take a gander (at someone or some-
thing)tv. to look at someone or some-
thing. (See also gander.) Wow, take a
gander at this chick! I wanted to take a
gander at the new computer before they
started using it.
take a hike and take a walktv. to leave;
to beat it. Okay, I’ve had it with you.
Take a hike! Beat it! I had enough of the
boss and the whole place, so I cleaned out
my desk and took a walk.
take a jab at someoneGo to take a dig
at someone.
take a leaktv. to urinate. (Crude. Usually
objectionable. Usually in reference to a
male.) I gotta go take a leak. Back in a
minute. He just went out to take a leak.
take a load off one’s feetGo to get a
load off one’s feet.
take a lot of nerve 1. tv. to be very rude;
to require a lot of rudeness (to behave so
badly). He walked out on her, and that
took a lot of nerve! That took a lot of
nerve! You took my parking place! 2. tv. to
require courage. He climbed the moun-
tain with a bruised foot. That took a lot
of nerve. It took a lot of nerve to go into
business for himself.
take a nosedivetv. to collapse; to fail.
The market took a nosedive again today.
She slipped on the ice and took a nose-
dive.
take a page from someone’s booktv. to
copy or emulate. I took a page from
Edison’s book and began inventing useful
little things. Mind if I take a page from
your book and apply for a job here?
take a pop at someonetv. to punch at
someone. Ziggy took a pop at me, but
I ducked. The drunk took a pop at the
cop—which was the wrong thing to do.
take a powdertv. to leave; to leave town.
(Underworld.) Why don’t you take a
powder? Go on! Beat it! Bruno took a
powder and will lie low for a while.
Take a running jump (in the lake)!ex-
clam. Go away!; Get away from me!
You know what you can do? You can take
a running jump. Beat it! You can just
take a running jump in the lake, you creep!
take a shit and take a crap; take a
dump; take a squattv. to defecate. (It
is always takennot given, done,or put.
Shit is the most offensive with the oth-
ers following in descending order of of-
fense.) Hurry up in there! I gotta take
a shit.take a shot (at something)tv. to try (to
do) something. I don’t think I can do
it, but I’ll take a shot at it. Go ahead.
Ta k e a s h o t.
take a squatGo to take a shit.
take a swipe at someone or something
tv. to poke at someone or something. (See
also swipe.) Bart took a swipe at Ziggy.
The cat took a swipe at the ball.take a walkGo to take a hike.
take a whack at someone or something
tv. to hit at someone or something.
Wilbur took a whack at Martin and
missed. Jerry got an ax and took a
whack at the tree, but didn’t do much
damage.
take a whack at somethingtv. to have a
try at something. Let me take a whack
at it. Why don’t you practice a little
while and take a whack at it tomorrow?
Take care.tv. Good-bye, be careful. See
you later. Take care. Take care. See you
in Philly.take care of number one and take care
of numero unotv. to take care of one-
self. (See also number one; numero
uno.) Arthur, like everybody else, is
most concerned with taking care of num-
ber one. If you don’t take care of numero
uno, who will?
take care of numero unoGo to take care
of number one.
take care of someonetv. to kill someone.
(Underworld.) The boss told Ziggy to
take care of Bart. I’m gonna take care of
you once and for all.take fivetv. to take a five-minute break.
Okay, gang, take five. Be back here intake five