getv.

Brit.

/ɡɛt/, U.S.

/ɡɛt/

Inflections: Past tense got, (archaic) gat; past participle got, (chiefly U.S.) gotten;

Forms: 1. Present stem

α. Middle English geete, Middle English geit, Middle English gest (2nd singular indicative), Middle English gestow (2nd singular indicative, with personal pronoun affixed), Middle English get (3rd singular indicative), Middle English gette (3rd singular indicative), Middle English geyt, Middle English geytt, Middle English ghete, Middle English gite, Middle English gitte, Middle English gyte, Middle English kete (south-western), Middle English–1500s gete, Middle English–1500s gette, Middle English–1500s gytt, Middle English 1600s geet, Middle English–1700s gett, Middle English– get, 1500s gaet, 1500s geat, 1500s geate, 1500s yeat (Irish English), 1500s 1700s gitt, 1500s– git (now regional and nonstandard), 1800s– gid (U.S. regional); English regional (chiefly northern and midlands) 1800s– geet (Cheshire), 1800s– geh, 1800s– get (3rd singular indicative), 1800s– getten (Lincolnshire), 1800s– gos (Cheshire, 3rd singular indicative), 1800s– gy'et (Cheshire); Scottish pre-1700 gaet, pre-1700 gaitt, pre-1700 gaitte, pre-1700 gate, pre-1700 gayt, pre-1700 geatt, pre-1700 gete, pre-1700 gitt, pre-1700 1700s geat, pre-1700 1700s gett, pre-1700 1700s– get, pre-1700 1800s gat, pre-1700 1800s geit, pre-1700 1800s– gait, 1800s geate, 1800s gytt (southern), 1900s– geet, 1900s– gjit (Shetland).

β. English regional (chiefly northern and midlands) and nonstandard 1800s ehr, 1800s gir, 1800s– gehr, 1800s– ger, 1800s– gor (Yorkshire), 1900s– gar (Yorkshire); Manx English 1800s gerr.

2. Past tense.

α. Middle English gait (northern), Middle English kat (south-western), Middle English 1600s gatt, Middle English–1500s gatte, Middle English–1600s gate, Middle English– gat (now regional and archaic), late Middle English gast (northern, transmission error), late Middle English– got, 1500s goot, 1500s gote, 1500s gotte, 1600s gott (North American), 1800s gotten (U.S. regional), 1800s gut (U.S. regional), 1800s– git (U.S. regional), 1800s– gorr (Manx English, before a vowel), 1900s– gitted (U.S. regional); English regional (northern and midlands) 1800s gar (Yorkshire, before h), 1800s– gaat (Yorkshire), 1800s– gate, 1800s– gotten; Scottish pre-1700 gaet, pre-1700 gat, pre-1700 gatt, pre-1700 gayt, pre-1700 gott, pre-1700 1700s gate, pre-1700 1700s– got, 1700s 1900s– gote, 1800s goot, 1900s– goat.

β. Middle English geet, Middle English geete, Middle English get, Middle English gete, Middle English gette, 1800s– gitted (regional); English regional (northern and midlands) 1700s– geet, 1800s geete, 1800s get.

3. Past participle.

α. Middle English geete, Middle English get, Middle English getee, Middle English geten, Middle English geteyn, Middle English geth, Middle English getin, Middle English geton, Middle English getone, Middle English getoun, Middle English getton (in a late copy), Middle English gettyn, Middle English getun, Middle English getyn, Middle English getyne, Middle English geyten, Middle English gheten, Middle English giten, Middle English gitin, Middle English gityn, Middle English gyte, Middle English gyten, Middle English gytin, Middle English gytyn, Middle English igete, Middle English igeten, Middle English igette, Middle English ygete, Middle English ygeten, Middle English ygette, Middle English ykete (south-western), Middle English–1500s gete, Middle English–1500s gett, Middle English–1500s gette, Middle English–1700s getten, 1500s gitten, 1800s– gettin (Manx English); English regional (chiefly northern and midlands) 1800s gettin, 1800s– geeten (Cheshire), 1800s– getten, 1800s– gheeten (Cheshire), 1800s– git'n, 1800s– gittan, 1800s– gitten, 1800s– gitten'd; Scottish pre-1700 get, pre-1700 gett, pre-1700 getten, pre-1700 gettine, pre-1700 gettyn, 1800s geatten (southern).

β. Middle English gate, Middle English gooten, Middle English gote, Middle English gothen, Middle English gotin, Middle English goton, Middle English gotoun, Middle English gotun, Middle English gotyn, Middle English gotyne, Middle English igoote, Middle English igote, Middle English ygote, Middle English ygoten, Middle English–1500s goten, Middle English–1500s gotte, Middle English–1700s gotton, late Middle English– gotten (now chiefly U.S.), 1500s ygot (archaic), 1500s–1600s gott, 1500s– got, 1600s gottun, 1800s godth (Irish English (Wexford)), 1800s gut (U.S. regional), 1800s– gat (archaic), 1800s– gotta (colloquial with article or to affixed), 1800s– gotter (colloquial with article or to affixed), 1900s– git (U.S. regional), 1900s– godda (colloquial with article or to affixed); English regional 1800s– gat (northern), 1800s– gatten (northern), 1800s– gottan, 1800s– gotten, 1800s– gotton, 1800s– gut (Essex); Scottish pre-1700 gaitten, pre-1700 gattyn, pre-1700 goten, pre-1700 gotine, pre-1700 gott, pre-1700 gottine, pre-1700 gottne, pre-1700 gottyn, pre-1700 gottyne, pre-1700 gotyn, pre-1700 gotyne, pre-1700 1700s got, pre-1700 1800s– gotten, pre-1700 1800s– gottin, 1700s 1900s– gote, 1800s gat, 1800s– gotton (now Shetland), 1900s– goat.

Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian.

