take a/(one's) cue from (someone or something)

(redirected from take cue from it)

take a/(one's) cue from (someone or something)

To model one's actions based on the example or influence of someone or something else. The director definitely took a cue from his favorite film when framing that scene. Take a cue from your kids and learn how to enjoy the little things.

See also: cue, take

take one's cue from someone

to use someone else's behavior or reactions as a guide to one's own. (From the theatrical cue as a signal to speak, etc.) If you don't know which spoons to use at the dinner, just take your cue from John. The other children took their cue from Tommy and ignored the new boy.

See also: cue, take

take one's cue from

Follow the lead of another, as in I'm not sure what to bring, so I'll take my cue from you. This expression, first recorded in 1622, alludes to the cue giving an actor a signal to speak.

See also: cue, take

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

take your cue from someone

COMMON If you take your cue from someone, you behave in the same way as them. Taking his cue from his companion, he apologized for his earlier display of temper. Everybody working for you will take their cue from you.

take your cue from

follow the example or advice of.

Cue in both of these idioms is used in the theatrical sense of ‘the word or words that signal when another actor should speak or perform a particular action’.

See also: cue, take

take your ˈcue from somebody

be influenced in your actions by what somebody else has done: In designing the car, we took our cue from other designers who aimed to combine low cost with low petrol consumption.