Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Got

Got

,
imp.
&
p.
p.
of
Get
. See
Get
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Got

GOT

, pret of get. The old preterit gat, pronounced got, is nearly obsolete.

Definition 2024


Got

Got

See also: got, GoT, gôt, göt, Göt, got., and -got-

Middle French

Noun

Got m (plural Gots)

  1. Goth (member of an ancient Germanic tribe)

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡôt/

Proper noun

Gȍt m (Cyrillic spelling Го̏т)

  1. Goth

Declension

got

got

See also: Got, GoT, gôt, göt, Göt, got., and -got-

English

Verb

got

  1. simple past tense of get
    We got the last bus home.
  2. (Britain, New Zealand) past participle of get
    By that time we'd got very cold.
    I've got two children.
    How many children have you got?
  3. Expressing obligation.
    I can't go out tonight, I've got to study for my exams.
  4. (Southern US, with to) must; have (to).
    I got to go study.
    • 1971, Carol King and Gerry Goffin, “Smackwater Jack”, Tapestry, Ode Records
      We got to ride to clean up the streets / For our wives and our daughters!
  5. (Southern US, Britain, slang) have
    They got a new car.
    He got a lot of nerve.

Usage notes

  • (past participle of get): The second sentence literally means "At some time in the past I got (obtained) two children", but in "have got" constructions like this, where "got" is used in the sense of "obtained", the sense of obtaining is lost, becoming merely one of possessing, and the sentence is in effect just a more colloquial way of saying "I have two children". Similarly, the third sentence is just a more colloquial way of saying "How many children do you have?"
  • (past participle of get): The American and archaic British usage of the verb conjugates as get-got-gotten or as get-got-got depending on the meaning (see Usage Notes on "get" for details), whereas the modern British usage of the verb has mostly lost this distinction and conjugates as get-got-got in most cases.
  • (expressing obligation): "Got" is a filler word here with no obvious grammatical or semantic function. "I have to study for my exams" has the same meaning. It is often stressed in speech: "You've just got to see this."

Synonyms

  • (must, have (to)): gotta (informal)

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: de · whole · find · #191: got · let · world · thing

Anagrams


Catalan

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɔt/

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *gottus, from Latin guttus.

Noun

got m (plural gots)

  1. glass (drinking glass)
Synonyms

Etymology 2

From Latin Gothus.

Noun

got m (plural gots, feminine goda)

  1. Goth
Derived terms

German Low German

Adjective

got

  1. Alternative spelling of goot

See also


Lojban

Rafsi

got

  1. rafsi of gotro.

Middle Low German

Pronunciation 1

  • Stem vowel: ô¹
    • (originally) IPA(key): /ɣoːt/

Etymology

From Old Saxon gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz.

Adjective

gôt (comparative bēter, superlative best)

  1. good

Declension

Descendants
  • Low German: god

Pronunciation 2

  • IPA(key): /ɣɔd/, [ɣɔt]

Etymology

From Old Saxon god, from Proto-Germanic *gudą.

Noun

got m (genitive godes or gades, plural gode or gade)

  1. god

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gudą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰuto-. Compare Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old English god, Old High German got, Old Norse guð.

Noun

got m

  1. god

Declension

Descendants


Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gudą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰuto-. Compare Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old English god, Old Dutch got, Old Norse guð, Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌸 (guþ).

Noun

got m

  1. god

Descendants