taking

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteɪkɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪkɪŋ

Adjective

taking (comparative more taking, superlative most taking)

1. alluring; attractive.
   • Fuller

     subtile in making his temptations most taking

   • 1909, Frank Sidgwick, Love and battles, page 291:

     The gentleman had left for London after lunch. Yes, alone; but he had lunched in the hotel with a lady. A young lady. A very taking young lady. She called him uncle. But walked away in another direction as his cab started. The porter's eye was beginning to twinkle; […]

2. (obsolete) infectious; contagious

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)

Noun

taking (countable and uncountable, plural takings)

1. The act by which something is taken.
   • 2010, Ian Ayres, Optional Law: The Structure of Legal Entitlements, page 75:

     Second, they argue that giving the original owner a take-back option might lead to an infinite sequence of takings and retakings if the exercise price for the take-back option (i.e., the damages assessed at each round) is set too low.

2. (uncountable) A seizure of someone's goods or possessions.
3. (uncountable) A state of apprehension.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 102:

     'Poor soul - she was quite in a taking. You see, she'd opened the door to the next compartment by mistake.'

4. (countable) That which has been gained.

   Count the shop's takings.

5. (in the plural) The cash or money received (taken) by a shop or other business; receipts.

   Fred was concerned because the takings from his sweetshop had fallen again for the third week.

Verb

taking

1. present participle of take
   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, OCLC 16832619, page 16:

     Athelstan Arundel walked home […], foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.

See also

• takings

Noun

taking

1. (Taal Batangas) boy