different between undertake vs emprise

English

Alternative forms

• undirtake (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- +? take (after undernim).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?nd??te?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Verb

undertake (third-person singular simple present undertakes, present participle undertaking, simple past undertook, past participle undertaken)

1. (transitive) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, lines 417-420,^[1]

     This said, he sat; and expectation held
     His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
     To second, or oppose, or undertake
     The perilous attempt.

2. (intransitive) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act III, Scene 3,^[2]

     […] if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us
     With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
     I’ll undertake to land them on our coast
     And force the tyrant from his seat by war.

3. (informal) To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.

   Antonym: overtake

4. (archaic, intransitive) To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
   • c. 1390s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 289-291,^[3]

     As leene was his hors as is a rake,
     And he nas nat right fat, I undertake,
     But looked holwe and therto sobrely.

   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 3,^[4]

     That is her ransom; I deliver her;
     And those two counties I will undertake
     Your grace shall well and quietly enjoy.

   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, London: Richard Wilkin, Part 4, pp. 222-223,^[5]

     […] if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals, or the Shells, Teeth, or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth, do but search the Hills after Rains, and the Sea-Shores after Storms, I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour.

5. (obsolete, transitive) To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
6. (obsolete) To assume, as a character; to take on.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene 2,^[6]

     Quince. […] you must needs play Pyramus.
     Bottom. Well, I will undertake it.

7. (obsolete) To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.
   • c. 1609, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act II, Scene 1,^[7]

     It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.

8. (obsolete) To have knowledge of; to hear.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book 5, Canto 3, Stanza 34, London: George Allen, 1896, p. 1098,^[8]

     Ne he his mouth would open unto wight,
     Untill that Guyon selfe unto him spake,
     And called Brigadore, (so was he hight,)
     Whose voice so soone as he did undertake,
     Eftsoones he stood as still as any stake,

9. (obsolete) To have or take charge of.
   • c. 1390s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Physician’s Tale, lines 81-82, The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Bell & Daldy, 1866, Volume 3, p. 78,^[9]

     […] therfore, for Cristes sake,
     Kepeth wel tho that ye undertake.

   • c. 1612, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act II, Scene 1,^[10]

     To the water side I must conduct your grace;
     Then give my charge up to Sir Nicholas Vaux,
     Who undertakes you to your end.

Usage notes

• Sense: To commit oneself. This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive.
• See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

• undertaker
• undertaking

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• emprize

Etymology

From Old French emprise, emprinse, from Late Latin *imprensa, from Latin in- + prehendere (“to take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?p?a?z/

Noun

emprise (plural emprises)

1. (archaic) An enterprise or endeavor, especially a quest or adventure.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ix:

     noble minds of yore allyed were, / In braue poursuit of cheualrous emprize, / That none did others safety despize […]

   • 1833, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Coplas de Manrique

     the deeds of love and high emprise

   • 1900, William Archer, America To-Day, Observations & Reflections, page 181:

     Nothing short of an imperative sense of duty could tempt me to set forth on that most perilous emprise, a discussion of the American language.

2. (archaic) The qualities which prompt one to undertake difficult and dangerous exploits; chivalric prowess.

Verb

emprise (third-person singular simple present emprises, present participle emprising, simple past and past participle emprised)

1. (obsolete) To undertake.

Anagrams

• empires, epimers, imprese, permies, premies, premise, spireme

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.p?iz/

Noun

emprise f (plural emprises)

1. expropriation
2. domination, control, influence

Further reading

• “emprise” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Noun

emprise f (oblique plural emprises, nominative singular emprise, nominative plural emprises)

1. enterprise; undertaking; activity

Derived terms

• emprisier

Descendants

• ? English: emprise
• French: emprise

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (emprise)