undertake

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- +‎ take (after undernim).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ʌndəˈteɪk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪk

Verb[edit]

undertake (third-person singular simple present undertakes, present participle undertaking, simple past undertook, past participle undertaken)

  1. (transitive) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, lines 417-420:
      This said, he sat; and expectation held
      His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
      To second, or oppose, or undertake
      The perilous attempt.
  2. (intransitive) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
    He undertook to exercise more in future.
    • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
      […] if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us
      With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
      I’ll undertake to land them on our coast
      And force the tyrant from his seat by war.
  3. (British, informal) To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.
    Antonym: overtake
  4. (archaic, intransitive) To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
      That is her ransom; I deliver her;
      And those two counties I will undertake
      Your grace shall well and quietly enjoy.
    • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies‎[1], London: Richard Wilkin, Part 4, pp. 222-223:
      […] if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals, or the Shells, Teeth, or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth, do but search the Hills after Rains, and the Sea-Shores after Storms, I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxxvij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IX:
      there came fourty knyghtes to sire Darras
      […]
      and they wold haue slayne sire Tristram and his two felawes
      but sire Darras wold not suffre that but kepte them in pryson
      […]
      So sire Tristram endured there grete payne
      for sekenesse had vndertake hym
      and that is the grettest payne a prysoner maye haue
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  6. (obsolete) To assume, as a character; to take on.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
      Quince. […] you must needs play Pyramus.
      Bottom. Well, I will undertake it.
  7. (obsolete) To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter x, leaf 394v:
      Soo it happend in Spayne there was an Erles sone his name was Alphegus / and at a grete turnement in spayn this syre Vrre knyghte of Hongry and sir Alphegus of spayne encountred to gyders for veray enuy / and soo eyther vndertook other to the Vtteraunce.
      "So it happened in Spain there was an earl’s son, his name was Alphegus, and at a great tournament in Spain this Sir Urre, knight of Hungary, and Sir Alphegus of Spain encountered together for very envy; and so either undertook other to the utterance."
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
      It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.
  8. (obsolete) To have knowledge of; to hear.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 34:
      Ne he his mouth would open unto wight,
      Untill that Guyon selfe unto him spake,
      And called Brigadore, (so was he hight,)
      Whose voice so soone as he did undertake,
      Eftsoones he stood as still as any stake,
  9. (obsolete) To have or take charge of.

Usage notes[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

undertake (plural undertakes)

  1. (British, informal) The passing of slower traffic on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.
    Antonym: overtake
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