Word.ws English Dictionary

taking up with

taking up with is the present participle and gerund of take up with.

Meaning of take up with

Verb

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

  1. To form a close relationship with (someone).
    • I hear that John has taken up with Jane.
  2. To become interested in (something).
    • For although the Queen had ordered a little Equipage of all things neceſſary while I was in her Service, yet my Ideas were wholly taken up with what I ſaw on every ſide of me, and winked at my own Littleneſs as People do at their own Faults.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The King and Queen Make a Progress to the Frontiers. The Author Attends Them. The Manner in which He Leaves the Country Very Particularly Related. He Returns to...
  3. To begin living together with; to lodge with.
  4. (archaic) To be contented to receive; to receive without opposition; to put up with.
  5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, up, take up, with.
    • He took them up with him on his next trip to the mountains.

Questions about taking up with

What is taking up with the present participle and gerund of?
Taking up with is the present participle and gerund of take up with.

Words near taking up with in the dictionary

  1. taking up the gantlet
  2. taking up the gauntlet
  3. taking up the hatchet
  4. taking up the mantle
  5. taking up the slack
  6. taking up with
  7. taking upon oneself
  8. taking water
  9. taking with
  10. takingly
  11. takingness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking up with (page history and authors); take up with (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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Cite this entry: “taking up with.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taking_up_with. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.