Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Get

Get

(jĕt)
,
Noun.
Jet, the mineral.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Get

(gĕt)
,
Noun.
[OF.
get
.]
1.
Fashion; manner; custom.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
2.
Artifice; contrivance.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Get

(gĕt)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Got
(gŏt)
(
Obs
.
Gat
(găt)
);
p. p.
Got
(
Obsolescent
Gotten
(gŏt′t’n)
);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Getting
.]
[OE.
geten
, AS.
gitan
,
gietan
(in comp.); akin to Icel.
geta
, Goth. bi
gitan
to find, L. pre
hendere
to seize, take, Gr.
χανδάνειν
to hold, contain. Cf.
Comprehend
,
Enterprise
,
Forget
,
Impregnable
,
Prehensile
.]
1.
To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of; to acquire; to earn; to obtain as a price or reward; to come by; to win, by almost any means;
as, to
get
favor by kindness; to
get
wealth by industry and economy; to
get
land by purchase, etc.
2.
Hence, with have and had, to come into or be in possession of; to have.
Johnson.
Thou hast
got
the face of man.
Herbert.
3.
To beget; to procreate; to generate.
I had rather to adopt a child than
get
it.
Shakespeare
4.
To obtain mental possession of; to learn; to commit to memory; to memorize;
as to
get
a lesson
; also with out;
as, to
get
out one’s Greek lesson
.
It being harder with him to
get
one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty.
Bp. Fell.
5.
To prevail on; to induce; to persuade.
Get
him to say his prayers.
Shakespeare
6.
To procure to be, or to cause to be in any state or condition; – with a following participle.
Those things I bid you do;
get
them dispatched.
Shakespeare
7.
To betake; to remove; – in a reflexive use.
Get
thee out from this land.
Gen. xxxi. 13.
He . . .
got
himself . . . to the strong town of Mega.
Knolles.
☞ Get, as a transitive verb, is combined with adverbs implying motion, to express the causing to, or the effecting in, the object of the verb, of the kind of motion indicated by the preposition; thus, to get in, to cause to enter, to bring under shelter; as, to get in the hay; to get out, to make come forth, to extract; to get off, to take off, to remove; to get together, to cause to come together, to collect.
Syn. – To obtain; gain; win; acquire. See
Obtain
.

Get

(gĕt)
,
Verb.
I.
1.
To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to receive accessions; to be increased.
We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily
get
.
Shakespeare
2.
To arrive at, or bring one's self into, a state, condition, or position; to come to be; to become; – with a following adjective or past participle belonging to the subject of the verb;
as, to
get
sober; to
get
awake; to
get
beaten; to
get
elected.
To
get
rid of fools and scoundrels.
Pope.
His chariot wheels
get
hot by driving fast.
Coleridge.
☞ It [get] gives to the English language a middle voice, or a power of verbal expression which is neither active nor passive. Thus we say to get acquitted, beaten, confused, dressed.
Earle.
☞ Get, as an intransitive verb, is used with a following preposition, or adverb of motion, to indicate, on the part of the subject of the act, movement or action of the kind signified by the preposition or adverb; or, in the general sense, to move, to stir, to make one's way, to advance, to arrive, etc.; as, to get away, to leave, to escape; to disengage one's self from; to get down, to descend, esp. with effort, as from a literal or figurative elevation; to get along, to make progress; hence, to prosper, succeed, or fare; to get in, to enter; to get out, to extricate one's self, to escape; to get through, to traverse; also, to finish, to be done; to get to, to arrive at, to reach; to get off, to alight, to descend from, to dismount; also, to escape, to come off clear; to get together, to assemble, to convene.
To get ahead
,
to advance; to prosper.
–
To get along
,
to proceed; to advance; to prosper.
–
To get a mile
(or other distance), to pass over it in traveling.
–
To get among
,
to go or come into the company of; to become one of a number.
–
To get asleep
,
to fall asleep.
–
To get astray
,
to wander out of the right way.
–
To get at
,
to reach; to make way to.
To get away with
,
to carry off; to capture; hence, to get the better of; to defeat.
–
To get back
,
to arrive at the place from which one departed; to return.
–
To get before
,
to arrive in front, or more forward.
–
To get behind
,
to fall in the rear; to lag.
–
To get between
,
to arrive between.
–
To get beyond
,
to pass or go further than; to exceed; to surpass.
“Three score and ten is the age of man, a few get beyond it.”
Thackeray.
–
To get clear
,
to disengage one's self; to be released, as from confinement, obligation, or burden; also, to be freed from danger or embarrassment.
–
To get drunk
,
to become intoxicated.
–
To get forward
,
to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper; to advance in wealth.
–
To get home
,
to arrive at one's dwelling, goal, or aim.
–
To get into
.
(a)
To enter,
as, “she prepared to get into the coach.”
Dickens.
(b)
To pass into, or reach;
as, “ a language has
got into
the inflated state.”
Keary.
–
To get loose
or
To get free
,
to disengage one's self; to be released from confinement.
–
To get near
,
to approach within a small distance.
–
To get on
,
to proceed; to advance; to prosper.
–
To get over
.
(a)
To pass over, surmount, or overcome, as an obstacle or difficulty.
(b)
To recover from, as an injury, a calamity.
–
To get through
.
(a)
To pass through something.
(b)
To finish what one was doing.
–
To get up
.
(a)
To rise; to arise, as from a bed, chair, etc.
(b)
To ascend; to climb, as a hill, a tree, a flight of stairs, etc.

