undertaking

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.To take upon one's self; to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform; to set about; to attempt. [1913 Webster]

To second, or oppose, or undertake The perilous attempt.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

2.Specifically, to take upon one's self solemnly or expressly; to lay one's self under obligation, or to enter into stipulations, to perform or to execute; to covenant; to contract. [1913 Webster]

I 'll undertake to land them on our coast.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

3.Hence, to guarantee; to promise; to affirm. [1913 Webster]

And he was not right fat, I undertake.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

And those two counties I will undertake Your grace shall well and quietly enjoiy.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

I dare undertake they will not lose their labor.— Woodward.[1913 Webster]

4.To assume, as a character. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5.To engage with; to attack. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offense to.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

6.To have knowledge of; to hear. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

7.To take or have the charge of. [Obs.] "Who undertakes you to your end." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Keep well those that ye undertake.— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]

1.The act of one who undertakes, or engages in, any project or business. --Hakluyt. [1913 Webster]

2.That which is undertaken; any business, work, or project which a person engages in, or attempts to perform; an enterprise. [1913 Webster]

3.Specifically, the business of an undertaker, or the management of funerals. [1913 Webster]

4.A promise or pledge; a guarantee. --A. Trollope. [1913 Webster]