undertake

verb

1. (transitive)To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).

   “This said, he sat; and expectation held His look suspense, awaiting who appeared To second, or oppose, or undertake The perilous attempt.”

2. (intransitive)To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).

   “He undertook to exercise more in future.”

   “[…] if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us With some few bands of chosen soldiers, I’ll undertake to land them on our coast And force the tyrant from his seat by war.”

3. (British, informal)To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.
4. (archaic, intransitive)To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.

   “That is her ransom; I deliver her; And those two counties I will undertake Your grace shall well and quietly enjoy.”

   “[…] if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals, or the Shells, Teeth, or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth, do but search the Hills after Rains, and the Sea-Shores after Storms, I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour.”

5. (obsolete, transitive)To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
6. (obsolete)To assume, as a character; to take on.

   “Quince. […] you must needs play Pyramus. Bottom. Well, I will undertake it.”

7. (obsolete)To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.

   “It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.”

8. (obsolete)To have knowledge of; to hear.

   “Ne he his mouth would open unto wight, Untill that Guyon selfe unto him spake, And called Brigadore, (so was he hight,) Whose voice so soone as he did undertake, Eftsoones he stood as still as any stake,”

9. (obsolete)To have or take charge of.

   “To the water side I must conduct your grace; Then give my charge up to Sir Nicholas Vaux, Who undertakes you to your end.”

noun

1. (British, informal)The passing of slower traffic on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.