Click below to listen to the phrase.
Choose the correct definition a, b or c.
b) to stand up and address the audience
Well done ! That’s the right answer.
To take the floor means to stand up in front of everyone and make a speech or other notice.
It can also mean to enter the dance floor.
French translation
prendre la parole
How NOT to translate : *prendre le sol
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Examples in context
‘A world of friends
The glittering, hooded eyes captured guests even before they sat down. His apartment high above the Thames was full of paintings of famous men—he had a penchant for popes—but they struggled to compete with George. (He was rarely, after first acquaintance, “Lord Weidenfeld”.) Somewhere in the room would be the guest of honour : Angela Merkel, perhaps, whom he had befriended when she was still a middling Christian Democrat politician, or an Israeli general.
He would invite them to take the floor, with an elegant introduction and a couple of probing questions to stimulate discussion. But it was the rotund, courtly son of an Austrian classics teacher who was the dazzler-in-chief, inexhaustibly unearthing facts, analogies, literary allusions and personal connections from his elephantine memory.’
The Economist, 30 January 2016
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‘552 hours of surprises : artist brings open-mic mayhem to Bristol
Entrance is free, but the capacity is small. The schedule is secret, leaving the programming open to wilful collisions, jarring juxtapositions, a flow of interruptions. “Open wide and you will be ready to receive,” implores singer Celestine, the second act to take the floor. I opened wide, but nothing came my way.
In the audience, Gates was doing some nifty, complex flamenco clapping. A saxophone tootled, then the pipes and drums came back again. For a while the kilted ensemble outnumbered the audience, beating them back with porridge anthems and Amazing Grace. The place was constantly filling and emptying, as audience time-slots commenced and expired, shearing along the fault-lines of delayed starts, technical glitches and no-shows.’
The Guardian, 30 October 2015
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Everyday usage
We have the networking event on Saturday. As our newest employee you will have the opportunity to take the floor and explain our product.
We had such a lovely evening ; we had a few drinks and took the floor.
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