partake
verbUS /pɑɹˈteɪk/ · UK /pɑːˈteɪk/
Etymology Back-formation from Middle English part-takinge, part-takynge (“a sharing; partaking”), a calque of Latin particeps (“participating”); equivalent to part + take. Compare take part. In the sense of taking a share or portion of something, displaced native Old English onbītan (“to taste of, to partake of”).
1
Formal To take part in an activity; to participate.
- Brutes partake in this faculty.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
2
Formal To take a share or portion.
- Will you partake of some food?
- The steak and chips partaken of for lunch seemed now to belong to another decade. He regretfully recognized the fact that he would not make a success of a hunger strike.1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 17”, in The Secret Adversary:
3
Archaic To have something of the properties, character, or office.
- c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers the Attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster , who partakes of both qualities, partly of a judge in the court, and partly of an attorney-general
- The people are encouraged to perceive their liberation in historic terms and to trust that new events will partake of past glories.2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 1107:
- Derived terms
- partakeable, partaker, repartake, unpartaken, unpartaking