take by storm

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To capture by means of a sudden, overwhelming attack.
   • The soldiers took the castle by storm.
   • "Sir William took the castle by storm,," said Ravenswood, "and, like many a victor, had little reason to congratulate himself on his conquest."1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for...
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To seize, overpower, or captivate in a sudden and forceful manner.
   • [A] startling interruption occurred at that moment, which took their whole attention by storm.1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 71, in Barnaby Rudge
   • How I looked while these ideas were taking my spirit by storm, I cannot tell.1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 33, in Jane Eyre
3. (idiomatic, transitive) To rapidly gain great popularity in (a place).
   • This obscure reference ["Blind Tom"] applies to a blind negro musician who took the world by storm in the latter half of the nineteenth century.1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 1, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC
   • Beatlemania took England and Europe by storm and proceeded to inundate American teenagers.1969, Arnold Shaw, The Rock Revolution, page 1