take inventory

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

1. (intransitive, often with of) to compile an inventory; to take stock; to inventory; to inventorize.
   • 1644, John Knox, David Buchanan, The Historie of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland‎, London: George Thomason and Octavian Pullen, Book 5, p:

     […] she sent the next day a Charge to the Provest and Bayliffs, and to her owne great Treasurer, to passe to the houses of the said foure men, and likewise to their Booths or Shops, and there to take Inventory of all their Goods and Chattells […]

   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 17, in Red Harvest‎:

     She swapped the rose beige dress for an apron, and took inventory of the ice box.

2. (intransitive, often with of) to assess a situation