Undertake
[ʌndə'teɪk] or [,ʌndɚ'tek]
Definition
(verb.) promise to do or accomplish; 'guarantee to free the prisoners'.
(verb.) enter upon an activity or enterprise.
(verb.) accept as a charge.
(verb.) accept as a challenge; 'I'll tackle this difficult task'.
Checker: Truman--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To take upon one's self; to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform; to set about; to attempt.
(v. t.) Specifically, to take upon one's self solemnly or expressly; to lay one's self under obligation, or to enter into stipulations, to perform or to execute; to covenant; to contract.
(v. t.) Hence, to guarantee; to promise; to affirm.
(v. t.) To assume, as a character.
(v. t.) To engage with; to attack.
(v. t.) To have knowledge of; to hear.
(v. t.) To take or have the charge of.
(v. i.) To take upon one's self, or assume, any business, duty, or province.
(v. i.) To venture; to hazard.
(v. i.) To give a promise or guarantee; to be surety.
Typed by Jack
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Attempt, set about, engage in, embark in, enter upon, take in hand, take upon one's self, take on one's shoulders.
v. n. Engage, agree, stipulate, bargain, promise, be bound, be sworn, pledge one's self, pledge one's word, plight one's word, pass one's word, take upon one's self.
Editor: Noreen
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Engage, attempt, enter_upon, agree, set_about, embark, stipulate, project,commence, promise
ANT:Decline, abandon, drop, discontinue, desist
Inputed by Hilary
Definition
v.t. to take under one's management: to take upon one's self: to attempt: to answer for warrant: to take in understand: to assume to have charge of.—v.i. to take upon one's self: to be bound: to manage all the arrangements of a burial.—adj. Undertā′kable capable of being undertaken.—ns. Undertā′ker one who undertakes a projector a contractor: one who is surety or guarantee for another: one who manages funerals: formerly a contractor for the royal revenue in England one of those who undertook to manage the House of Commons for the king in the 'Addled Parliament' of 1614: one of the English and Scotch settlers in Ireland on forfeited lands in the 16th century; Undertā′king that which is undertaken: any business or project engaged in.
Checker: Quincy
Examples
- By dint of alternate threats, promises, and bribes, the lady in question was ultimately prevailed upon to undertake the commission. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- How could it be expected to undertake it when the undertaking meant its own destruction? John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Is any gentleman ashamed to undertake and execute the commission? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- It was accordingly agreed that Halley should undertake the business of looking after it, and printing it at his own charge, which he had engaged to do. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Another lawyer would have drawn up the deed if I had refused to undertake it. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- God will protect you; for you have undertaken His work, I answered. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- My journey to Paris was not undertaken alone. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- In 1724, this company had undertaken the whale fishery. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- This party had undertaken to escort him as far as Doncaster. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Arkwright was ill with asthma during many of the years when he was fighting for his fortune, and time and again it seemed as if his strength must fail before the task he had undertaken. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- You can incur none in pursuit of the object you have undertaken that I shall hesitate for a moment to bear. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- How could it be expected to undertake it when the undertaking meant its own destruction? John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- A sudden recollection had flashed on her this moment--she had not money enough for undertaking a long journey. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- When I returned to Perdita, I found that she had already been informed of the success of my undertaking. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The one greatest undertaking of the whole excavation was the Gaillard Cut. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Although by far the largest undertaking yet made, the improvement in rock-boring machinery enabled it to be constructed much more rapidly and at less expense. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The soft-hearted cook added his intercession, and the result was that the man who had first appeared undertook its delivery. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- No nurse fit to wait on her being at hand in the neighbourhood, her ladyship the Countess and myself undertook the duty, relieving each other. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Mr. Raggles then retired and personally undertook the superintendence of the small shop and the greens. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I shall then have done what I undertook to do--and I'll take my fee. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Sir Percival undertook to send for the doctor. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- At last, a carpenter in the city, Peter Van der Mey by name, undertook the adventure. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Mrs. Weston undertakes to direct the whole. Jane Austen. Emma.
- The duties a governess undertakes are often severe. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Just, replied the Earl, as the man may be said to invite death, who undertakes to fight a combat, having a dangerous wound unhealed. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Checker: Ronnie