take the time—use a certain amount of one’s time for an activity:
- I dislike to take the time to study out laboriously these things which are mostly well known to botanists.
take time—
1. require time; extend over a relatively long period:
- It was merely a matter of shock to the nerve centers. Such a thing sometimes took time to mend.
2. = take the time:
- The abstentions of 1972 were due to an overwhelming conviction that Mr. Nixon had it made, so why take time to go out and vote?
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase take time by the forelock—act in advance of an expected event:
- The firm took time by the forelock in closing down before the strike.
See also: take one’s hour / take one’s time.