Took is the past tense of take, which means you grabbed something, accepted something, or moved something from one place to another at some point in the past.

When you say “I took my backpack to school,” you're explaining what happened earlier that day. If your friend took the last cookie, they grabbed it before you could. When a family takes a vacation, they go somewhere for a trip. The word works for physical things you grasp with your hands, like when you took a book off the shelf, and for more abstract ideas, like when a difficult test took all your concentration.

Sometimes took appears in phrases that mean something special. When something takes time, it requires patience and waiting. If an idea takes hold, it becomes popular and spreads. When medicine takes effect, it starts working in your body. You might also hear that someone took offense at a rude comment, meaning they felt insulted by it.

The word took is one of those verbs you use constantly without thinking about it. You took a shower this morning, took notes in class, took turns on the swings at recess, and maybe took your time finishing your homework. It's a simple, essential word that describes countless everyday actions.