Word.ws English Dictionary

take a number

take a number verb: to queue; to wait to be served by being assigned a number and waiting for that number to be called after all previous numbers have been served in order of assignment.

Verb

take a number (third-person singular simple present takes a number, present participle taking a number, simple past took a number, past participle taken a number)

  1. (literally) To queue; to wait to be served by being assigned a number and waiting for that number to be called after all previous numbers have been served in order of assignment.
  2. (figuratively) To recognize that many others are in the same situation; to recognize that one's concerns are not of high priority; to be prepared to wait.
    • Wanna buy a television network? Take a number. A few years ago you would have had the field to yourself.1994 September 12, Stryker McGuire et al., “Sale Of The Century?”, in Newsweek
    • Even if they did decide to prosecute, the Justice Department would have to take a number and stand in a very long line.2000 August 8, Tony Karon, “Chile Exorcises the Specter of Pinochet”, in Time

Forms of take a number

third-person singular presenttakes a number
present participletaking a number
pasttook a number
past participletaken a number

Questions about take a number

What does take a number mean?
Take a number means to queue; to wait to be served by being assigned a number and waiting for that number to be called after all previous numbers have been served in order of assignment.
What part of speech is take a number?
Take a number is a verb.
What is the past tense of take a number?
The past tense of take a number is took a number.

Words near take a number in the dictionary

  1. take a load off
  2. take a long walk off a short pier
  3. take a long walk on a short pier
  4. take a look
  5. take a nap
  6. take a number
  7. take a page out of someone's book
  8. take a page out of someone's playbook
  9. take a pew
  10. take a picture
  11. take a picture, it will last longer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take a number (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-take a number.ogg.

Cite this entry: “take a number.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_a_number. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.