hardly took in any of the lecture.

   At the final whistle, it was just like old times as those thousands of Leicester supporters stayed in their seats for the trophy celebration to take in scenes that will live with them forever while the Chelsea end was a scene of desolation before it became a sea of deserted red seats.

   2021 May 15, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 0-1 Leicester”, in BBC Sport

3. transitiveTo enjoy or appreciate.

   Just relax and take in the fresh ocean air.

   1 more example

   I'm just going to sit on a bench and take in the scenery.

4. transitiveTo allow a person or an animal to live in one's home.

   take in a stray cat

5. transitiveTo receive (goods) into one's home for the purpose of processing for a fee.

   In hard times, some women would take in washing and others dressmaking repairs.

6. transitiveTo shorten (a garment) or make it smaller.

   Try taking the skirt in a little around the waist.

   Antonyms: let out, let down

7. transitiveTo attend a showing of.

   take in a show

   2 more examples

   take in a movie

   […] and for lack of anything else to do I thought I'd take in a strip show.

   1986, Rusty Brown, “Always Me”, in Marcy Adelman, editor, Long Time Passing: Lives Of Older Lesbians, page 149

8. transitiveTo deceive; to hoodwink.

   Their grandma lost thousands of dollars because she was taken in by scammers.

   1 more example

   She liked and trusted everybody, which was the reason why she was so popular, and so often taken in.

   1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 3, in The Gem Collector

9. transitiveclimbingTo tighten (a belaying rope).

   Synonyms: take up

10. obsoleteTo subscribe to home delivery of.

    [James Whiteside:] May I ask what newspaper you take in? [John Jolly:] I take in no newspaper. [James Whiteside:] Well, then, what newspapers do you read? [John Jolly:] I am glad to see any of them.

    1844 January 23, cross-examination in the case of R v Daniel O'Connell, et al., reprinted in, 1844, John Flanedy, editor, A Special Report of the Proceedings in the Case of the Queen against Daniel O'Connell […] on an Indictment for Conspiracy and Misdemeanour, page 218 http://google.com/books?id=do7RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA218&dq=%22take+in+no+newspaper%22

11. nauticalTo reef.

    The second mate holds on to the main top-gallant sail until a heavy sea is shipped, and washes over the forecastle as though the whole ocean had come aboard; when a noise further aft shows that that sail, too, is taking in.

    1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC

12. transitiveTo arrest (a person).

    The police took in the suspect.

    1 more example

    They didn't take me in but they let it sink in that I was headed for a fall.

    2010, Patterson Hood, “The Fourth Night of My Drinking”, in The Big To-Do, performed by Drive-By Truckers

    Synonyms: take up