adopt

Verb

adopt (third-person singular simple present adopts, present participle adopting, simple past and past participle adopted)

1. (transitive) To take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child.
   • A friend of mine recently adopted a Chinese baby girl found on the streets of Beijing.
2. (transitive) To obtain (a pet) from a shelter or the wild.
   • We're going to adopt a Dalmatian.
3. (transitive) To contribute towards the upkeep of (a child or animal), in exchange for occasional stories, pictures, etc.
   • We adopted an elephant at the local zoo.
4. (transitive) To take by choice into the scope of one's responsibility.
   • This supermarket chain adopts several families every Yuletide, providing them with money and groceries for the holidays.
   • Sixteen years ago, the station entered into a new chapter when it was adopted by the Friends of Chirk Station (FoCS) volunteer group, under the Arriva Trains Wales Station Adopters programme.2020 December 30, Paul Stephen, “Chirk station is truly blooming”, in Rail, page 49
5. (transitive) To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally.
   • He adopted a new look in order to fit in with his new workmates.
   • [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times
6. (transitive) To select and take or approve.
   • to adopt the view or policy of another
   • These are resolutions that were adopted.

   Synonyms:

   espouse, embrace

7. (slang, transitive) To beat an opponent ten times in a row.
   • The match was not even close; the IM made amateurish blunders and ended up getting adopted.
   • Nakamura 'Adopts' Komodo On Fathers Day: 20.5-2.52018 June 19, Peter Doggers, “(title)”, in Chess.com, archived from the original on 21 May 2022