Question

He hurt his back very badly one day and had to give up football. Then he took up swimming to help his back recover.
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What does 'took up' mean here? Would you give me other expressions similar to 'took up'?

Answer 1

In that sentence, "took up" means "began" or "started."

Here are two lists -- phrasal verbs and idioms -- that will help you with various expressions:

http://www.eslcafe.com/pv/ ("take up" is in the T section here)

http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-list.html