get

I'm going to get a computer tomorrow from the discount store.

Lance is going to get Mary a ring.

(transitive or ditransitive) To obtain; to acquire.

I got a computer from my parents for my birthday.

He got a severe reprimand for that.

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.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 175:

I've got a concert ticket for you.

(transitive, in a perfect construction, with present-tense meaning) To have. See usage notes.

Can you get my bag from the living-room, please?

I need to get this to the office.

Get thee out from this land.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 31:13:

He[…]got himself[…]to the strong town of Mega.

1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 634:

I'm getting hungry; how about you?

I'm going out to get drunk.

November 1, 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk
His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.

(copulative) To become, or cause oneself to become.

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.

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.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 6:

(transitive) To cause to become; to bring about.

Somehow she got him to agree to it.

I can't get it to work.

Get him to say his prayers.

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 268:

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.”

1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings:

I got him to his room.

Get thee behind me.

1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Retro me, Sathana !”, in Ballads and Sonnets, →OCLC, page 252:

(transitive) To cause to come or go or move.

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.

(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).

such as into; over; or behind; get over; such as into; over; or behind; get over

for specific idiomatic senses see individual entries get into

to get a mile

(transitive) To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.

To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.

We ought to get moving or we'll be late.

After lunch we got chatting.

I'm getting to like him better now.

(intransitive, catenative) (with full infinitive or gerund-participle) To begin (doing something or to do something).

I normally get the 7:45 train.

I'll get the 9 a.m. [flight] to Boston.

(transitive) To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).

To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).

Can you get that call, please? I'm busy.

(transitive) To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).

To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).

I'm so jealous that you got to see them perform live!

The finders get to keep 80 percent of the treasure.

Great. I get to clean the toilets today.

(intransitive, catenative) (with full infinitive) To be able, be permitted, or have the opportunity (to do something desirable or ironically implied to be desirable).

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.

(transitive, informal) To understand. (compare get it)

"You look just like Helen Mirren." / "I get that a lot."

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.

2011, “You Probably Get That A Lot (Elegant Too Remix)”, in They Might Be Giants (music), Album Raises New and Troubling Questions:

(transitive, informal) To be told; be the recipient of (a question, comparison, opinion, etc.).

He got bitten by a dog.

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.

2003, Richard A. Posner, Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy, page 95:

(auxiliary, informal) Used with the past participle to form the dynamic passive voice of a dynamic verb. Compared with static passive with to be, this emphasizes the commencement of an action or entry into a state.

You get some very rude people here.

It was the kind of shop you used to get in most small towns.

He thinks that proper to northern man is the cellular composition, you know, the kind of thing one gets in Celtic ornamentation, for example, which a subject that interests him greatly.

1964, Lawrence Alloway, “Cobra Group with Lawrence Alloway, 1964”, in Guggenheim Museum Archives Reel-to-Reel collection:

You get non-binary people – you get people who don't identify as a man or a woman.

2021, 25:30 from the start, in No More Jockeys, season 4, episode 13, spoken by Mark Watson:

It was a terrible place to live. You get places like that. It is just the way it is.

2023 October 27, Laine Priestley, Mary Williams, “Boarding house destroyed by fire”, in Star News:

(impersonal, informal) Used with a pronoun subject, usually you but sometimes one, to indicate that the object of the verb exists, can occur or is otherwise typical.

I went on holiday and got malaria.

(transitive) To become ill with or catch (a disease).

To become ill with or catch (a disease).

He keeps calling pretending to be my boss—it gets me every time.

(transitive, informal) To catch out, trick successfully.

That question's really got me.

(transitive, informal) To perplex, stump.

What did you get for question four?

The cops finally got me.

I'm gonna get him for that.

(transitive, informal) To bring to reckoning; to catch (usually as a criminal); to effect retribution.

Sorry, I didn't get that. Could you repeat it?

I put the getter into the container to get the gases.

I had rather to adopt a child than get it.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 314:

Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself / Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4:

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.

2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 310:

to get a lesson;  to get out one's Greek lesson

it being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty

1662, John Fell, The life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond, page 96:

(archaic) To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out.

To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out.

Get her with her new hairdo.

Brother, get her! Draped on a bedspread made from three kinds of fur!

