Word.ws English Dictionary

take up the running

take up the running verb: to proceed at full speed.

Verb

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

  1. (dated, idiomatic) To proceed at full speed.

Forms of take up the running

third-person singular presenttakes up the running
present participletaking up the running
pasttook up the running
past participletaken up the running

Origin of take up the running

Originally used of racehorses.

Questions about take up the running

What does take up the running mean?
Take up the running means to proceed at full speed.
What part of speech is take up the running?
Take up the running is a verb.
What is the past tense of take up the running?
The past tense of take up the running is took up the running.

Words near take up the running in the dictionary

  1. take up the gantlet
  2. take up the gauntlet
  3. take up the glove
  4. take up the hatchet
  5. take up the mantle
  6. take up the running
  7. take up the slack
  8. take up with
  9. take upon oneself
  10. take ups
  11. take vows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take up the running (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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