took
- 1Past tense of take.
The committee took several months to reach a final decision.
He took an unfamiliar route home and arrived well after dark.
Note
A form that stands alone, with no helping verb in front of it: "Tim took Barry Leach with him," in Margery Allingham's The China Governess (1963). Standard English keeps it apart from taken, which follows have. Careful writing therefore has "she took it" but "she has taken it." Putting it after have is the colloquial participle, a separate usage with its own story.
- 2Past participle of take. Nonstandard, used in some dialects: standard English uses taken.
He swore he had took the medicine just as the doctor told him.
We figured the dog had took the bone out to the yard again.
Note
Shakespeare's participle, later left to colloquial and dialect speech. Twelfth Night has "he might have tooke his answer long ago." Charles Dickens, writing in 1842–44, gives a character "he might have took care of it," and a speaker recorded in 1981 says "if you could have took the work home." It usually follows a modal plus have. In careful writing use taken, and keep took for dialogue or reported speech.
took is a form of take
take, verb: To obtain something by force or other means so that you hold it, possess it, or have control over it. Full entry
- Spelling
- take → took: irregular (no -ed)
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with took, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.