1966, Dorothy Fields (lyrics and music), “If My Friends Could See Me Now”:

Money's pouring in somewhere, because Churchgate's got lovely new stone setts, and a cultural quarter (ooh, get her) is promised.

2007, Tom Dyckhoff, Let's move to ..., The Guardian:

(imperative, informal) Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.

Get, now — get! — before I call an officer and lay a charge against ye.

1991, Theodore Dreiser, T. D. Nostwich, Newspaper Days, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 663:

I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't no flashlight and I wasn't too curious, just then, to find out what would happen if he did more than wave it at me, so I got. I went back about twenty feet or so and watched.

1952, Fredric Brown, Mack Reynolds, Me and Flapjack and the Martians:

'Go on, get. You look a state. We can't let Leo see you like that.'

2010, Sarah Webb, The Loving Kind, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN:

Now go on, get! Get! Get! (she chases Joanne out the door with the hammer.)

2012, Paul Zindel, Ladies at the Alamo, Graymalkin Media, →ISBN:

"[…] and then I'll switch over to the police band to know when the bacon's getting ready to stick its nose in. When I tell you to get, you get, understand?" Calamity asks as she retapes the earbud into her ear.

2016, April Daniels, Dreadnought, Diversion Books, →ISBN:

(intransitive, informal, chiefly imperative) To go, to leave; to scram.

They’re coming to get you, Barbara.

He got Dancer and Prancer with an old German Luger
And he slashed up Dasher just like Freddy Krueger

1996, "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics and music), “The Night Santa Went Crazy”, in Bad Hair Day:

We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 112:

(intransitive, obsolete) To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.

To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.

Did you get her temperature?

It gets me every time!

en-verb

get (third-person singular simple present gets, present participle getting, simple past got or (archaic) gat, past participle got or (United States, Canada) gotten or (Geordie) getten)

gets (present singular third-person)
getting (participle present)
got (past)
gat (archaic past)
got (participle past)
gotten (Canada US participle past)
getten (Geordie participle past)
get (infinitive)

catch

bring to reckoning, to catch (as a criminal)

ganhar

especially when receiving as a prize or gift

(get + <adjective> is often translated by a reflexive verb in French; get drunk = s'enivrer)

gehen (sometimes translated by a reflexive verb: get drunk = sich betrinken)

καθίσταμι (kathístami) (+ adj. or εἰς + noun)

(get + <adjective> is often translated by a reflexive verb in Italian; get drunk = ubriacarsi)

(is often translated by a passive verb in Latin) finiri (get finished)

(get + <adjective> is often translated by a reflexive verb in Portuguese; get drunk = embriagar-se)

get + (adjective) is often translated by a reflexive verb in Spanish

vastata puhelimeen

to respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc)

saada

to be able to, be permitted, have opportunity

From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getaną. Cognate with Old English ġietan (whence also English yet), Old Saxon getan (“to get, to gain sth.”), Old High German pigezzan (“to uphold”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to find, discover”)), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to seize”).

cog

Old Saxon getan (“to get, to gain sth.”)

Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to find, discover”)


get

At the time when I am making these observations, one of his colts is the first favourite for the Derby; and it will be recollected, that a filly of his get won the Oaks in 1808.

1810, Thomas Hornby Morland, The genealogy of the English race horse, page 71:

You must admit that the bastard get of Paul Atreides would be no more than juicy morsels for those two [tigers].

‘You were a high lord's get. Don't tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man.’

1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 755:

(dated) Offspring, especially illegitimate.

(sports, tennis) A difficult return or block of a shot.

I had reconnected with the lust of my life while landing a big get for the magazine.

2008, Karen Yampolsky, Falling Out of Fashion, page 73:

(informal) Something gained; an acquisition.


get

Kylie: Oi, Bono! You lazy get! Have you finished my song yet?

1990 January 13, David Quantick, Steven Wells, “Is It Rock Art Or Is It Nart?”, in New Musical Express:

(UK, Ireland, regional) Synonym of git (“contemptible person”)


get

In Israel, rabbinic courts can imprison men until they acquiesce and grant gets to their wives.

2013, Dan Cohn-Sherbok, George D. Chryssides, Dawoud El-Alami, Love, Sex and Marriage, page 143:

gets (plural)
gittim (plural)
gitten (plural)