"take on water" meaning in English

See take on water in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-take on water.ogg Forms: takes on water [present, singular, third-person], taking on water [participle, present], took on water [past], taken on water [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|take<,,took,taken> on water}} take on water (third-person singular simple present takes on water, present participle taking on water, simple past took on water, past participle taken on water)
  1. (of a ship, boat, or other watercraft) To slowly fill with water, as due to a leak or being washed by high waves; to begin to sink. Synonyms: take in water
    Sense id: en-take_on_water-en-verb-NerHc4XQ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 56 44 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 62 38 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 62 38
  2. (idiomatic, by extension) To be in an increasingly difficult or risky situation; to falter or begin to fail. Tags: broadly, idiomatic
    Sense id: en-take_on_water-en-verb-Bn0l1uEE

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes on water",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking on water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took on water",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken on water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> on water"
      },
      "expansion": "take on water (third-person singular simple present takes on water, present participle taking on water, simple past took on water, past participle taken on water)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "56 44",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 January 31, Charlie Cooper, Simon Rice, “How six would-be record-breakers ended up in seriously deep water”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "The skipper, Matt Craughwell, said their boat had begun to take on water after being tossed, stern upwards, by huge waves.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To slowly fill with water, as due to a leak or being washed by high waves; to begin to sink."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_on_water-en-verb-NerHc4XQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "leak",
          "leak"
        ],
        [
          "wave",
          "wave"
        ],
        [
          "sink",
          "sink"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "boat; or other watercraft; boat; or other watercraft",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(of a ship, boat, or other watercraft) To slowly fill with water, as due to a leak or being washed by high waves; to begin to sink."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a ship"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "word": "take in water"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1994 January 2, Peter Passell, “Clear Today; Tomorrow, Who Knows?; Catch '94”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "While the heartland is chugging right along, the economies of Southern California and New England are still taking on water.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 June 22, Jennifer Rubin, “Why defend Obama’s abuse of executive privilege?”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "Democrats on Capitol Hill . . . are struggling not to go down with the Obama campaign (which is taking on water at an alarming rate).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 26, Mike Ozanian, “Baseball Team Values 2014 Led By New York Yankees At $2.5 Billion”, in Forbes, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "The team refinanced $250 million of debt and is no longer taking on water under the leadership of GM Sandy Alderson.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in an increasingly difficult or risky situation; to falter or begin to fail."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_on_water-en-verb-Bn0l1uEE",
      "links": [
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "risky",
          "risky"
        ],
        [
          "falter",
          "falter"
        ],
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, by extension) To be in an increasingly difficult or risky situation; to falter or begin to fail."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-take on water.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5a/En-au-take_on_water.ogg/En-au-take_on_water.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/En-au-take_on_water.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take on water"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes on water",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking on water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took on water",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken on water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> on water"
      },
      "expansion": "take on water (third-person singular simple present takes on water, present participle taking on water, simple past took on water, past participle taken on water)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 January 31, Charlie Cooper, Simon Rice, “How six would-be record-breakers ended up in seriously deep water”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "The skipper, Matt Craughwell, said their boat had begun to take on water after being tossed, stern upwards, by huge waves.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To slowly fill with water, as due to a leak or being washed by high waves; to begin to sink."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "leak",
          "leak"
        ],
        [
          "wave",
          "wave"
        ],
        [
          "sink",
          "sink"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "boat; or other watercraft; boat; or other watercraft",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(of a ship, boat, or other watercraft) To slowly fill with water, as due to a leak or being washed by high waves; to begin to sink."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a ship"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1994 January 2, Peter Passell, “Clear Today; Tomorrow, Who Knows?; Catch '94”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "While the heartland is chugging right along, the economies of Southern California and New England are still taking on water.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 June 22, Jennifer Rubin, “Why defend Obama’s abuse of executive privilege?”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "Democrats on Capitol Hill . . . are struggling not to go down with the Obama campaign (which is taking on water at an alarming rate).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 26, Mike Ozanian, “Baseball Team Values 2014 Led By New York Yankees At $2.5 Billion”, in Forbes, retrieved 2016-01-08:",
          "text": "The team refinanced $250 million of debt and is no longer taking on water under the leadership of GM Sandy Alderson.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in an increasingly difficult or risky situation; to falter or begin to fail."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "risky",
          "risky"
        ],
        [
          "falter",
          "falter"
        ],
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, by extension) To be in an increasingly difficult or risky situation; to falter or begin to fail."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-take on water.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5a/En-au-take_on_water.ogg/En-au-take_on_water.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/En-au-take_on_water.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "take in water"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take on water"
}

Download raw JSONL data for take on water meaning in English (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (bb46d54 and 0c3c9f6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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