uptake

[ uhp-teyk ]
See synonyms for uptake on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. apprehension; understanding or comprehension; mental grasp: quick on the uptake.

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

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

  2. Physiology. absorption.

Origin of uptake

1
1810–20; up- + take; compare take-up

Words Nearby uptake

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use uptake in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for uptake

uptake

/ (ˈʌpˌteɪk) /


noun
  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 (def. 2)

  1. taking up or lifting up

  2. the act of accepting or taking up something on offer or available

  3. quick on the uptake informal quick to understand or learn

  4. slow on the uptake informal slow to understand or learn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with uptake

uptake

see on the uptake.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.