take a leaf out of someone's book

English

Alternative forms

• take a page out of someone's book
• rip a page out of someone's book
• take a page out of someone's playbook (rare)
• rip a page out of someone's playbook (rare)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

take a leaf out of someone's book (third-person singular simple present takes a leaf out of someone's book, present participle taking a leaf out of someone's book, simple past took a leaf out of someone's book, past participle taken a leaf out of someone's book)

1. (idiomatic) To adopt an idea or practice of another person.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xvi:

     That period of infatuation was not unrelieved by a certain amount of self-introspection on my part. I kept account of every farthing I spent, and my expenses were carefully calculated. Every little item such as omnibus fares or postage or a couple of coppers spent on newspapers, would be entered, and the balance struck every evening before going to bed. That habit has stayed with me ever since, and I know that as a result, though I have had to handle public funds amounting to lakhs, I have succeeded in exercising strict economy in their disbursement, and instead of outstanding debts have had invariably a surplus balance in respect of all the movements I have led. Let every youth take a leaf out of my book and make it a point to account for everything that comes into and goes out of his pocket, and like me he is sure to be a gainer in the end.

Translations

adopt an idea

• Finnish: ottaa mallia, ottaa esimerkkiä
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}