The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

What takes you to M laga in August? 26 act, assume, play,
perform: I'm taking the part of the wicked witch in the local
pantomime. 27 bilk, cheat, swindle, defraud, Colloq con, Brit
fiddle: When he examined his wallet he realized he'd been
taken. 28 take aback. astound, astonish, surprise, startle,
shock: She was really taken aback at the news. 29 take after.
a resemble, look like, be the spitting image or the spit and
image of, favour, remind one of, Colloq be a chip off the old
block: He takes after his grandfather. b Sometimes, take off
after. chase, follow, run after, pursue: When the man stole the
newspaper and ran, the shopkeeper took after him at a gallop. 30
take back. retract, withdraw, recant, disavow, repudiate: He
now wants to take back what he said about you. 31 take down. a
note, make a note or memo or memorandum of, write down, record,
put or set down, put in writing, document, transcribe,
chronicle: Please take down what I am about to tell you. b
debase, deflate, lower, diminish, belittle, depreciate,
deprecate, humble, humiliate, shame, disparage, degrade,
disgrace: She certainly took that pompous ass down a peg or
two. 32 take in. a accommodate, receive, let in, quarter,
board, lodge: When her children grew up and left home, she
decided to take in lodgers. b deceive, fool, trick, impose upon,
overcharge, cheat, mulct, defraud, cozen, bilk, dupe, gull,
hoodwink, swindle, Colloq bamboozle, con, pull the wool over
(someone's) eyes, Slang Brit do: He was really taken in by that
time-share deal. c include, subsume, embrace, comprise, cover,
encompass, contain: Our sales figures take in all of North
America, not just Canada. 33 take it. a withstand or tolerate
or survive punishment or abuse, survive: The Marines are
extremely tough and can take it. b See 20, above. 34 take off.
a remove, doff, strip or peel off, discard, divest (oneself) of:
Take off your hat in the house. b satirize, lampoon,
caricature, mock, parody, travesty, burlesque, mimic, imitate,
Colloq spoof, Brit send up: It is not always easy to take off
members of the Cabinet. c depart, leave, go (away), decamp; fly
off, become airborne, lift off, blast off; Colloq skedaddle,
make (oneself) scarce, Slang hit the road, scram, beat it,
split: You'd better take off before they find you here. The
plane is due to take off at 18.35. 35 take on. a hire, engage,
employ, enrol, enlist, retain: We are so busy that we have
taken on ten new people. b challenge, rival, face, contend
against, oppose, match or pit (oneself) against, vie with,
fight: Are you in any condition to take on the champion? c