take hold

take hold (third-person singular simple present takes hold, present participle taking hold, simple past took hold, past participle taken hold)

1. (followed by of) To grasp, seize.

   The astonishing sight of the Cristo do Corcovado took hold of our attention.

2. (intransitive) To take root, become established.
   • January 7 2023, Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, “McCarthy elected House speaker in rowdy post-midnight vote”, in AP News‎^[1]:

     Contours of a deal with conservative holdouts who had been blocking McCarthy’s rise had emerged the night before, and took hold after four dismal days and 14 failed votes in an intraparty standoff unseen in modern times.

   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     Then the highly virulent mental germs skillfully inoculated took a hold in the subconscious mind of European humanity; the disease developed rapidly, spread like wild fire, and raged unabated throughout the width and length of the central empires.

• lay hold