take someone at his or her word

Also, take someone's word for. Accept what someone says on trust, as in Since he said he'd agree to any of my ideas, I'll take him at his word, or She said she wanted to help out and I took her word for it. This idiom appeared in Miles Coverdale's translation of the Bible: "He said ... he is my brother. And the men took him shortly at his word" (I Kings 22:33). It is still so used. [1535]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
SÍThmaith	-	Irish
Ernust	-	Ancient Germanic
Sabina	sah-BEE-nah (Italian, Spanish, Polish)	Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovene, Russian, Croatian, Ancient Roman
Martina	mahr-TEE-nah (Italian, Spanish, Dutch), mahr-TEEN-ə (English)	German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovene, English, Swedish, Dutch, Ancien
Venka	VEN-kah	Esperanto
Antonietta	-	Italian