Etymology: < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic geta to obtain, to be able or have the opportunity (to do something), to beget, to learn, to guess or suppose, to mention, Old Swedish gäta to be able (to do something), to beget, to guess, to mention (Swedish regional gäta to guess, to mention), Old Swedish gita to be able (to do something) (Swedish gitta to take the trouble or feel inclined (to do something)), Old Danish getæ , gitæ to be able (to do something) (Danish gide to take the trouble or feel inclined (to do something))), cognate with Old English gietan (rare: see below) and Old High German gezzan (rare), and with the second element of a number of prefixed verbs in West Germanic languages, e.g. Old English begietan (see beget v.), forgietan (see forget v.), ofergietan (see overyete v.), ongietan (see anyete v. and compare also agietan ayete v.²), undergietan (see underyete v.), and also Old Frisian forjeta (see forget v.), urjeta to forget (see ayete v.²), Old Dutch fargetan (see forget v.), Old Saxon bigetan (see beget v.), fargetan (see forget v.), Old High German bigezzan (see beget v.), firgezzan (see forget v.), intgezzan (see anyete v.), irgezzan to forget, neglect (see ayete v.²), and also with the second element of Gothic bigitan (see beget v.); probably < the same Indo-European base as (the second element of) classical Latin praeda plunder, booty (see prede n.), and also (with nasal infix) ancient Greek χανδάνειν (aorist ἔχαδον ) to hold, contain, to be able, Albanian gjej , (regional) gjenj (aorist gjeta ) to find, (in passive, gjendem ) to be situated, to be present, and the second element of classical Latin praehendere to grasp, seize, catch (see prehend v.) and of Early Irish rogeinn he finds place in.Form history. In early Scandinavian the verb is a strong verb of Class V, as is Old English gietan (with various changes to the stem vowel caused by a preceding palatalized consonant). The verb appears originally in Middle English to have shown the same paradigm as strong verbs historically of Class V such as speak v. or meet v., hence with past tense singular in -a- and past tense plural and past participle in -e- (with considerable variation in vowel length owing to both phonetic environment and analogy); forms in -o- in the past participle (which are common from an early date) probably result (as in many verbs historically of Class V) from influence from the paradigm of verbs historically of strong Class IV such as bear v.¹ or steal v.¹; the (generally later) spread of forms in -o- to the past tense probably also partly reflects analogical influence from the paradigms of other verbs. By the early 17th cent. got had become the usual form of the past tense in the developing standard variety (both gat and got are found in the King James Bible of 1611). The β. forms of the present stem occur chiefly before a vowel. Formal variation in modern English. In modern British standard use (and in many other varieties) got is the invariable form of the past participle. In North America gotten remains common, and a semantic distinction is sometimes found, with gotten implying the process of obtaining something, as in ‘he had gotten us tickets for the show’, and got implying the state of possession or ownership, as in ‘I haven’t got any money’. Evidence for an (unprefixed) native cognate. The unprefixed Old English verb gietan (with initial palatal /j/) occurs in a handful of attestations (none earlier than the 11th cent.), and an apparent reflex is likewise attested very occasionally in Middle English. However, it is very likely that all of these instances in fact show variants of respective prefixed verbs with omission of the prefix (or, in Middle English, analogy between forms of get v. and forms of the prefixed verbs), rather than representing genuine survivals of an unprefixed native cognate of the early Scandinavian verb. Compare:OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) (1888) xxiv. 56 Usque dum satisfactione congrua veniam consequatur : oððæt he be mid dædbote fulre þæslicere forgifennesse gite [OE Corpus Cambr. begyte].lOE Canterbury Psalter xlvii. 4 Deus in gradibus eius dinoscitur dum suscipiet eam : God on stepum his bioð gitende uel cnawen þonne he onfoð hie.c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 330 Of playe ar he wald blinne, Sex haukes he ȝat.c1330 Gregorius (Auch.) (1914) 132 He miȝt se þe sinnes sore, Hou he was ȝeten and of wham.c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 842 If þou lovyez þy lyf, Loth..Ȝete uus out þose ȝong men þat ȝore-whyle here entred.a1450 Ministry & Passion of Christ (St. John's Cambr.) (1984) l. 2783 Þat it was oure lord þei vnderstode it ferst þere; Anon as þei hadde ȝete hym, þei sayȝe hym no more.a1500 (?a1400) Stanzaic Life of Christ (Harl. 3909) (1926) l. 3034 Hir prest had ȝeten him leue to go.Omission of auxiliary have in specialized uses of the perfect. In colloquial, regional, and nonstandard use, omission of auxiliary have is frequent in the specialized uses of the perfect at branch IV. (i.e. where in standard English the perfect construction functions as a present tense); hence in such uses the past participle occurs alone as though it were an (invariable) present tense form. Compare:1777 Downfall of Justice 7 Yesse, Sir, only pity poor fok cause he got no round dollar.1838 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker 2nd Ser. v All they got to do is, to up Hudson like a shot..and home in a liner, and write a book.1849 Knickerbocker 34 12 They got no principles. They got no platform to stand onto.1857 O. W. Wight Quinland I. 1 Got an hour to spare—thought I'd just run in and see what you were all about.1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxviii. 325 We got to dig in like all git-out.1887 M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 370 What you got there, grandma?1911 J. F. Wilson Land Claimers ix. 118 But I got several plans, and I need ye.1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter i. 11 Oh, of course, you got to laugh at me.1929 E. W. Springs Above Bright Blue Sky 176 ‘That oughta be easy,’ the sergeant suggested. ‘You gotta couple of new pilots that could crash an ice wagon on a prairie.’1941 P. F. Webster & D. Ellington (title of song) I got it bad and that ain't good.1955 M. Hastings Cork & Serpent xiv. 210 I gotta little present for you.1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side i. 107 But the fact is I'm plumb fatigued and now I got to rest a spell.1967 L. White Crimshaw Memorandum (1968) v. 93 Gawd knows I got enough problems.2003 Independent 18 Oct. (Review section) 3/5 What is APR? I haven't a clue. What is an annuity? No, you got me there.2006 G. Malkani Londonstani v. 50 Look, she got three brothers an dey well strict.2010 Big Issue 4 Jan. 42/3 You can't expect your wife to just jump in the kitchen all the time, I teach my boys. You got to cook for your lady, too!An inflected form gots is also sometimes found in similar use (especially in African-American usage); the -s apparently shows the standard English 3rd person singular inflection, but may occur for any person in the singular or plural. Compare:1892 A. M. H. Christensen Afro-Amer. Folk Lore 18 I gots no use for dem.1922 A. E. Gonzales Black Border 248 I gots to git anodduh lady.1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses & Other Stories 136 We gots a jug in de bushes.1966 J. J. Phillips Mojo Hand (1987) 20 You know I gots me a nice wife, but she be going on in what they call the change.1976 L. Bangs in Creem Feb. 31/1 Let's not jump the groove, we gots to hear it all.1989 S. Sucharitkul Moon Dance iii. viii. 361 He gots his leapin' wild Injuns, his rodeo riders, his gunslingers o' the feminine persuasion, his dancin' grizzlies.1993 J. Mowry Six out Seven i. xiv. 221 I gots to show you this, Tam.2002 S. Holmes B-More Careful ii. 18 She gots to come home.2002 Esquire Aug. 126/2 All them poor shot-to-shit buddies of yours, they gots scads of time on their hands.2006 G. Malkani Londonstani v. 45 It gettin late an we gots twenty fuckin fones in da bag.Compare also slightly earlier uses in representations of German-American speech:1872 Harper's New Monthly Mag. Oct. 797/2 Mein Gott, Katrine... Petter you shtop dis pizness [i.e. continuing to have children] 'fore der come more ash a village full. I gots nuff mit such foolishness.1884 Admiral Porter Allan Dare & Robert le Diable xlix. 622 I never knosh ven I gots ash blenty ash I liksh.Specific senses. With sense 33a (i.e. use of the perfect and past perfect expressing possession) compare ancient Greek κεκτῆσθαι to possess, lit. ‘to have acquired’.

