TAKE THAT

Basically, to take means to obtain; sometimes it´s as easy as picking up a biscuit from a plate. Other times it involves violence: a mugger takes an old woman´s handbag and escapes. That´s a shocking experience which is very difficult to take in (or understand); everyone is taken by surprise (or shocked) by the situation.

TIME OUT

Here are some more examples. If you see an unusual bird, you do a double take – you see the bird the first time, look away in disbelief, and then look again to check.
Someone says, “take five”. What does that mean? Well, it´s the same as “let´s take a break,” or let´s have a five-minute rest. Perhaps you need a real break, so take off a few days from work (go on holiday), and fly to somewhere exotic. If you book last minute, the agent takes off 30 per cent – that´s a big discount. In no time at all, you take your seat on a place, the plane takes off, and you´re flying high above the clouds. So take off your jacket, sit back and take it easy, just relax.

ON LOCATION

On holiday you take photographs with your camera. When a movie director makes a film, he often asks his actors to repeat a scene – each attempt is called a take, so you have take 1, take 1, and so on. One fight scene in Jackie Chan´s The Young Master was so difficult to perform, the actors needed 329 takes.
Take can also men “need” or “involve”. “It takes two to make a dream come true,” sang Marvin Gaye. He was absolutely right because the song was a duet, and he needed partner Kim Weston to sing with him. Barbra Streisand didn´t agree: “It takes a woman … to bring the sweet things in live.”

Revista Speak Up