take hold

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

1. to grasp, seize
2. to take root, become established
   • 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