Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
take up (verb)transitive verb
1.
- pick up lift took up the carpet
2.
a) to begin to occupy (land)
b) to gather from a number of sources - took up a collection
3.
a) to accept or adopt for the purpose of assisting
b) to accept or adopt as one's own - took up the life of a farmer
c) to absorb or incorporate into itself - plants taking up nutrients
4.
a) to enter upon (as a business, hobby, or subject of study) - take up skiing took up the trumpet
b) to proceed to consider or deal with - take up one problem at a time
5.
to establish oneself in - took up residence in town
6.
to occupy entirely or exclusively fill up - the meeting was taken up with old business
7.
to make tighter or shorter - take up the slack
8.
to respond favorably to (as a person offering a bet, challenge, or proposal) - took me up on it
9.
intransitive verb
to begin again or take over from another - we must take the good work up again
1.
to make a beginning where another has left off
2.
to become shortened draw together - shrink
Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
take up (verb)1.
to move from a lower to a higher place or position
SYNONIMS:
boost, crane, elevate, heave, heft, heighten, hike, hoist, jack (up), lift, perk (up), pick up, take up, up, uphold, uplift, upraiseRELATED WORDS:
ascend, mount, rise; rear, upendNEAR ANTONYMS:
descend, dip, fall, pitch, plunge, slip; bear, depress, press, push; sink, submerge2.
to take in (something liquid) through small openings
SYNONIMS:
drink, imbibe, soak (up), sponge, suck (up), take upRELATED WORDS:
gulp, guzzle, quaff, sip, slurp, swallow, swig, swill3.
to take for one's own use (something originated by another)
SYNONIMS:
borrow, embrace, espouse, take on, take upRELATED WORDS:
domesticate, naturalize; appropriate, arrogate, take over, usurp; absorb, assimilate, incorporate, quote; cherish, prize, treasure; cultivate, follow, heed, honor; use, utilize; bring up, foster, nurture, raise, rear; affect, assume, copy, imitate, pretend, put on, simulateNEAR ANTONYMS:
abandon, forsake, give up, relinquish, surrender; abjure, abnegate, disown; reject, renounce, repudiate, spurn; discard, jettison, junk, throw away, throw out