I. To obtain, procure.

a. transitive. To obtain possession of (property, etc.) as the result of effort or (esp.) contrivance.Now largely merged in sense 4b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by care or effort

begeteOE

findOE

bewinc1175

getc1175

conquerc1230

reachc1275

procurec1325

makec1350

fishc1374

catchc1384

furneya1400

attainc1405

tillc1440

to pick out1577

to get a gripe ofa1586

secure1743

raise1838

to get one's hooks on (also into)1926

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10219 Forr wha setitt iss þatt grediȝ iss. To winnenn erþlic ahhte Aȝȝ alls he mare. & mare gett Aȝȝ lisste himm affterr mare.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 276 Þider ȝe alle salle ride, a faire pray salle ȝe gete.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 149 On þis wyse þai get grete plentee of þis gold.

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 74 Litel is woorth thing ygoten if after the getinge it ne be kept.

1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes iii. xxi. sig. Ov^v Noo good euyl goten can not be longe..kept of hym that geteth hit.

1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. nn.i He caused the ryghtwyse man Naboth to be slayne & by gyle gate his vyneyarde.

1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates James I. iii He false traytour..To get the crowne, began to fetch a fetch.

1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 252 After so many difficulties of getting, what he so greatly desired, hee enjoyed it..surpassing expression.

1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World v. ii. §61. 471/2 Andronicus Comnenus by ambitious practices and pretence of reformation, got the Empire.

1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. i. 79 Get Mony, Mony still! And then let Virtue follow, if she will.

1797 T. Bernard Acct. Cottage & Garden 5 ‘Could you get land, if you had a cow?’—He thought he could.

1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes 3 Perhaps I was to find only the records of lands and moneys, how gotten and how secured.

1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 103 Men are not born rich; and in getting wealth, the man is generally sacrificed.

1925 N. Lucas Autobiogr. Crook vii. 98 My pals went in for every known form of getting other people's property.

1977 J. D. MacDonald Condominium xxxvii. 364 I hope most of you have gone through the hurricane checklist in the paper and gotten what you need.

2011 Windsor (Ont.) Star (Nexis) 10 Nov. a5 We have had owners of businesses set fire to their businesses to get the insurance money. It's tough financial times.

b. transitive. With adverbs: to acquire or obtain in a certain way.Esp. with past participles. ill-gotten, well-gotten: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way

getc1450

to come to ——1607

c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 209 A ryche man wyth fals gotyn good seyde to a preest þat he wolde ȝyue all þat he had falsely gett to pore folk.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Prov. x. A Treasures that are wickedly gotten, profit nothinge.

1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes ii. §7. 142 What is violently or fraudulently gotten, wilbe lavishly spent.

c1680 W. Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 535 That which ye have unlawfully gotten..will be a moth in your estates, which will..eat them up.

1776 A. M. Refl. Amer. Contest 16 Where lands are so easily got, that rigid industry does not last to the third generation.

1838 J. H. Ingraham Burton I. i. iv. 63 Practise, if thou wilt, thy magic oath a little on the inmates of yonder hostelry, that we may speedily get food and fresh horses.

1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xvii. 79 We are assured that it was all honourably gotten and was designed to be honourably spent.

1920 Scouting for Girls (Girl Scouts U.S.A.) 124 The fireplace is almost a luxury. It is found oftenest in country houses where wood can be easily got.

2008 N. Burleigh Unholy Business x. 229 Museums are also on the defensive because nations..have begun asking for the return of items.., claiming even pieces in long-term collections were illegally gotten.

†c. intransitive. To acquire wealth or property. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (intransitive)]

findOE

covera1375

to come therebyc1386

obtain1477

get?1505

draw1755

?1505 tr. P. Gringore Castell of Laboure (new ed.) sig. D.ii^v They tende nat but to get and saue With couetyse is theyr herte so brent That they thynke neuer youghe [read ynoughe] to haue.

1573 J. Sanford tr. L. Guicciardini Hours Recreat. (1576) 129 They are suspected to tende rather to get than to give.

1635 F. Quarles Emblemes iv. xii. Epigr. 231 Wisdome not onely gets, but got, retaines.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1677 (1955) IV. 119 Whilst he was secretary of state..he had gotten vastly, but spent it as hastily.

1729 B. Mandeville Fable Bees ii. vi. 428 How difficult it is to find out those noble Minds that despise Lucre, when there is a Prospect of getting vastly.

1736 T. C. Paget Ess. Human Life (new ed.) 26 A Wretch made up of Folly, Guilt and Pride? Greedy to get, as he's profuse to spend.

1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. ii. 28 What I have is my own, if labour in getting, and care in augmenting, can make a right of property.

1856 A. McLachlan Poems 88 Their creed is a short ane—‘To get and to keep.’

1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad I. iv. 213 The Church..ever getting and never giving up, was eating away the territorial wealth of the temporal barons.

d. transitive. With reinforcing prepositional phrase, as to get into one's hand, to get into one's possession. Now somewhat rare.

ΚΠ

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. lxxxi. f. xxxii^v In this whyle Uortiger gatte into his possession the kynges treasour.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxj He..determined to get into his possession, the duchie of Acquitayne.

1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxvii. 60 The Newhawin thay gatt into þair hand.

1643 A. Wilson Five Yeares King Iames 44 He gets into his hands certaine Poysons, viz. Rosacre, white Arsnick, Mercury sublimate, Cantarides, red Mercury.

1647 Moderate Intelligencer No. 96. 838 Assoon as the Bassa had gotten the town gates into his possession, he put into it a thousand Janisaries.

1744 R. North & M. North Life Sir D. North & Rev. J. North 241 Two or three Persons, who, to make good their Monopoly,..send abroad their Circulators, and in that Manner get into their Hands all that is valuable.

1795 G. Haldane Let. 5 July in J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth (1799) 532 Young sheep..which might have been more speedily and effectually improven in various qualities, by getting better rams into their possession.

1854 C. Dickens Hard Times ii. vii. 198 The only pictures in my possession, or that I could have got into my possession by any means, unless I stole, 'em, were the engravings of a man shaving himself in a boot.

1914 Irish Law Rep. (Annotated Reprint) X. 276 If there had been a lease, and if they had not insisted on getting it into their possession.., the case would..be different.

