to take a bath
119
1.0
- phrasal verb
- /teɪk ə bæθ/
- After a long day, I decided to take a bath to relax and unwind.
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeThe beds made, took a bath, wanted to clean up the bathroom a little bit.
- The beds made, took a bath, wanted to clean up the bathroom a little bit.
- I think I'm going to take a bath, wash my hair, drink my matcha.
- Like, I like the hot tub, but taking a bath can give me that same hook up.
- So I love like the spa element of the whole taking a bath, but I want these everywhere.
- Crushing bath bombs, but not actually taking a bath with them.
- And on those self-care days when I take a bath during the day or in the morning, it is just amazing.
Examples
-
"Well, Luke was asleep, so I thought I might as well take a bath and wash my hair."
Fiction book (1990) -
"How can she tell me not to take a bath?" Lily wanted to cry.
Fiction book (1993) -
I want to take a bath
-
Go upstairs, take a bath.
-
I'm gonna go take a bath.
-
I'm gonna take a bath.
-
I'm taking a bath, Leo.
-
Take a bath and come to the table!
-
And on those self-care days when I take a bath during the day or in the morning, it is just amazing.
-
"I was thinking I might take a bath," she said, grinning away.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
299
1.0
To wash your body under a spray of water
88
1.0
To wash your whole body in water to get clean
57
1.0
Put something into water for a while to soften or clean it
44
2.1
To get into warm water to clean yourself or relax
9
2.8
To go into the water for a short time to swim or cool off
3
2.3
To relax for a while in warm water in a bathtub
1
9.9
To wash someone or something gently with water
How Relaxing
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to immerse oneself in water to wash or relax' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'take' (perform/undergo) with the noun 'bath' (an act of washing), with the article 'a' being semantically negligible. This verb + object composition is cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish 'tomar un baño', French 'prendre un bain') and follows a standard English pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Take a bath comes from the simple image of getting into a tub of water to clean and calm yourself. To take the bath is to get into the water, so the phrase means 'to wash or relax'.