An archaic verb meaning to take up, undertake, or seize; to take by force or completely.
From Old English 'for-' (thoroughly, away) + 'take.' The prefix intensifies or completes the action of taking, suggesting seizing or appropriating rather than merely receiving.
This vanished word shows how 'for-' prefixes work in Germanic languages—'fortake' meant to really grab something and make it yours, like modern English 'take over' but in one old word.
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