1966 J. H. Parry Spanish Seaborne Empire (1990) xv. 302 Their skill in getting Mexican silver into their hands.

a. transitive. To bring in, gather, secure (a crop).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)]

gatherc950

getc1250

harvestc1400

in?1407

win1487

ingatherc1575

crop1602

enda1616

to get in1699

to get up1764

secure1842

c1250 in Stud. Philol. (1931) 28 597 Þe asse is preked corn to geten ant þan ne scal hoe þrof nout heten.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xv^v Short hay & ley hay is good for shepe and all maner of catell if it be well gete.

1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 5 From the time that fruits come to be worth getting, till they be ripe.

1749 T. Short Gen. Chronol. Hist. Air I. 151 In the End of Harvest, the Weather took up, and so much of this rotten Crop was got very late.

1774 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 63 222 The crop of wheat where it was well gotten was tolerable good.

1858 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 19 i. 230 Hay secured before the 27th of June was got without a drop of rain.

1891 Blackwood's Mag. 149 817/1 I remember well the fustiness of that haystack (it must have been ‘got’ after oceans of rain).

1932 A. Bell Cherry Tree xi. 160 In the lull after getting the corn, and before the root harvest, I would sometimes accompany her.

1982 N.Y. Times 2 Sept. c12/4 Plants must be checked daily to be sure of getting the crop when it is at peak flavor.

b. transitive. To procure by hunting or fishing; to catch. Now somewhat rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hunt [verb (transitive)] > take or catch game

takec1175

getc1300

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1393 He wore yare..for to fare In-to þe se, fishes to gete.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1171 Þe gre-houndeȝ so grete, þat geten hem [the deer] bylyue.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 4345 Elfride men fared fyssh[e] to gete.

a1598 D. Fergusson Sc. Prov. (1641) sig. C2 He that fishes afore the net, lang or he fish get.

1662 T. Allin Jrnl. 14 June (1939) (modernized text) I. 88 We put our trawl over in 32 fathoms..but got no fish at two hauls, so we took in our net.

1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 12 On the 9th we got another male whale, being the eighth.

1735 Lives Most Remarkable Criminals I. 335 Making small Insurrections for the Sake only of getting a few Deer.

1830 Amer. Turf Reg. & Sporting Mag. May 445 We changed our hunting ground and were more successful than on any former day: we this day got eight deer.

1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads (1884) xix. 143 The wherrymen seize the opportunity..to plunge the spears into the mud, and so get a good many eels.

1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent xvi. 261 A boy was prowling with a sling, prowling like a cat, to get the little birds.

1943 M. McLaverty White Mare & Other Stories 85 It was a night like this, only calmer, when I came out my lone to get a rabbit or two.

1999 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) 20 Oct. 45/4 Blaze switched to a fly rod popper and started getting larger fish.

c. transitive. To obtain (coal, ore, etc.) by mining.

ΚΠ

1457 in C. T. Clay Yorks. Deeds (1940) VIII. 25 It shall be lefull to the seid John & Jenet..to gete & haue fuell uppon the seid ground for the fyre.

1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng xxxv. f. xlix Than must you make a sough vnderneth therthe as men do to gette cole, yron, stonne, leed, ore, or tyn.

1631 in R. S. France Thieveley Lead Mines (1951) 116 That you now Cause all the lead oare that is allreadye gotten to bee presentlie smelted.

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. iv. 172 The Roof and Seat is the Top and Bottom of the Works, wherein they get Coles.

1671 J. Webster Metallographia i. 18 The Pits or Shafts where Ores are usually gotten.

1780 J. T. Dillon Trav. Spain i. xxiii. 216 After they had, in a manner deflowered the mine, and got as much ore as they could easily extract.

1841 Collieries & Coal Trade (ed. 2) 244 In proceeding to get the coal, the collier, whenever he can do so, works upon the face of the bed.

1885 Law Times 79 119/2 The ‘butties’..paid him his wages out of the 2s. 3d. per ton which they received for getting the coal.

1901 W. Virginia School Jrnl. Sept. 222/1 There are great mines in this country where workmen can get diamonds.

1982 R. Hall Just Relations 41 A digger, he was, no sooner had he got enough gold than he was off to have it fashioned into teeth.

2010 South China Morning Post (Nexis) 25 Jan. (Business section) 2 Miners have to dig deeper to get the ore.

a. transitive. Originally: (of a man) to secure the affections of (a woman), esp. with a view to marriage; to win. Subsequently also of a woman. Now chiefly: to obtain (a partner) for a romantic or sexual relationship; (occasionally) to have sexual intercourse with.

ΚΠ

?a1300 Dame Sirith l. 15 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 1 (MED) Wel ȝerne he him biþoute Hou he hire gete moute In ani cunnes wise.

c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1753 Ffor he woste wel she wolde nat ben geten.

1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxi. 138 Thinke not thy greatnesse, or thy giftes, or gracious eyes may get her... If she determine Chastitie, then falls thy sute to ground.

1606 S. Daniel Queenes Arcadia iii. iii. sig. F3 Yes sir, she may be got.

1664 R. Flecknoe Love's Kingdom iv. 53 This is a strange Countrey, where a man can't get a wench neither for love nor money?

1720 J. Leigh Kensington-Gardens iv. 64 'Tis much easier to gain the Reputation of having a fine Woman, than to get the Woman herself.

?1775 S. Foote Maid of Bath ii. 56 Dos't think one could not get her on easier terms than marriage?

1831 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 10 Dec. 1/4 All the ladies tell me so—And, giggling, think they'll get me.

1852 W. G. Simms As Good Comedy ii. 42 Fair play between us will always keep us friends, let who will get the lady.

c1890 My Secret Life I. vii. 206 Fred returned, and I had difficulty in getting her often.

1925 J. Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer i. v. 114 That's the kid gits me for the askin any night.

1974 D. Ireland Burn 50 I can't tell 'em about the farmer's wife I did get, proper slut.

1975 S. Selvon Moses Ascending 31 ‘I can get a man any time.’ ‘I don't doubt.’

1984 A. Brookner Hotel du Lac (1985) ii. 27 In my books it is the mouse-like unassuming girl who gets the hero.

1990 New Age Dec. 110/2 In commercials, you drink the right beer and you get the girl. Easy! So why should real life be a grind?

2008 R. Blandford Flying Saucer Rock & Roll 93 Our main objective for that summer was to get girls and go as far as we could with them.

†b. transitive. To gain the allegiance of; to bring over to one's side. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 43 Þanne þe Affres gat wiþ hem Ȝanȝippus [L. attracto Xanthippo]..and overcome Marcus Regulus.

1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iii. l. 31 It war the best for king Eduuardis awaill Mycht he him get to be his steidfast man, For gold or land..Me think beforce he may nocht gottyn be.

