take over

Definitions

1. 1

   To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force.

   • Pilton Yard, the Lynton & Barnstaple headquarters, has been taken over by a fur trading firm, and would-be trespassers to the old engine-shed are turned back by the pungent odour of heaps of carcases.
   • I was also interested to hear that he is taking over the time-honoured Rail Atlas of Great Britain & Ireland, following Stuart Baker's death in November 2020.
2. 2

   To adopt a further responsibility or duty.

   • He will take over the job permanently when the accountant retires.
3. 3

   To relieve someone temporarily.

   • My husband is taking over the accounts department during the holiday period, while the chief accountant is away.
   • If you will take over driving, I'd like to get some sleep.
   • McCoist unexpectedly ushered back a defender of his own with Kirk Broadfoot taking over from Steven Whittaker. There was, of course, another change, Kyle Bartley stepping in at centre-half to replace suspended Dorin Goian.
4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To buy out the ownership of a business.

      • Acme Motors is to take Jetcar Industries over this week, if all goes as planned.
   2. 5

      To appropriate something without permission.

   3. 6

      To annex a territory by conquest or invasion

      To annex a territory by conquest or invasion; to conquer.

      • Ancient Rome took over lands throughout the known world.
      • Founded about 1000 bc by Aeolian Greeks, the city [Assos] was successively ruled by Lydians, Persians, Pergamenes, Romans, and Byzantines, until Sultan Orhan Gazi (1288–1360) took it over for the Ottomans in 1330.
   4. 7

      To become more successful than (someone or something else).

      • Buzz Lightyear has taken over Woody as the most popular children's toy.
      • Tiger Woods has taken over as the top golfer.
   5. 8

      Used other than figuratively or idiomatically

      Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, over.

      • He took the car over to the garage.

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