On a TV program, an immigration officer said to an immigrant as follows: C1: Take four of your fingers and put ’em on the pad.
The pad was an electronic device which had a glass plate on its top and was about seven inches deep, five inches wide, and five inches tall. The immigration officer wanted the immigrant to put four of his fingers on the glass plate. I thought the device would get fingerprints by using light.
What motion or action does “take” of C1 mean?
In this usage, "put" is the action. Take doesn't refer to an action. It means "use".
More generally, this is using "take" to specify an object. Another form of this is when "take" means to consider as in "English is complicated. Take verbs for instance." This alternate meaning of "take" is the key to the famous line from a joke by Henny Youngman "Take my wife. Please."
When a recipe uses "take", it's not used just to specify an object. There is an action involved, getting the ingredient from where it is.
This usage is connected to the number of fingers, and is defined as #6 under take on Dictionary.com
to pick from a number; select: Take whichever you wish.
A better understanding of "take" here is "prepare" or "get under one's control". That would be definition 3 here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/take
I believe it is the core meaning with a structuring/control idea(prepare indeed) as opposed to a figurative use of the third meaning referenced to by Dictionary.com and discussed in another answer(Century):
I. trans. 1. To lay hold of with the hand, fingers, arms, mouth or other means of holding; grasp; seize.
Oure lorde, had hym take the vessell whiche that he hadde, and set it vpon the table.
It is such a treat to peruse the pages of meanings here. For instance to take up, which is related to the third meaning alluded to previously:
a) To pick up; lift; raise.[...]
i) To catch together and fasten: as in, to take up an artery; to take up dropped stitches. [...]
Personally, I don't see why choosing/selecting couldn't contribute conceptually. It is the 8th meaning in Century. Or to ascertain by computation or measurement, 26th; 31th, rare, to give, deliver; 34th, to conduct, escort, lead or carry. Take your pick!
MY ANSWER MAYBE FOR THE WORD TAKE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN TAKE OR YOU CAN DO EXAMPLE:I TAKE THE BUS FOR SCHOOL OR I TOOK YOUR MONEY WHEN I SAW IT
