retake

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + take,^[2][3][4][5] as retaken in Middle English.^[6] The noun is from the verb.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take back: Etymonline dates the verb to the mid-15th century,^[3] and Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford to the 15th century.^[6][4] The OED's first quotation, for "to take again; to take back", is from Thomas Drant's translation of Horace (1567).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "to recapture a place or person" followed in 1594, in Richard Carew's translation of Tasso.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the verb simply as "to take again".^[7] Chess players have said that they retake a piece since 1750.^[2] The 20th century brought the uses most heard today: taking an examination again (1904) and filming a scene again (1915).^[2] The noun appears in 1882 for any second taking,^[2] and as a film term in 1913,^[2][6] later also for a second recording of music (1946) and for a resat examination (1976).^[2] From 1922 a retake could also be a second look at something.^[2]

Timeline

• 15th century – to take again; to take back.^[3][6][4]
• 1594 – to recapture a place or person.^[2]
• 1750 – in chess, to take a piece in return.^[2]
• 1882 – noun, an act of taking something again.^[2]
• 1904 – to take an examination again.^[2]
• 1913 – noun, an act of filming a scene again.^[2][6]
• 1915 – to film a scene again.^[2]
• 1946 – noun, a second recording of a piece of music.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take something again, or take it back.^[6][2]
2. To recapture a town, a position or a person: The rebels retook the fort at dawn.^[8][6][2]
3. To film a scene or record a piece of music again.^[8][6][2]
4. To sit an examination again.^[2]
5. (chess) To capture the piece that has just captured one's own.^[2]

Noun

1. A second filming of a scene, or the shot that results.^[8][6][2]
2. A second recording of a piece of music.^[8][2]
3. An examination taken again.^[2]
4. A second look at something; a reassessment.^[2]

Word family

• retaker

Related words

• take

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins