take in

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To receive.
   • The company took in more than forty million euros last year.
2. (transitive) To receive and properly absorb or comprehend.
   • The news is a lot to take in right now.
   • I was so sleepy that I hardly took in any of the lecture.
3. (transitive) To enjoy or appreciate.
   • I'm just going to sit on a bench and take in the scenery.
   • Just relax and take in the fresh ocean air.
4. (transitive) To allow a person or an animal to live in one's home.
   • take in a stray cat
5. (transitive) To receive (goods) into one's home for the purpose of processing for a fee.
   • In hard times, some women would take in washing and others dressmaking repairs.
6. (transitive) To shorten (a garment) or make it smaller.
   • Try taking the skirt in a little around the waist.

   Antonyms:

   let out, let down

7. (transitive) To attend a showing of.
   • take in a show
   • take in a movie
8. (transitive) To deceive; to hoodwink.
   • Their grandma lost thousands of dollars because she was taken in by scammers.
   • She liked and trusted everybody, which was the reason why she was so popular, and so often taken in.1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 3, in The Gem Collector
9. (transitive) To tighten (a belaying rope).

   Synonyms:

   take up

10. (obsolete) To subscribe to home delivery of.
    • [James Whiteside:] May I ask what newspaper you take in? [John Jolly:] I take in no newspaper.
      [James Whiteside:] Well, then, what newspapers do you read? [John Jolly:] I am glad to see any of them.1844 January 23, cross-examination in the case of R v Daniel O'Connell, et al., reprinted in, 1844, John Flanedy, editor, A Special Report of the Proceedings in the Case of the Queen against Daniel...
11. To reef.
    • The second mate holds on to the main top-gallant sail until a heavy sea is shipped, and washes over the forecastle as though the whole ocean had come aboard; when a noise further aft shows that that sail, too, is taking in.1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC
12. (transitive) To arrest (a person).
    • The police took in the suspect.
    • They didn't take me in but they let it sink in that I was headed for a fall.2010, Patterson Hood, “The Fourth Night of My Drinking”, in The Big To-Do, performed by Drive-By Truckers

    Synonyms:

    take up