1562 tr. Duc de Guise et al. Requestes vnto Frenche Kinge sig. Bviii Their religion serueth them to gette folowers and partakers and to sowe strife and diuision amongest the kynges subiectes.

1653 H. Holcroft tr. Procopius War with Vandals ii. 46 in tr. Procopius Hist. Warres Justinian Maximinus..had gotten many of those mutiners with a design to usurp.

1702 C. Davenant Tom Double return'd out of Country 14 You may plainly see what a Party we have got among the Clergy.

c. transitive. To obtain in marriage, to marry. Now Scottish and Irish English (northern).

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (transitive)]

bewedc1000

bespousec1175

wieldc1275

marrish1340

wedc1380

geta1393

takea1400

espouse?1435

marry1441

couplec1540

contract1599

to take on1611

consort?1615

to take to one's bosom1881

nuptial1887

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 2431 Sche moste thanne algate faile To geten him, whan he were ded.

1599 W. Shakespeare et al. Passionate Pilgrime (new ed.) sig. C4 The learned man hath got the Lady gay.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iii. 8 If I could get this foolish Imogen, I should haue Gold enough.

1672 E. Ravenscroft Citizen turn'd Gentleman 97 Could you but get this Girl, Sir Simon, you would not lose your labour of coming to Town.

1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 82 I wonder why such a handsome..young Gentleman as you, do not get some rich Widow.

1789 R. Burns Tam Glen v. But if it's ordain'd I maun take him, O' wha will I get but Tam Glen?

1889 J. M. Barrie Window in Thrums iii. ‘She was mairit..no lang syne’..‘And who did Tibbie get?’ I asked; for in Thrums they say, ‘Wha did she get?’ and ‘Wha did he tak?’

1952 B. Holman Diamond Panes 61 Losh, Wull never proposed tae me. I kent fine efter the Forrester's Ball that I was gettin' him and he was as shair that he was getting' me.

1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 143/2 Get, marry (a woman).

4. To cause or enable a person to have (someone or something required); to procure or obtain; to seek out and take, to cause to come or be supplied. (Now the principal sense.)

a. With indirect object or prepositional phrase indicating the person for whom the specified object is obtained or procured.

(a) transitive. With objective reflexive pronoun (†occasionally with to or unto). To obtain, procure for oneself.With the use in quots. 1600 and 1797 cf. sense 3c.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > something needed

getc1300

c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 39 (MED) Wenestou nou gete þe griþ, Þer þouȝ list roten in þe clay?

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1808 We schul..gete vs sumwat elles, bolaces & balk-beries.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 21094 Thomas..preiched..for to gite him heiuen to mede.

c1480 (a1400) St. Christopher 517 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 355 Gais & gettis ȝou lechis fele, ȝoure brokine godis fore to hele.

a1500 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Trin. Dublin) l. 794 Kest hym on þis yong knyght to gett hym a name.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxvii^v You..by your..noble feates have gotten to you, in maner an immortall fame.

1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 6 This Water grasse doth get vnto it selfe some new rootes.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 16 Thou wilt neuer get thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.

1628 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Peloponnesian War (1629) 70 A man of Argilus..got him a Seale like to the Seale of Pausanias.

1690 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 315 I have now gotten me a pair of new horses.

1726 Philos. Trans. 1725 (Royal Soc.) 33 319 He thought it good for nothing, but to get himself a little Credit.

1797 H. More Let. 2 May in Lady Chatterton Mem. Ld. Gambier (1861) I. 320 This young lady has got her a husband.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Locksley Hall in Poems (new ed.) II. 94 In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest.

1871 H. B. Stowe My Wife & I vii. 73 I got myself a dark sombrero hat, which I slouched down over my eyes in bandit style when I walked the street.

1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song i. 60 John Guthrie got himself a gun, a second-hand thing he picked up in Stonehaven.

1978 I. Murdoch Sea i. 62 I got myself a reasonably sound education, and especially I got Shakespeare.

1996 T. Parker Violence of our Lives v. 187 I got me a chest full of medals.

(b) transitive. Chiefly with objective personal pronoun, but also (in later use) with †to or for. To obtain or procure for another person.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > get for a person

geta1375

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 644 Melior..preide hire priueli..to gete hire þat gode gras as sone as sche miȝt.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 3502 Ay was he bone, To gete [Vesp. fete] his fadir venisun.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 454 (MED) A norse they gatt hyt [sc. a child] vntyll.

1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 1 This was it which gat him so many victories.

1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 249 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 268 Ga gait me cheiss & breid.

1600 in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 36 Promysyng to gete them xls. more then their ordynary to play yt.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. i. 119 Gre. What's that I pray? Hor. Marrie sir to get a husband for her Sister.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. ii. 8 They are lodged in the Memory, and Names got to them.

1742 Further Rep. Comm. Secrecy Conduct Earl of Orford (House of Commons) 27 The said Captain enquir'd of the Examinant how he should get a Passage for him.

1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 5 Oct. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (1785) 361 Now Col, if you could get us a dish of tea.

1842 Bentley's Misc. 12 24 ‘Now, Mrs. Thingumty,’ said she,—‘stewardess, get me a glass of brandy and water, hot, with one lump of sugar.’

1890 Sir A. Kekewich in Law Times Rep. 63 683/2 The landowner requires a carriage for his own use, and he asks the estate agent to get it for him.

1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life vii. 189 If you want to have your son educated à la carte, you must get a private tutor for him.

1968 S. E. Whitfield in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ iv. i. 329 You get me a horned koala creature that has been trained and won't excrete on the actor's shoulder, and I will be pleased to use it in the show.

2001 A. Dangor Bitter Fruit (2004) vi. 73 I had to go out into the jungle to get this dinner for you and St Francis over there.

b. transitive. With simple direct object. To obtain or procure.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)]

wieldeOE

haveeOE

ofgoOE

oweOE

addlec1175

winc1175

avela1200

to come by ——a1225

covera1250

oughtc1275

reachc1275

hentc1300

purchasec1300

to come to ——c1330

getc1330

pickc1330

chevise1340

fang1340

umbracec1350

chacche1362

perceivea1382

accroacha1393

achievea1393

to come at ——a1393

areach1393

recovera1398

encroach?a1400

chevec1400

enquilec1400

obtainc1422

recurec1425

to take upc1425

acquirea1450

encheve1470

sortise1474

conques?a1500

tain1501

report1508

conquest1513

possess1526

compare1532

cough1550

coff1559

fall1568

reap1581

acquist1592

accrue1594

appurchasec1600

recoil1632

to get at ——1666

to come into ——1672

rise1754

net1765

to fall in for1788

to scare up1846

access1953

c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 3315 (MED) Y gete hir neuer mare, Ȝif y tine hir þis tide.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 26129 If he in suilk a nede be tan, þat he ne get man bot curst an..He agh him ar to drau awai.

c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1123 There nas courser..That in the land of libie may be gete.