Get

,
Noun.
Offspring; progeny;
as, the
get
of a stallion
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Get

GET

,
Verb.
T.
pret. got. [gat, obs.] pp. got, gotten.
1.
To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of, by almost any means. We get favor by kindness; we get wealth by industry and economy; we get land by purchase; we get praise by good conduct; and we get blame by doing injustice. The merchant should get a profit on his goods; the laborer should get a due reward for his labor; most men get what they can for their goods or for their services. Get differs from acquire, as it does not always express permanence of possession, which is the appropriate sense of acquire. We get a book or a loaf of bread by borrowing, we do not acquire it; but we get or acquire an estate.
2.
To have.
Thou hast got the face of a man.
This is a most common, but gross abuse of this word. We constantly hear it said, I have got no corn, I have got no money, she has got a fair complexion, when the person means only, I have no corn, I have no money, she has a fair complexion.
3.
To beget; to procreate; to generate.
4.
To learn; as, to get a lesson.
5.
To prevail on; to induce; to persuade.
Though the king could not get him to engage in a life of business. [This is not elegant.]
6.
To procure to be. We could not get the work done. [Not elegant.]
To get off, to put off; to take or pull off; as, to get off a garment: also,to remove; as, to get off a ship from shoals.
To sell; to dispose of; as, to get off goods.
To get on, to put on; to draw or pull on; as, to get on a coat; to get on boots.
To get in, to collect and shelter; to bring under cover; as, to get in corn.
To get out, to draw forth; as, to get out a secret.
To draw out; to disengage.
To get the day, to win; to conquer; to gain the victory.
To get together, to collect; to amass.
To get over, to surmount; to conquer; to pass without being obstructed; as, to get over difficulties: also, to recover; as, to get over sickness.
To get above, to surmount; to surpass.
To get up, to prepare and introduce upon the stage; to bring forward.
With a pronoun following, it signifies to betake; to remove; to go; as, get you to bed; get thee out of the land. But this mode of expression can hardly be deemed elegant.

GET

,
Verb.
I.
To arrive at any place or state; followed by some modifying word,and sometimes implying difficulty or labor; as,
To get away or away from, to depart; to quit; to leave; or to disengage one's self from.
To get among, to arrive in the midst of; to become one of a number.
To get before, to arrive in front, or more forward.
To get behind, to fall in the rear; to lag.
To get back, to arrive at the place from which one departed; to return.
To get clear, to disengage one's self; to be released, as from confinement, obligation or burden; also, to be freed from danger or embarrassment.
To get down, to descend; to come from an elevation.
To get home, to arrive at one's dwelling.
To get in or into, to arrive within an inclosure, or a mixed body; to pass in; to insinuate one's self.
To get loose or free, to disengage one's self; to be released from confinement.
To get off, to escape; to depart; to get clear; also, to alight; to descend from.
To get out, to depart from an inclosed place or from confinement; to escape; to free one's self from embarrassment.
To get along, to proceed; to advance.
To get rid of, to disengage one's self from; also, to shift off; to remove.
To get together, to meet; to assemble; to convene.
To get up, to arise; to rise from a bed or a seat; also, to ascend; to climb.
To get through, to pass through and reach a point beyond any thing; also, to finish; to accomplish.
To get quit of, to get rid of; to shift off, or to disengage one's self from.
To get forward, to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper; to advance in wealth.
To get near, to approach within a small distance.
To get ahead, to advance; to prosper.
To get on, to proceed; to advance.
To get a mile or other distance, to pass over it in traveling.
To get at, to reach; to make way to.
To get asleep, to fall asleep.
To get drunk, to become intoxicated.
To get between, to arrive between.
To get to, to reach; to arrive.

