take shape

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

1. figurativelyintransitiveoftenTo take a definite form.

   After two hours of discussion, our plans began to take shape.

   2 more examples

   Yet it was all interesting and the process of being partly responsible for stripping down a locomotive and seeing it take shape again was quite a thrill.

   1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 285

   It was the section of the North Midland Railway from Derby to Ambergate which provided the springboard for a scheme that took shape in the early part of 1845 for a route through the Peak to Manchester.

   1960 March, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148

   Synonyms: come into being, form