1465 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 295 I haue gyte a replevyn.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxviii^v Gette thy quic-settes in the wode countre.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 193 Two spies full spedely he sped hym to gete.

1558–9 Act 1 Elizabeth I c. 2 in Statutes of Realm (1819) IV. 357 The Bookes concerning the sayd Services shall..bee attained and gotten before the said Feast of..S^t John Baptist.

1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 241 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 268 Scho stertis vp and gettis licht in hy.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xxii. 29 Moreover, we got a pilote being of the yle of Chio, in place of him that was dead.

1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. A2^v Then can you blame me to be hunter like, When I must get a wife?

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 37 And you vse these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head.

1647 C. Cotterell & W. Aylesbury tr. E. C. Davila Hist. Civill Warres France i. 47 Few people that were to be gotten thereabouts.

1656 R. Baxter Gildas Salvianus: 1st Pt. 84 Be sure if we can, to get their promise, and engage them to amendment.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 197 So I went up to the Village, and got a Praw, which I sent to bring him over to me.

1712 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 17 June (2013) xlviii. 429 I generally get a lift in a Coach to Town.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. xiv. 288 We could not have failed of getting whatever numbers [of sailors] we pleased.

1814 D. H. O'Brien Narr. Captiv. & Escape 179 Dr. B. got a lift in a waggon for three or four miles.

1818 J. W. Croker in L. J. Jennings Croker Papers (1884) I. iv. 113 At last I have gotten the warrant for searching for the old regalia of the Scottish Crown.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 380 The coach sometimes reached the inn so late that it was impossible to get supper.

1879 London Society Christmas No. 61/1 I went into a little shop to get a shave.

1892 H. R. Mill Realm of Nature xi. 61 To get Greenwich time in remote places is more difficult.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 488 He couldn't get a connection. Only, you know, sensation. A dry rush.

1933 S. Walker Night Club Era 101 They would raise a terrible ruckus in a futile attempt to get ringside seats at a place that already was full.

1947 J. Van Druten Voice of Turtle ii. i. 75 You see, the leading man isn't very good, but he was all they could get, because of the draft.

2007 C. Stross Halting State (2008) 283 People used to avoid the place—they couldn't get a phone signal inside.

c. transitive. To go for and bring back, to take from a place at some distance and convey or conduct back, to fetch.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > transference > bringing > bring [verb (transitive)] > fetch

fetchc1000

fet1297

to go for ——c1405

get1594

to round up1873

1594 Taming of a Shrew sig. A3^v Go get a dishclout to make cleane your shooes.

1678 J. Phillips Maronides v. 83 Go get a Surgeon, Noble Festus.

1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. i. 21 Gae get my Sunday's Coat.

1776 G. Washington Let. 10 Dec. in Papers (1997) Revolutionary War Ser. VII. 290 A party of light Horse seiz'd him..not even suffering him to get his Hat, or Sartout Coat.

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast vi. 14 When I went to the galley to get a light, I found the cook inclined to be talkative.

1857 Harper's Mag. Dec. 99/2 Put on thy pattens, and get a lantern, and go fetch the Virginian.

1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly May 569/1 You can go and get the sounding-pole.

1885 W. T. Hornaday Two Yrs. in Jungle (1910) xxxii. 378 I got my rifle and returned with him.

1912 J. Conrad Smile of Fortune v in 'Twixt Land & Sea 67 I ran back on the verandah to get my hat.

1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse iii. v. 528 He got the poker in case of burglars.

1975 R. Stout Family Affair i. 4 I had got my pajamas from the closet.

2004 D. Peace GB 84 362/1 Barry shook his head. I got my coat and we walked up to Pit.

d. transitive. To prepare (a meal, usually an informal one). Compare sense 23.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > prepare food [verb (transitive)]

makeOE

dightc1320

dressa1325

array1366

prepare1490

guise1604

catea1617

trick1824

fix1839

get1873

nap1961

1873 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 421/1 ‘Perhaps you'll entertain the ladies while I get supper,’ quoth Mrs. Bangs.

1882 Cent. Mag. July 340/2 I've got to stir around early in the mornin' to get the washin' and ironin' both out the way to-morrow, so's I can get dinner for the thrashers Tuesday.

1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iii. 35 Anne Marie had got breakfast, but no one was down.

e. transitive. To take (a train, bus, etc.) as transport; to catch.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > public passenger transport > travel on (public vehicle) [verb (transitive)]

ride1926

get1943

1943 S. H. Bell Summer Loanen 56 This is just a hop, and I promise you'll get the last bus home.

1958 F. O'Connor Let. 21 Mar. (1979) 273 It appears that we cannot get a plane direct for Milan but will have to spend the night in London.

1965 M. Forster Bogeyman (1970) iv She went to get the last train home and missed it.

1988 R. Langford Don't take your Love to Town v. 73 I hitched to town and got a taxi back with the groceries.

2004 Time Out 25 Aug. 112/2 I got a bus to a bookstore and took the subway back to the hotel.

a. transitive. Without reference to agency on the part of the subject: to become possessed of; to receive, e.g. as one's share in a division, as a gift, in wages, or as a payment of any kind. Also intransitive with implied object.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > receiving > receive [verb (transitive)] > be given

underfoc888

afangOE

underfongc1175

getc1300

latchc1300

undertake1393

receivea1400

to take up1639

to come into ——1672

to fall in for1788

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 908 Wel is set þe mete þu etes And þe hire þat þu getes.

c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 545 Wheþer hem leuer ware Win or ale to gete.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 159 Loke ȝe be me nehi, fulle gode giftes gete [printed ȝete] ȝe.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 219 Quhen vthair hors hed brane to byt, I gat bot gris.

1567 R. Sempill Deeclaratioun Lordis Iust Quarrell (single sheet) Donald the fyft, he gat the same reuaird.

1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 iv. ix. 26 Thou wilt betraie mee..and get a thousand crownes.

1636 H. Finch Law ii. xvii. 177 If..within the yeare it [a stray] strayeth againe, and another Lord getteth it, the first Lord cannot take it againe.

a1639 W. Whately Prototypes (1640) i. xix. 189 Julius, by being courteous to Paul..gate his life and the life of his soldiers for a reward.

1726 S. Knight Life of Erasmus 327 The Physician never got his Money.

1791 Gentleman's Mag Dec. 1111/1 It was eleven o'clock at night before I got this letter.

1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton (1854) II. x. 26 She told me she had got a note from Henry.

1850 H. Miller Scenes & Legends N. Scotl. (ed. 2) xv. 230 Pictures of little boys and girls, which, in every case, the little boys and girls got to themselves.

