Considered taking a certain duke after me (8)
I believe the answer is:
measured
'considered' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a certain duke after me' is the wordplay.
'certain' becomes 'sure' (synonyms).
'duke' becomes 'd' (abbreviation).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'a'+'sure'+'d'='asured'
'asured' after 'me' is 'MEASURED'.
'taking' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for measured that I've seen before include "Deliberate, restrained" , "Sized; carefully chosen" , "Gauged - regulated - steady" , "Regular in movement or carefully considered" , "Carefully considered - armed use (anag)" .)