Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

uptake

[uhp-teyk]

Origin

noun

apprehension; understanding or comprehension; mental grasp: quick on the uptake.

an act or instance of taking up; a lifting: the uptake of fertilizer by machines.

Also called take-up. Machinery. a pipe or passage leading upward from below, as for conducting smoke or a current of air.

Physiology. absorption.

Origin:
1810–20; up- + take; compare take-up

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To uptake

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Uptake is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Collins

World English Dictionary

uptake (ˈʌpˌteɪk)

—n
1.	a pipe, shaft, etc, that is used to convey smoke or gases, esp one that connects a furnace to a chimney
2.	mining another term for upcast
3.	taking up or lifting up
4.	the act of accepting or taking up something on offer or available
5.	informal quick on the uptake quick to understand or learn
6.	informal slow on the uptake slow to understand or learn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

uptake

"capacity for understanding," 1816, from up + take. Cf. obs. verb uptake "to pick or take up," attested from c.1300.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

uptake up·take (ŭp'tāk')
n.
The absorption by a tissue of a substance, such as a nutrient, and its permanent or temporary retention.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

uptake

see on the uptake.