take a leaf out of someone's book, to

(redirected from to take a leaf out of someone's book)

take a leaf out of someone's book

and take a page from someone's book

Fig. to behave or to do something in a way that someone else would. When you act like that, you're taking a leaf out of your sister's book, and I don't like it! You had better do it your way. Don't take a leaf out of my book. I don't do it well.

See also: book, leaf, of, out, take

take a leaf out of someone's book

Imitate or follow someone's example, as in Harriet took a leaf out of her mother's book and began to keep track of how much money she was spending on food . This idiom alludes to tearing a page from a book. [c. 1800]

See also: book, leaf, of, out, 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 a leaf out of someone's book

take a leaf from someone's book

COMMON If you take a leaf out of someone's book or take a leaf from their book, you copy them, usually because they were successful when they acted in that way. Note: The `leaf' in the last two expressions is a page of a book. Hollywood celebs should take a leaf out of Michael Douglas's book and make sure their websites are interesting and attractive. You're working too hard. Take a leaf from my book and relax!

See also: book, leaf, of, out, take

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

take a leaf out of someone's book

closely imitate or emulate someone in a particular way.

1999 London Student Maybe the other colleges should take a leaf out of Imperial's book and try pub games instead of sports.

See also: book, leaf, of, out, take

take a leaf out of someone's book, to

To imitate someone; to follow someone’s example. Literally, this expression alludes to either vandalism (tearing a page from a book) or plagiarism (copying someone else’s work). The figurative use of the term, which dates from about 1800, is much less nefarious. B. H. Malkin used it in his translation of Gil Blas (1809), “I took a leaf out of their book,” meaning simply, “I imitated them,” or “I followed their example.”