1890 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 148 717/2 They get from 10s. to 12s. a-week for their eggs alone.

1892 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 Oct. 625/2 As to salaries, an officer..usually gets sixty pounds.

1910 H. G. Wells New Machiavelli ii. i. in Forum Oct. 502 My cousins were always getting and giving, my uncle caressed them with parcels and cheques.

1920 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 4 Apr. (1993) III. 271 I got lovely presents.

1948 M. Sharp Foolish Gentlewoman xviii. 190 ‘I'm going to be a Beautician.’..‘They get good money..and it's nice work.’

1962 F. O'Connor Let. 21 Dec. in Habit of Being (1979) 502 I didn't open the package until I got your letter saying what was in it.

1982 J. Krantz Mistral's Daughter (1983) vi. 66 The Bernheims had gotten twenty thousand dollars for a Matisse.

2010 F. Eostre Manifesting Mister Wonderful v. 177 Many people, especially in Britain, grew up hearing things like ‘I want doesn't get’.

b. transitive. To obtain (a name). Now frequently in present tense in to get one's name from: to be so called after.

ΚΠ

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 32^v Nacta also is..of diuersez shappez & quantitez as a melon or a cucurbit, taking or getyng diuerse namez after fourme & membrez.

1538 T. Elyot Dict. Suffibulum, was an attyre, whiche the nunnes of Vesta dydde weare on theyr heedes,..wherwith they mocke ladyes..and thereby onely doo gette the name to be callydde Maskynge ladyes.

1634 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World (new ed.) I. xxxvii. x. 623 The Agat..is full of varietie in colours, whereby it hath gotten many names, for called it is Phassachates, Cerachates, Sardachates, Hæmachates, Leucachates, and Dendrachates.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 89 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors Cuncam, for so it is more commonly called, though from its Metropolis it somtimes gets the name of Visiapour.

1741 A. Monro Anat. Human Bones (ed. 3) 17 The first [Vertebra], from its Use of supporting the globular Head, has got the Name of Atlas.

1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds ix. 133 The ‘bull-snake’..an immense thing of four or five feet in length, which gets its name from its blunt head and thick clumsy body.

1954 R. Wailes Eng. Windmill iv. 50 The smock mill is said to get its name from a fancied resemblance to the obsolete smock frock of the countryman.

2008 Review (Rio Tinto) Mar. (Profile Suppl.) 15/2 Bauxite actually gets its name from a delightful and gastronomically noted village in southern France, Les Baux-de-Provence.

c. transitive. To experience the presence, activity, or impact of (someone or something) in a place or part of the body; usually with prepositional phrase or adverb as complement.Sometimes (esp. in you get) with predominantly existential meaning, approaching ‘there are’.

ΚΠ

1831 Mechanic's Free Press 19 Feb. One poor fellow got a musquet ball in his leg.

1882 Harper's Mag. July 302/1 And then you get a lot of low trades-unionists and Radicals trying to stir up discontent.

1948 E. Waugh Loved One v. 67 It's mostly the good-style Jews we get here.

1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 28 Knos..was always getting bees in her hair.

1986 R. Sproat Stunning the Punters 80 You get a lot of foreign behind the bar these days.

1999 New Yorker 29 Nov. 111 Mammy ran her fingers over a couple of the poles, and when she got a splinter in her hands she said, Oh, sugar.

2011 Sphere Spring 108/2 We get a lot of Scandinavians, Dutch and, increasingly, Canadians..coming here to play golf.

(a) transitive. To obtain as the proceeds of one's business or employment; to earn.to get a livelihood: see livelihood n.¹ 2a. to get a living: see living n.² 1a.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (transitive)] > earn

earneOE

fangOE

i-earnOE

winc1175

getc1300

betravail1393

to knock out1873

to pull downa1902

to knock down1929

pull1937

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 792 Ich am wel waxen, and wel may eten More þan euere Grim may geten.

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vii. 238 He þat get his fode her with trauaylinge in Treuþe, God ȝiueþ him his blessyng þat his lyflode so swynkeþ.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) liii. 177 Thy mayster hath nothynge but that he geteth with his vyal.

1594 True Trag. Richard III sig. E2 Laie your fingers to worke, and get thereby somewhat to maintaine you.

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. ii. 77 I earne that I eate: get that I weare.

1699 Royal Sufferer: Man. of Medit. & Devotions 32 If thy Labour got it, let thy Wisdom keep it.

1701 D. Defoe True-born Englishman ii. 27 And what they get by Day, they spend by Night.

1781 S. Johnson Pope in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VII. 113 If the money with which he retired was all gotten by himself.

1839 J. L. Motley Morton's Hope II. iv. iii. 137 He is now engaged by a bookseller to write fashionable novels. In that way he gets higher wages than I could afford to give him.

1879 H. George Progress & Poverty (1881) v. ii. 263 To get four dollars a day for parboiling themselves two thousand feet underground.

1927 E. Wallace Feathered Serpent xvii. 218 I was getting a hundred quid for this job..and I couldn't turn him down.

1976 L. Bangs in Creem July 32/1 I lean over and shout in his ear over the booming dub beat: ‘How much money did you get for making this?’

2011 Daily Tel. 22 July 34/2 Not long after, Johan had tracked down a local art dealer and got £800 for his five minutes' work.

(b) intransitive. To earn money, to earn a living. Frequently coupled with spend.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (intransitive)] > earn one's living

liveeOE

get?1529

to earn (also get, make, etc.) a (also one's) living1632

to cut one's own grass1863

?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. viii. sig. g.iij They compell theyr husbandes vnto shamfull craftes to get by.

1698 W. Pope tr. I. Catts in Moral & Polit. Fables 78 Who will get, must Sweat.

1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 205 The Alderman, who gets and spends, And grudges him the Vital Air, Who drives no Trade, and takes no Care.

1807 W. Wordsworth World is too much with Us in Poems I. 122 Late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

1829 J. K. Paulding Tales of Good Woman ix. 95 He received a liberal education, that is at the expense of other people, and got rich by getting and saving.

1921 Christian Cent. 16 June 7/1 Who gets and never gives..breeds A pauper soul.

1974 J. Sochen Herstory xi. 288 Charge accounts, installment buying, easy credit payments, and loans from finance companies led city dwellers into a ceaseless round of getting and spending.

2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 June c20/1 Among the pieces offered at the four-day event, a feverish orgy of getting and spending, were Ms. Herrera's chalk-striped gray flannel suit.

b. transitive. To obtain (an academic or sporting award, or a specified mark or grade). Cf. sense 11b.to get one's colours: see colour n.¹ 19b(a).

ΘΚΠ

society > education > educational administration > examination > examine a candidate [verb (transitive)] > attain a mark

get1857

make1870

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > token of victory or supreme excellence > award token of victory or supreme excellence [verb (transitive)] > receive (a prize)

get1857

to take out1976

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 136 I know I'd sooner win two School-house matches running than get the Balliol scholarship any day.

