takeaway

Pluraltakeaways

1. 1
   nouncolloquialidiomaticcountable

   A key idea from a talk, presentation or piece of writing that the audience should remember and consider.

   My biggest takeaway from the book is that small habits add up over time.

   The key takeaways from the conference fit on a single slide.

   Similarlesson, point, message, insight

   Note

   Business and presentation talk is its home, and it often comes in the plural: the key takeaways, one of the big takeaways for me. It suggests ideas packaged for an audience to carry off. Because it is informal, careful writing often prefers lesson, point or conclusion.

2. 2
   nounAustraliaNew ZealandUKcountable

   A meal that is bought and packed so that it can be taken away and eaten somewhere else.

   Neither of us could face the washing-up, so we ordered a curry takeaway.

   Half the cartons in the bin were from last week's takeaways.

   Similartakeout, carryout

   Note

   It counts like any meal: you order a takeaway, fancy one tonight, or clear away last week's takeaways. The cuisine usually goes in front, as in an Indian or a curry takeaway, and a restaurant that also does takeaways will pack its dishes for customers to eat at home.

3. 3
   nounAustraliaNew ZealandSouth AfricaUKcountable

   A restaurant that sells food for customers to take away and eat elsewhere.

   He worked weekends at his uncle's takeaway, frying chips and taking phone orders.

   Most of the takeaways near the station shut by ten.

   Similartakeout

   Note

   The shop sense is chiefly British, Australian, New Zealand and South African, and guidebooks written in that English carry it abroad: Lonely Planet's East Africa finds some of the cheapest meals in Kampala at "the ubiquitous takeaways that dot the city centre." The same word names the meal itself, so you can buy a takeaway at a takeaway.

4. 4
   adjectiveCommonwealthHong KongIrelandPhilippinesUK

   Of food, intended to be eaten away from the premises where it was bought.

   Takeaway fish and chips, eaten on the sea wall, are the best part of a trip to the coast.

   Ordering takeaway noodles has become his Friday-night habit.

   Similartakeout

   Note

   The word is built from the phrasal verb take away, and here it stands before a noun: a takeaway curry, takeaway noodles. It cannot be compared, since food either is takeaway or is not. The use is chiefly British, Irish and Commonwealth, and it is also heard in Hong Kong and sometimes in the Philippines.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   The first part of a golf swing, in which the club is drawn back away from the ball.

   A rushed takeaway throws off the timing of the whole swing.

   Her coach noticed that the club drifted too far inside on the takeaway.

   Note

   Golf teachers treat the takeaway as the move that sets up the rest of the swing, and they praise it with a small set of words: long, low, smooth, evenly paced. The usual advice is to keep the hands and shoulders working together; things happen on or during the takeaway, and a rushed one tends to spoil everything after it.

6. 6
   nounUScountable

   A concession made by a labor union in the course of bargaining with an employer.

   Management pressed for takeaways on overtime pay, but the union held firm.

   The final agreement included a takeaway on pensions in exchange for job guarantees.

   Similarconcession, giveback

   Note

   American labor talk names the concession from the workers' side: a takeaway is something removed from what members already have, such as overtime rates or pension terms. Management presses for takeaways and a union concedes them, often in exchange for something else, such as job guarantees.

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