take care of business

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take care of business (third-person singular simple present takes care of business, present participle taking care of business, simple past took care of business, past participle taken care of business)

1. (idiomatic) To successfully perform a task or set of tasks which are very important for the accomplishment of a major objective.
   • 1998 June 16, Paul McCann, “The warring after the knight before”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 29 October 2020:

     Wars of succession are rarely pretty. The heirs apparent of Moghul emperors in 17th century India used to take care of business simply by murdering all their relatives the minute the ruling emperor started to look ill.

   • 2001 June 24, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, “Cover Stories: Making Babies”, in Time, retrieved 29 October 2020:

     Rather than attempting fertilization in a Petri dish, he simply loaded the sperm and eggs (known to biologists as gametes) into a fine pipette and inserted them into the Fallopian tube, where he hoped they would take care of business by themselves.

   • 2007 May 10, Liz Robbins, “As Top Seeds Dominate in East, Fans Head West”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 October 2020:

     James is eager to reach his first conference final. “"We don’t just want to win one," he said. "We’re going to try and win Game 3 and take care of business after that."

2. (idiomatic, euphemistic) To urinate or defecate.

   Synonym: do one's business

   • 2016 September 20, Wallis Snowdon, “Edmonton: A luxurious loo: Whitecourt washrooms named national finalist”, in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada, retrieved 29 October 2020:

     The facilities at the Esso Super Station, located on the outskirts of the town 180 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, have been named among the best places to take care of business in Canada.

• stick to business
• stick to one's knitting