for the taking

English

WOTD – 11 December 2019

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fə ðə ˈteɪkɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɚ ðə ˈteɪkɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: for the tak‧ing

Prepositional phrase

for the taking

1. Available; able to be taken without difficulty.
   • [1850?], anonymous [possibly written or edited by Horatius Bonar], The Night Cometh (Kelso Tracts; no. 43), London: James Nisbet & Co., […], →OCLC, page 7:

     "He that believeth hath everlasting life." That life is no distant blessing, hard to win and costly to purchase. It is free. It is yours for the taking. It becomes yours the moment you believe.

   • 1862 November, “Madeleine Schaeffer. In Three Parts.—Part III.”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XXV, number CL, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], →OCLC, chapter VII, page 757, column 2:

     After all these years of abnegation the crown might yet be his—was his for the taking.

   • 1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter I, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part IV, page 357:

     How dreadful to live on when you were of no more interest to anyone, but must just 'pass the time' and die. But how much more dreadful to 'pass the time' when you were strong, and life were yours for the taking!

   • 1932, Ann Wirt [pseudonym; Mildred Benson], “The Swenster Pearls”, in The Secret of the Sundial (The Madge Sterling Series), Chicago, Ill.: The Goldsmith Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 41:

     She had no desire to go near the Swenster mansion again, but neither could she bear to have Enid or Jane sharing in an adventure which was hers for the taking.

   • 1989, Arthur E[dward] Smith, “Introduction”, in Mars: The Next Step, Bristol, New York, N.Y.: Adam Hilger, IOP Publishing, →ISBN, page xxi:

     Compounds such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, water, hydrogen peroxide and oxides of nitrogen are also either available or can be manufactured from local materials [on the Moon, Mars, etc.] without too much difficulty once a base is established. These benefits are there for the taking by any generation willing to take the risks involved.

   • 2015, Caroline Field Levander, Matthew Pratt Guterl, “Rich”, in Hotel Life: The Story of a Place Where Anything Can Happen, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 110:

     [B]eyond the clearing there are miles of uninterrupted sandy beaches, and, running parallel, a slow-moving, winding river, twin tropes of the imperial fantasy of vast terrains there for the taking.

   • 2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 August 2019:

     Three times the Mexican gegenpress drew a scampering counterattack, whirring in on goal only to be foiled by a scudding last-ditch tackle or a last pass just awry. Germany were there for the taking, cut open with extraordinary relish by the Mexico attack.

Translations

able to be taken without difficulty — see also available