take soil

English

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

(archaic, idiomatic) To run into the mire or water; hence, to take refuge or shelter.
- 1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Beniamin Iohnson [i.e., Ben Jonson], Bartholmew Fayre: A Comedie, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
  O, sir, have you taken soil here? It is well a man may reach you after three hours' running.
- 1891, Robert Weir, James Moray Brown, Riding, page 192:
  […] finding that he could not shake off the hounds, turned to the left towards the Saltwater River, and rushing down a precipitous and stony approach to the river, he instantly took soil in very deep water, with the pack clustering round him.