undertake

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- +‎ take (after undernim).

Pronunciation

Verb

undertake (third-person singular simple present undertakes, present participle undertaking, simple past undertook, past participle undertaken)

  1. (transitive) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 417-420:
      This said, he sat; and expectation held
      His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
      To second, or oppose, or undertake
      The perilous attempt.
  2. (intransitive) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
    He undertook to exercise more in future.
  3. (British, informal) To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.
    Antonym: overtake
  4. (archaic, intransitive) To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      That is her ransom; I deliver her;
      And those two counties I will undertake
      Your grace shall well and quietly enjoy.
    • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, London: Richard Wilkin, Part 4, pp. 222-223:
      if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals, or the Shells, Teeth, or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth, do but search the Hills after Rains, and the Sea-Shores after Storms, I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
  6. (obsolete) To assume, as a character; to take on.
  7. (obsolete) To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.
  8. (obsolete) To have knowledge of; to hear.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: ">…] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 34:
      Ne he his mouth would open unto wight,
      Untill that Guyon selfe unto him spake,
      And called Brigadore, (so was he hight,)
      Whose voice so soone as he did undertake,
      Eftsoones he stood as still as any stake,
  9. (obsolete) To have or take charge of.

Usage notes

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

undertake (plural undertakes)

  1. (British, informal) The passing of slower traffic on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.
    Antonym: overtake