taking

Etymology

adj

1. Alluring; attractive.
   His speech from the hustings was very original, and therefore very taking. 1793, Charles Dibdin, chapter 9, in The Younger Brother, volume 2, London: for the author, page 263
   “Yes, Paris must be a taking place,” said Humphrey. “Grand shop-winders, trumpets, and drums; and here be we out of doors in all winds and weathers—” 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Book 3, Chapter 1
   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; […] 1909, Frank Sidgwick, Love and battles, page 291
2. (obsolete) Infectious; contagious.
   Come not near me, For I am yet too taking for your company. 1647, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, The False One, act IV, scene 3

noun

1. 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. 1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 27, in Lord Jim, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood, page 290
   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. 2010, Ian Ayres, Optional Law: The Structure of Legal Entitlements, page 75
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? 1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III, Scene III
   "… at last, he proceeded from staring to touching; he put out his hand and stroked one curl, as gently as if it were a bird. He might have stuck a knife into her neck, she started round in such a taking. "'Get away, this moment! How dare you touch me? Why are you stopping there?' she cried, in a tone of disgust. … 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, vol. 2, ch. 16, p. 321
   And, dear miss, you won’t harry me and storm at me, will you? because you seem to swell so tall as a lion then, and it frightens me! Do you know, I fancy you would be a match for any man when you are in one o’ your takings. 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter 30, in Far from the Madding Crowd
   ‘Poor soul - she was quite in a taking. You see, she’d opened the door to the next compartment by mistake.’ 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 102
   … there’ll be a beating for someone, by my reckoning, if he’s not there by the time the King’s looking round for him. He’s been in a rare taking since the outriders came in, that I can tell you. 1970, Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave, New York: Fawcett Crest, Book 1, Chapter 2, p. 26
4. (in the plural) 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.
   Count the shop's takings.
   … the woman who keeps the greengrocer’s shop was adding up the day’s takings with her hands in red mittens. 1929, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in A Room of One’s Own, London: The Hogarth Press, published 1931, page 60
   According to T. B. Sands in his history of the M.S.W.J.R. (Oakwood Press: 8s 6d) Fay at first had to await cash takings from stations before he could pay his staff; …. 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 586
   The child was not returned to the mother. … strangers giving him suck found it easier to display the utter despair in their faces that made for successful begging, whereas if [the mother] had had the pleasure of clasping her little son to her bosom all day, it would have been impossible to keep a spark of joy, however tiny, out of her eyes, which would have adversely affected the takings. 1995, Rohinton Mistry, chapter 12, in A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, pages 554–555

verb

1. present participle and gerund of take