take up the cause

English translation: to embrace/adopt someone else's cause as one's own

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:to take up the cause
Selected answer:to embrace/adopt someone else's cause as one's own
Entered by: Olga Layer

01:08 Jul 26, 2007
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: take up the cause
A woman talks about her malicious sister:
"At my niece's birthday party Jane made a vicious comment about me in front of thirty people... She thinks it's funny. Sly little digs. She's very manipulative. She seems to have taken up the cause; where Mum attacks mentally, Jane is more physical, more vocal. Both are spiteful and neither are able to show emotion in the normal sense of the word".
Joanna Borowska
Poland
Local time: 16:51
Jane has "embraced" her mother's "fight" with her sister as her own
Explanation:
to take up the cause - means to embrace (or to adopt) someone else's cause, idea, or practice and make it one's own. In other words, this Jane decided to join her mother in attacking her sister -- i.e., she has taken up her mother's cause (the cause being her fight with her daughter).
Selected response from:

Olga Layer
Local time: 11:51
Grading comment
Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +11Jane has "embraced" her mother's "fight" with her sister as her own
Olga Layer
4join with others/give support to
RHELLER
4to involve oneself in the cause/matter
Alexander Demyanov


  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
join with others/give support to


Explanation:
It seems that this woman already feels attacked by Mum and now notices that Jane is joining in the attack.

It originated with charities and/or social causes - going out and marching in the streets but here it seems to refer to a personal grudge/vendetta?

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 09:51
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 92
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16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +11
Jane has "embraced" her mother's "fight" with her sister as her own


Explanation:
to take up the cause - means to embrace (or to adopt) someone else's cause, idea, or practice and make it one's own. In other words, this Jane decided to join her mother in attacking her sister -- i.e., she has taken up her mother's cause (the cause being her fight with her daughter).


Olga Layer
Local time: 11:51
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Thanks!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  NancyLynn
16 mins

agree  TrueBaller: Yes, that's right! You got it Olga.
1 hr

agree  ErichEko ⟹⭐
4 hrs

agree  Elena Aleksandrova
4 hrs

agree  Jack Doughty
5 hrs

agree  Robert Fox
6 hrs

agree  Alison Jenner
7 hrs

agree  Liam Quinn: spot on!
8 hrs

agree  Refugio
15 hrs

agree  conejo
16 hrs

agree  Alfa Trans (X)
2 days 6 hrs
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
to involve oneself in the cause/matter


Explanation:
Somewhere in the preceding context there must be a reference to some "cause" or "matter", on which Mum was "mentally attacking" the speaker. Now Jane "takes up the cause", i.e. involves herself in the matter.

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Note added at 19 mins (2007-07-26 01:27:52 GMT)
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117. take up,
a. to occupy oneself with the study or practice of: She took up painting in her spare time.
b. to lift or pick up: He took up the fallen leaves with a rake.
c. to occupy; cover: A grand piano would take up half of our living room.
d. to consume; use up; absorb: Traveling to her job takes up a great deal of time.
e. to begin to advocate or support; sponsor: He has taken up another struggling artist.
f. to continue; resume: We took up where we had left off.
g. to reply to in order to reprove: The author takes up his critics in the preface of his latest book.
h. to assume: He took up the duties of the presidency.
i. to absorb: Use a sponge to take up the spilled milk.
j. to make shorter, as by hemming: to take up the sleeves an inch.
k. to make tighter, as by winding in: to take up the slack in a reel of tape.
l. to deal with in discussion: to take up the issue of mass transit.
m. to adopt seriously: to take up the idea of seeking public office.
n. to accept, as an offer or challenge.
o. to buy as much as is offered: The sale was taken up in a matter of days.
p. Chiefly British. to clear by paying off, as a loan.
q. Obsolete. to arrest (esp. a runaway slave).

Alexander Demyanov
Local time: 11:51
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 28
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