Get (gĕt), v. 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. bigitan to find,
L. prehendere to seize, take, Gr. chanda`nein 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.
Shak.
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.
Shak.
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.
Shak.
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.
To get by heart, to commit to memory. -
- To get the better of, To get the best
of, to obtain an advantage over; to surpass; to
subdue. -- To get up, to cause to be
established or to exit; to prepare; to arrange; to construct; to
invent; as, to get up a celebration, a machine, a book, an
agitation.
Syn. -- To obtain; gain; win; acquire. See
Obtain.
Get, n. Offspring; progeny; as,
the get of a stallion.
Get (?), n. [OF. get.]
1. Fashion; manner; custom. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
2. Artifice; contrivance. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Get (gĕt), v. i.
1. To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to
receive accessions; to be increased.
We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily
get.
Shak.
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
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 (?), n. Jet, the
mineral. [Obs.] Chaucer.