Definition 2024

get

get

See also: get., -get, and ge- -t

English

Verb

get ‎(third-person singular simple present gets, present participle getting, simple past got, past participle (chiefly British) got or (North America, less common in UK) gotten)

  1. (transitive) To obtain; to acquire.
    I'm going to get a computer tomorrow from the discount store.‎
  2. (transitive) To receive.
    I got a computer from my parents for my birthday.‎
    You need to get permission to leave early.‎
    He got a severe reprimand for that.‎
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.
  3. (transitive, in a perfect construction, with present-tense meaning) To have. See usage notes.
    I've got a concert ticket for you.‎
  4. (copulative) To become.
    I'm getting hungry; how about you?‎
    Don't get drunk tonight.‎
    • Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
      His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.
  5. (transitive) To cause to become; to bring about.
    That song gets me so depressed every time I hear it.‎
    I'll get this finished by lunchtime.‎
    I can't get these boots off (or on).‎
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
  6. (transitive) To fetch, bring, take.
    Can you get my bag from the living-room, please?‎
    I need to get this to the office.‎
    • Bible, Genesis xxxi. 13
      Get thee out from this land.
    • Richard Knolles (1545-1610)
      He […] got himself […] to the strong town of Mega.
  7. (transitive) To cause to do.
    Somehow she got him to agree to it.‎
    I can't get it to work.‎
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      Get him to say his prayers.
    • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings:
      Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”
  8. (intransitive, with various prepositions, such as into, over, or behind; for specific idiomatic senses see individual entries get into, get over, etc.) To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).
    The actors are getting into position.‎
    When are we going to get to London?‎
    I'm getting into a muddle.‎
    We got behind the wall.‎
  9. (transitive) To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.
    to get a mile
  10. (transitive) To cause to come or go or move.
  11. (transitive) To cause to be in a certain status or position.
  12. (intransitive) To begin (doing something).
    We ought to get moving or we'll be late.‎
    After lunch we got chatting.‎
  13. (transitive) To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).
    I normally get the 7:45 train.‎
    I'll get the 9 a.m. [flight] to Boston.‎
  14. (transitive) To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).
    Can you get that call, please? I'm busy.‎
  15. (intransitive, followed by infinitive) To be able, permitted (to do something); to have the opportunity (to do something).
    I'm so jealous that you got to see them perform live!‎
    The finders get to keep 80 percent of the treasure.‎
  16. (transitive, informal) To understand. (compare get it)
    Yeah, I get it, it's just not funny.‎
    I don't get what you mean by "fun". This place sucks!‎
    I mentioned that I was feeling sad, so she mailed me a box of chocolates. She gets me.‎
  17. (transitive, informal) To be subjected to.
    "You look just like Helen Mirren." / "I get that a lot."‎
    • 2011, They Might Be Giants (music), “You Probably Get That A Lot (Elegant Too Remix)”, in Album Raises New And Troubling Questions:
      Do you mind? Excuse me / I saw you over there / Can I just tell you ¶ Although there are millions of / Cephalophores that wander through this world / You've got something extra going on / I think you probably know ¶ You probably get that a lot / I'll bet that people say that a lot to you, girl.
  18. (informal) To be. Used to form the passive of verbs.
    He got bitten by a dog.‎
    • 2003, Richard A. Posner, Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy, page 95:
      Of particular importance is the bureaucratic organization of European judiciaries. The judiciary is a career. You start at the bottom and get assigned and promoted at the pleasure of your superiors.
  19. (transitive) To become ill with or catch (a disease).
    I went on holiday and got malaria.‎
  20. (transitive, informal) To catch out, trick successfully.
    He keeps calling pretending to be my boss—it gets me every time.‎
  21. (transitive, informal) To perplex, stump.
    That question's really got me.‎
  22. (transitive) To find as an answer.
    What did you get for question four?‎
  23. (transitive, informal) To bring to reckoning; to catch (as a criminal); to effect retribution.
    The cops finally got me.‎
    I'm gonna get him for that.‎
  24. (transitive) To hear completely; catch.
    Sorry, I didn't get that. Could you repeat it?‎
  25. (transitive) To getter.
    I put the getter into the container to get the gases.‎
  26. (now rare) To beget (of a father).
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
    • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, page 310:
      Walter had said, dear God, Thomas, it was St **** Felicity if I'm not mistaken, and her face was to the wall for sure the night I got you.
  27. (archaic) To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out.
    to get a lesson;  to get out one's Greek lesson‎
    • John Fell (1625-1686)
      it being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty
  28. (imperative, informal) Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.
    Get her with her new hairdo.‎
    • 2007, Tom Dyckhoff, Let's move to ..., The Guardian:
      Money's pouring in somewhere, because Churchgate's got lovely new stone setts, and a cultural quarter (ooh, get her) is promised.
  29. (imperative, informal) Go away; get lost.
    • 1991, Theodore Dreiser, T. D. Nostwich, Newspaper Days, University of Pennsylvania Press (ISBN 9780812230956), page 663
      Get, now — get! — before I call an officer and lay a charge against ye.&
    • 2010, Sarah Webb, The Loving Kind, Pan Macmillan (ISBN 9780230749672)
      'Go on, get. You look a state. We can't let Leo see you like that.'
    • 2012, Paul Zindel, Ladies at the Alamo, Graymalkin Media (ISBN 9781935169741)
      Now go on, get! Get! Get! (she chases Joanne out the door with the hammer.)
  30. (euphemistic) To kill.
    They’re coming to get you, Barbara.
  31. (intransitive, obsolete) To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.
Usage notes
  • The meaning "to have" is found only in perfect tenses but has present meaning; hence "I have got" has the same meaning as "I have". (Similarly, "I had got" = "I had", "I will have got" = "I will have", etc.) Informally, the word "have" is normally reduced to "'ve" or dropped entirely (e.g. informally "I got it" = "I have it"), leading to nonstandard usages such as "he gots" = "he has", "he doesn't got" = "he doesn't have".
  • Some dialects (e.g. American English) use both gotten and got as past participles, while others (e.g. British English) use only got. In dialects using two past participles, got is used with the meaning "to have" and gotten with all other meanings.[1] This allows for a distinction between "I've gotten a ticket" (I have received or obtained a ticket) vs. "I've got a ticket" (I currently have a ticket).
  • "get" is one of the most common verbs in English, and the many meanings may be confusing for language learners. The following table indicates some of the different constructions found, along with the most common meanings of each:
Construction Most common meanings
get + inanimate object to receive, to obtain, to take
have got + inanimate object to have
get + person to understand or to catch
get + concept to understand
get + adjective to become
get + person + adjective to cause to become
get + location adverb to arrive
get + to + location
get + to + verb to be able to
get + person + to + verb to cause to do
get + verb + -ing to begin doing
get + verb + -ed/-en to be (passive voice)
  1. ↑ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html and http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/gotten.htm
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

