takeover

Etymology

It is a noun use of the phrasal verb take over,^[2][3][4][5] recorded from 1884 in the sense to assume ownership or control,^[5] itself from English take + over.^[5] The OED compares the earlier noun “taking over”.^[2] It is also written “take-over”.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An act of transferring or adopting something; a carry-over: 1909, in H. S. Canby's The Short Story in English.^[2] Etymonline dates the noun to 1917,^[5] and Merriam-Webster to about 1917.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From 1910 the noun meant assuming control of or responsibility for something.^[2] In business it meant the acquisition of control of one company by another, especially by buying most of its shares, from 1936 in the OED,^[2] but from 1958 in Etymonline.^[5] The sense of a seizure of power from a government, a coup, is recorded from 1939 in the OED and by 1957 in Etymonline.^[2][5] The Shorter Oxford marks the word as originally American.^[4]

Timeline

• 1884 – the verb phrase take over.^[5]
• 1909 – an act of transferring or adopting; a carry-over.^[2]
• 1910 – assumption of control or responsibility.^[2]
• 1936 – the acquisition of control of one company by another.^[2]
• 1939 – a seizure of power from a government; a coup.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of gaining control of a company by buying most of its shares: the bank's takeover of a smaller rival.^[8][9][2]
2. The act of assuming control of something, especially a seizure of power in a country; a coup.^[6][8][2]
3. In a game, the repeating of a play or action after the first one has been disallowed or disputed.^[6]

Word family

• antitakeover

Related words

• take over
• overtake

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers