From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtake up phrasal verb1 take something ↔ upSTART DOING something to become interested in a new activity and to spend time doing it Roger took painting up for a while, but soon lost interest.2 take something upSTART DOING something to start a new job or have a new responsibility Peter will take up the management of the finance department.take up a post/a position/duties etc The headteacher takes up her duties in August.3 take something ↔ upDO if you take up a suggestion, problem, complaint etc, you start to do something about it Now the papers have taken up the story.take something ↔ up with The hospital manager has promised to take the matter up with the member of staff involved. I am still very angry and will be taking it up with the authorities.4 take up somethingLAST FOR A PERIOD OF TIME to fill a particular amount of time or spacebe taken up with something The little time I had outside of school was taken up with work.take up space/room old books that were taking up space in the office5 take something ↔ up to accept a suggestion, offer, or idea Rob took up the invitation to visit.take up the challenge/gauntlet Rick took up the challenge and cycled the 250-mile route alone. 6 take up somethingMOVE/CHANGE POSITION to move to the exact place where you should be, so that you are ready to do something The runners are taking up their positions on the starting line.7 DC take something ↔ up to make a piece of clothing shorter OPP let down8 take something ↔ upCONTINUE/START AGAIN to continue a story or activity that you or someone else had begun, after a short break I’ll take up the story where you left off. → take→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
take up a post/a position/duties etc• One eye shifts right round the body so that it takes up a position alongside the other.• Edward took up a position at the door-post.• I took up a position in a university library after a career break.• The I in enunciating a signifying chain signifies the self by taking up a position in the signifying chains enunciated.• The strong Auckland group within the team took up a position of influence.• Robert took up a position on the boundary, fairly near to the maths master.• Then she took up a position standing right at the back.• In addition, Lacan feels that taking up a position with respect to meaning structures is inextricably gender-linked.take the matter up• When Parliament returned, the Opposition would take the matter up and proceed to a vote of censure.• I told him the President should take the matter up directly with the First Lady.• I recommend that the hon. Gentleman take the matter up with his council.• She was furious, denied everything and said her husband would be taking the matter up with my editor.• Should a student have any security problems, he/she should take the matter up with Security Staff.• Male speaker I can and shall take the matter up with the Attorney General in relation to the sentence which has been past.• I am going to take the matter up with the company to try to save the jobs for Worcester.• If not you can take the matter up with their manager.take up space/room• And all that good seaweed I collected just sits in a bag in the cupboard, taking up space.• I mean, they take up space and so on, they need dusting.• But the brain is surrounded by the skull, and all that escaped blood takes up space, squeezing the brain.• She believes that it was wrong of her to take up space within her school. take up the challenge/gauntlet• Ability Franchisees come from all sorts of backgrounds, with women increasingly taking up the challenge.• If you are dissatisfied it is your responsibility to determine why and to take up the challenge.• Johnson gleefully took up the challenge.• If the profession does not take up the challenge others will, and an opportunity will have been missed.• If human beings took up the challenge, their response would lay the foundations of civilization.• He has taken up the challenge to lead.• As it stands, few serious runners are likely to take up the challenge to turn it on.taking up ... positions• Out we went at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, taking up our positions as dusk arrived.• Reader Activity My interviewees are taking up subject positions as readers as they talk to me.• Taking up Positions as Readers Knowledge of the ways in which texts circulate colours reading.take-upˈtake-up noun [uncountable] British English BBTthe rate at which people accept something that is offered to them Take-up for college places has been slow.Examples from the Corpus
take-up• This was not mentioned and highlights the intricacies of benefit take-up.• To date, however, take-up has been disappointing.• This increased take-up is a result of the in-service training programme aimed directly at teachers.• He is also concerned about the low take-up of conducting case conferences by telephone.• Nowhere was this clearer than in moralists' take-up of scientific logic and a language of rationality.• Assuming a proportionally similar take-up on university validated courses, there were about 8,500 students on all Dip.HE courses.• Up to £2 million has been budgeted for the special needs grant but the amount spent will depend on the take-up.• The take-up has been disappointing in some respects, with the most highly motivated members attending several courses.From Longman Business Dictionarytake something → up phrasal verb [transitive]1to start a new job or have a new responsibilityHe is leaving to take up a position in the private sector.2to do something about an idea or suggestion that you have been consideringI’m going to take this matter up with my lawyer.3to use a particular amount of space or timeComputer equipment takes up about a quarter of the office space.This problem is taking up too much of my time. → take→ See Verb tabletake-upˈtake-up noun [uncountable]MARKETING the rate at which people buy or accept something offered by a company, government etcThe bank has not announced targets but it will need high take-up rates to justify its investment. 