The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Uptake \Up*take"\, v. t.
   To take into the hand; to take up; to help. [Obs.] --Wyclif.
   Spenser.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Uptake \Up"take`\, n. (Steam Boilers)
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The pipe leading upward from the smoke box of a steam
      boiler to the chimney, or smokestack; a flue leading
      upward.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Understanding; apprehension. [Scot.] --Sir W. Scott.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

uptake
    n 1: the process of taking food into the body through the mouth
         (as by eating) [syn: consumption, ingestion, intake,
         uptake]
    2: a process of taking up or using up or consuming; "they
       developed paper napkins with a greater uptake of liquids"