taking

adjective more taking · most taking

1. Alluring; attractive. […] a Proteus-Devil appeared unto him, changing into Shapes, but fixing himself at last into the form of a Fair Woman. Strange, that Satan (so subtil in making his Temptations most taking) should preferre this form […]
2. obsolete Infectious; contagious. All the stor’d vengeances of heaven fall On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones, You taking airs, with lameness!

noun takings

1. countable, uncountable The act by which something is taken. At the taking of the stockade he had distinguished himself greatly by the methodical ferocity of his fighting.
2. uncountable A seizure of someone's goods or possessions.
3. uncountable A state of mental distress, resulting in excited or erratic behavior (in the expression in a taking). What a taking was hee in, when your husband askt who was in the basket?
4. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, countable, in plural, uncountable Cash or money received (by a shop or other business, for example). Fred was concerned because the takings from his sweetshop had fallen again for the third week.

   Similar: income, receipts

Similar: acquisition, taking · Opposite: bestowal, restitution

verb

1. gerund, participle, present present participle and gerund of take 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.