To consider or include something as a factor when making a decision, judgment, or calculation.
This phrase developed from accounting and bookkeeping practices where items needed to be literally 'taken into' the account books. The metaphor expanded beyond financial contexts to mean including any factor in one's considerations or calculations.
The phrase reveals how deeply commercial and mathematical thinking has influenced our everyday language about decision-making. The accounting metaphor suggests that good thinking requires the same careful attention to detail and comprehensive inclusion of factors that characterizes good bookkeeping.
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