Get

Pronunciation

• IPA: /É¡É›t/, /ɡɪt/
• Rhymes: -É›t

From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getanÄ… (compare Old English Ä¡ietan, Old High German pi-gezzan 'to uphold', Gothic bi-gitan 'to find, discover'), from Proto-Indo-European *gÊ°end- 'to seize'. Cognate with Latin prehendo.

Full definition of get

Verb

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, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 8, 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. (intransitive, obsolete) To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get.
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, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 8, 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, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, 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. 13Get 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, Pulling the Strings Chapter 5, 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.
• Alexander Pope (1688-1744)to get rid of fools and scoundrels
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.
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Retro me, Sathana, line 1Get thee behind me.
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 (often used as get it).
    Yeah, I get it, it's just not funny.
    I don't get what you mean by "fun". This place sucks!
17. (transitive, informal) To be subjected to.
    "You look just like Helen Mirren."
    "I get that a lot."
• 2011, You Probably Get That A Lot (Elegant Too Remix), 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.
• Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy
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, p. 310:Walter had said, dear God, Thomas, it was St fucking 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.

Usage notes

In dialects featuring the past participle gotten, the form "gotten" is not used universally as the past participle. Rather, inchoative and concessive uses (with meanings such as "obtain" or "become", or "am permitted to") use "gotten" as their past participle, whereas stative uses (with meanings like "have") use "got" as their past participle

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html and http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/gotten.htm

, thus enabling users of "gotten"-enabled dialects to make distinctions such as "I've gotten (received) my marks" vs. "I've got (possess) my marks"; a subtle distinction, to be sure, but a useful one. The first example probably means that the person has received them, and has them somewhere, whereas the second probably means that they have them in their hand right now.

Synonyms

• (obtain) acquire, come by, have
• (receive) receive, be given
• (fetch) bring, fetch, retrieve
• (become) become
• (cause to become) cause to be, cause to become, make
• (cause to do) make
• (arrive) arrive at, reach
• (go, come) come, go, travel
• adopt or assume (a position or state): go, move
• (begin) begin, commence, start
• catch (a means of public transport): catch, take
• respond to (telephone, doorbell): answer
• (be able to; have the opportunity to do) be able to
• (informal: understand) dig, follow, make sense of, understand
• informal: be (used to form the passive): be
• informal: catch (a disease): catch, come down with
• (informal: trick) con, deceive, dupe, hoodwink, trick
• (informal: perplex) confuse, perplex, stump
• (find as an answer) obtain
• bring to reckoning; to catch (as a criminal): catch, nab, nobble
• (physically assault) assault, beat, beat up
• (informal: hear) catch, hear
• (getter) getter

Antonyms

• (obtain) lose

Derived terms

Noun

1. Offspring.
• 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 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.

Variant of git

Noun

1. (British, regional) A git.an idiot, a contemptible personAlthough get is the original word, the derived word git is more common.

From Hebrew גֵּט.

Noun

1. (Judaism) A Jewish writ of divorce.

Anagrams

• teg