get ‎(plural gets)

  1. Offspring.
    • 1976, Frank Herbert, Children of Dune
      You must admit that the bastard get of Paul Atreides would be no more than juicy morsels for those two [tigers].
    • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 755:
      ‘You were a high lord's get. Don't tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man.’
  2. Lineage.
  3. (sports, tennis) A difficult return or block of a shot.
  4. Something gained.
    • 2008, Karen Yampolsky, Falling Out of Fashion (page 73)
      I had reconnected with the lust of my life while landing a big get for the magazine.

Etymology 2

Variant of git

Noun

get ‎(plural gets)

  1. (Britain, regional) A git.

Etymology 3

From Hebrew גֵּט ‎(gēṭ).

Noun

get ‎(plural gittim or gitten)

  1. (Judaism) A Jewish writ of divorce.
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:get.

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: away · against · though · #149: get · eyes · hand · young

Anagrams

Ladino

Etymology

From Hebrew גט.

Noun

get m ‎(Latin spelling)

  1. divorce

Limburgish

Etymology

Compare Kölsch jet and (nothern) Luxembourgish jett, gett, both meaning “something”.

Pronoun

get

  1. something

Lojban

Rafsi

get

  1. rafsi of gento.

Mauritian Creole

Verb

get

  1. Medial form of gete

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse geit, from Proto-Germanic *gaits.

Noun

gēt f

  1. goat

Declension

Descendants

Romanian

Etymology

From French Gétes, Latin Getae, from Ancient Greek.

Noun

get m ‎(plural geți, feminine equivalent getă)

  1. Get, one of the Getae, Greek name for the Dacian people

Synonyms

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish gēt, from Old Norse geit, from Proto-Germanic *gaits, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰayd- ‎(“goat”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jeːt/

Noun

get c

  1. goat

Declension

Inflection of get 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative get geten getter getterna
Genitive gets getens getters getternas

Etymology

From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getaną (compare Old English ġietan, Old High German pi-gezzan 'to uphold', Gothic bi-gitan 'to find, discover'), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰend- 'to seize'. Cognate with Latin prehendo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɛt/, /ɡɪt/, [ɡɛʔ]
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

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