The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Take-up \Take"-up`\ (t[=a]k"[u^]p`), n. (Mach.)
   That which takes up or tightens; specifically, a device in a
   sewing machine for drawing up the slack thread as the needle
   rises, in completing a stitch.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

take-up
    n 1: any of various devices for reducing slack (as in a sewing
         machine) or taking up motion (as in a loom); "a take-up
         that winds photographic film on a spool"
    2: the action of taking up as by tightening or absorption or
       reeling in