take under

verb

To bring to insolvency; to drive (a business) into financial distress.

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Meanings

verbtake under (third-person singular simple present takes under, present participle taking under, simple past took under, past participle taken under)

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

  1. transitiveTo bring to insolvency; to drive (a business) into financial distress.

    It's believed that the Great Depression then took the business under.

    2013, Faiz Siddiqui, “The First Black Students Admitted to 15 Prestigious U.S. Universities, and Their Stories”, in Complex.com, archived from the original on 24 May 2023
    2 more examples

    I knew she didn’t have to be here, out in the sun with me trying to do whatever I could to keep this fire from taking the business under, but she was

    2021, Meka James, Heat of Love

    The costs associated with Patagonia's shift to organic material nearly took the company under, but given the company values, it almost had no choice.

    2015, Carole and David Schwinn, The Transformative Workplace
Cite this entry
APA

take under. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20under

MLA

“take under.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20under. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “take under,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20under.

Source: take under on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.