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Webster 1913 Edition
Webster 1828 Edition
Got
GOT
, pret of get. The old preterit gat, pronounced got, is nearly obsolete.Definition 2024
Got
got
got
English
Verb
got
- simple past tense of get
- We got the last bus home.
- (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?
- Expressing obligation.
- I can't go out tonight, I've got to study for my exams.
- (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!
- (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)
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Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡɔt/
Etymology 1
From Vulgar Latin *gottus, from Latin guttus.
Noun
got m (plural gots)
- glass (drinking glass)
Synonyms
- tassó
- vas
Etymology 2
From Latin Gothus.
Noun
got m (plural gots, feminine goda)
Derived terms
- gòtic (“Gothic”)
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)
Declension
Declension of got
| nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong declension | ||||
| Masculine | gôt | gôden | gôdem(e) (gôdennote) | gôdes |
| Neuter | gôt | |||
| Feminine | gôde | gôder(e) | ||
| Plural | gôde | gôden | gôder(e) | |
| Weak declension | ||||
| Masculine | gôde | gôden | gôden | |
| Neuter | gôde | |||
| Feminine | gôden | |||
| Plural | gôden | |||
| The longer forms become rarer in the course of the period. | ||||
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)
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
Declension
Declension of got
Descendants
- Dutch: god
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