Undertake
UNDERTA'KE, verb transitive preterit tense undertook; participle passive undertaken. [under and take.]
1. To engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform. When I undertook this work, I had a very inadequate knowledge of the extent of my labors.
2. To covenant or contract to perform or execute. A man undertakes to erect a house, or to make a mile of canal, when he enters into stipulations for that purpose.
3. To attempt; as when a man undertakes what he cannot perform.
4. To assume a character. [Not in use.]
5. To engage with; to attack.
Your lordship should not undertake every companion you offend. [Not in use.]
6. To have the charge of.
- Who undertakes you to your end. [Not in use.]
UNDERTA'KE, verb intransitive
1. To take upon or assume any business or province.
O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. Isaiah 38:14.
2. To venture; to hazard. They dare not undertake
3. To promise; to be bound.
I dare undertake they will not lose their labor.
To undertake for, to be bound; to become surety for.