intake

Pluralintakes

Formsintakes, intaking, intook, intaken

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The amount or quantity of something taken into a body or system.

   Nutritionists recommend tracking your daily calorie intake.

   The clinic monitored each patient's fluid intake closely.

   Similarconsumption, ingestion, input, uptake

   Oppositeoutput, expenditure

   Note

   The nutritionist's and physiologist's sense, almost always used as a mass noun with what is consumed placed in front: calorie intake, fluid intake, vitamin A intake. Jayson Lusk's Unnaturally Delicious (2016) ties a toll of premature deaths to "inadequate vitamin A intake." The of-phrase works too (the intake of air), but in health writing the compact noun-before-noun form is the usual choice.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A single act or instance of taking something in.

   A sudden intake of breath betrayed her shock.

   The pump's intake of seawater occurs at regular intervals.

   Similarinhalation, uptake, suction

   Oppositeexhalation, discharge

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The opening or point at which water, air, or another fluid enters a pipe or conduit, as opposed to the outlet.

   Divers cleared debris from the reservoir's intake before the pumps restarted.

   The engine draws cool air through an intake near the front bumper.

   Similarinlet, mouth

   Oppositeoutlet, exhaust

   Note

   A noun built from the verb take in, first used in the dialects of Northern England and Scotland and later carried into engineering. Here it names the opening itself, so it counts: an air intake, the reservoir's two intakes. Its working partner is outlet. Intake is where fluid enters a pipe or conduit, outlet is where it leaves, and the two words are often used together to describe a system's two ends.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   The group of people admitted to an organization or establishment at a particular time.

   The college welcomed its fall intake with a week of events.

   Each year's intake of recruits goes through the same orientation.

   Similarcohort, class, batch, enrollment, entry

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To take or draw something in, bringing it from outside.

   Fish intake oxygen through their gills.

   These vents intake outside air before filtering it.

   Similarabsorb, draw, inhale, ingest

   Oppositeexpel, exhaust, emit, discharge

   Note

   The verb borrows its whole conjugation from take: intakes, intaking, intook, intaken. Writers still handle it as a coinage. At a 1937 press conference, Franklin D. Roosevelt put "intook" in inverted commas, as if apologizing for it. It turns up mostly in technical and dietary prose, such as intaking a gas current or intaking calories, where the quantity taken in is never far behind.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The point at which a tube or cylinder begins to contract or narrow.

   Pressure builds as the flow reaches the intake of the tapering cylinder.

   The mold's intake is machined so the channel narrows evenly.

   Similarnarrowing, constriction, contraction

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The screening of a young offender to determine whether they are released or referred for further handling.

   During intake, staff assess whether a juvenile needs counseling or a court referral.

   The county streamlined its intake to reduce time spent in detention.

   Similarscreening, assessment, processing

8. 8
   nouncountable

   An area of land that has been fenced or walled off from open ground.

   They built a stone wall around the intake to keep the cattle in.

   The old intake on the moor's edge had reverted to rough grass.

   Similarenclosure, paddock, field

   Note

   Here the word stays closest to its roots. It comes from Northern English and Scottish dialect, a noun made from take in, and the land is simply what was taken in. It works as a count noun (an old intake, two intakes) and as a mass noun for such land in general. Setting tells it apart from the pipe's intake: on a moor's edge, it means fields, not plumbing.

9. 9
   nounslangderogatorycountable

   A slang and derogatory term for a nostril, especially a large one.

   The lad's enormous intake dripped in the cold wind.

   He laughed so hard you could see straight up both intakes.

   Similarnostril

   Note

   A mocking word, not a neutral one. It turns a nostril into a gaping vent that sucks in air, and it is used to make fun of someone's nose, especially a large one. Because it is slang and derogatory, it belongs in banter or insult. In anything descriptive or polite, nostril is the safe choice.

10. 10
    noundialectalUKcountable

    A cheat or imposition: the act of deceiving or fooling someone.

    Folk soon realized the cheap rent was an intake to lure tenants in.

    The traveling salesman's miracle cure was nothing but an intake.

    Similarcheat, swindle, trick, fraud, con

    Note

    A swindle named after the phrasal verb take in in its "deceive" meaning: to take someone in is to fool them, and the trick itself becomes an intake. It survives in UK dialect use. Elsewhere a listener will almost certainly hear the quantity meaning instead, so outside that setting cheat, swindle or imposition says the same thing without confusion.

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