1869 Malburian 29 Oct. 150/2 Copleston got his colours for his play soon after the match.

1870 C. Dickens Let. 14 Jan. (2002) XII. 466 If he don't get a fellowship at Trinity Hall when his time comes, I shall be disappointed.

1879 Rec. U.S. Naval Inst. 10 Apr. 386 In the 3d class year 46 per cent. cad. mids. got a 3.

1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. xi. 323 You'll get your Third Fifteen cap for a snip.

1919 H. O. Rugg & J. R. Clark Fund. High School Math. (new ed.) vii. 118 4 pupils got F (that is, they failed).

1933 B. Johnston Let. 26 Feb. in Lett. Home 1926–45 (1998) 110 He used to row for New College, but didn't get his blue.

1977 Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. 8/4 The superb Bunner Travers, getting his ninth cap after an interval of 10 years!

1991 Entertainm. Weekly 14 June 41/3 He seems more like that nebbishy guy who got an A in high school calculus.

1992 Face Apr. 46/1 I got a scholarship to a dead posh grammar school and then a degree and all that.

2006 Time Out N.Y. 27 July 70/4 After getting an NEA fellowship to work at the Walker Art Center in 1987.

a. transitive. To obtain as a concession or favour, or by means of pressure, insistence, or entreaty; e.g. to get forgiveness, to get grace, to get leave, to get mercy, to get permission; to get an answer, to get information, etc. Frequently with from, of, out of.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by asking, entreaty, or importunity

getc1330

emprent?c1400

impetrea1450

impetrate1533

importunate1605

to worm (a person) out of1617

exorate1623

wheedle1670

stout1812

c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) l. 545 (MED) Merci getestu [a1450 Cambr. gestow] neuere non Off trespas.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 145 And prayed for to haue a place to wonye inne, and myȝte none gete.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Manciple's Tale (Ellesmere) (1875) Prol. l. 102 Of that mateere ye gete namoore of [c1405 Hengwrt for] me.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 5042 He gettes here forgifnes.

c1480 (a1400) St. Bartholomew 24 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 180 Of þare god gat þai nan answere.

1535 J. ap Rice in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1881) 33 As touching the convent, we coulde geate litle or no reportes.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 209 Who with muche adoe gate leaue to depart from his brother the Erle.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. iii. 13 Where the dead body is bestowd..We cannot get from him.

1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus iii. 2 Is there no iustice to be gotten at the Magistrats hand?

1651 in T. Fuller Abel Redevivus 578 At last through Gods mercy, by importunity he gat his fathers consent.

1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 194. ⁋3 I knocked and called, but could get no Answer.

1738 S. Berington tr. Mem. G. di Lucca 17 Examining the Woman first, to get what we could from her.

1804 W. Tennant Indian Recreat. (ed. 2) I. 280 To..get permission to enter into [his] service.

1814 D. H. O'Brien Narr. Captiv. & Escape 119 Asked if I could have a bed? I could get no answer.

1839 36 Yrs. Seafaring Life 263 A Frenchman never gets a word of French from me..till I see it serves my purpose.

1908 J. Royce Race Questions, Provincialism & other Amer. Probl. i. 28 You complain that such criminals, when they flee from justice, get sympathy from some portion of their ignorant fellows and so are aided to get away.

1964 S. O'Faoláin Vive Moi! 37 A few of us got permission..to leave class..to steal a quick peep through the eyelet hole to see what was going on.

1989 Los Angeles Times 13 Aug. (Calendar section) 70/3 Though the Irish flutist has..offered a reward..he has gotten no response.

2007 S. Dunne Reaper (2009) v. 83 Where has that hack got his information?

†b. transitive. With that-clause as object. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. ccxxiij^v/1 Seynt James..gate that he shold be restored to his lyf.

1556 tr. J. de Flores Histoire de Aurelio & Isabelle sig. N At that tyme was it easey inoughe to gette that the deathe was not geuen vnto Isabell.

a. transitive. To obtain, come to have, attain (something immaterial desired or aimed for); e.g. to get comfort, to get rest, to get sleep; to get one's health, to get one's liberty, to get one's sight, etc.; also to get one's end, to get one's will, etc.to get one's (own) way: see way n.¹ 18b(a).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > as something desired or advantageous

findOE

winc1000

betellc1275

getc1330

reapa1350

craftc1350

attainc1374

achievea1393

embrace?c1475

conquer1477

consecute1536

gain1570

lucrify1570

compass1609

raise1611

lucrate1623

reconcile1665

engage1725

to pull off1860

c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2997 Mi wille ȝif y miȝt gete, Þat leuedi wold y se.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 61 Whan he hadde y-gete his axynge.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 13553 He went and weisse his eien þare, And gat [Vesp. tok] his sight.

c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew 412 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 202 [He] cessis nocht to threte ws al bot gyf his wil he gate.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/1 I trust in God I shall get my desyre of hym.

a1547 H. Latimer in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. App. xcviii. 262 What rest hath he gotten, that is removed from the Stocks in Newgate to the Rack in the Tower?

1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 565 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 277 Alesone on na wayiss gat hir will.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 19 Pittie..got in her breast such place, As [etc.].

1618 W. Raleigh in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1880) 38 When I had gotten my libertye.

1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) i. 19 Killing some of the people when they had got their ends.

1671 Lady M. Bertie Let. in Hist. MSS Comm.: 12th Rep. App. Pt. V: MSS Duke of Rutland (1889) 22 in Parl. Papers (C. 5889–II) XLIV. 393 It was so hard to get room that wee were forced to goe by four a clocke.

1674 S. Vincent Young Gallant's Acad. Ep. Ded. sig. A2^v The other laughs at us when he hath got his ends.

1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 2 I could scarce get one sound nap.

1735 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. V. 83 In what manner this passion..got such footing upon our stage.

1792 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 12/1 I got a very comfortable nap between London and St. Albans.

1809 European Mag. 60 20 He could not get a wink of sleep.

1860 R. C. Trench Synonyms New Test. 1st Ser. (ed. 5) 75 Any benefit which he could have gotten from his books.

1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ii. 74 All it exists for, is to get its ends, to make its points.

1945 P. White Let. 24 Oct. (1994) iii. 63 I expect to return to England at the end of the year, and get my freedom about January.

1964 W. Golding Spire v. 101 He felt his heart hitting his ribs and he rested a while to slow it and get his breath.

2008 New Yorker 23 June 43/2 You're badly upset. Why don't you take a stress pill and get some rest?

b. transitive. With noun of action as object: to succeed in doing, obtain opportunity to do (what the noun implies). Also to get (a) sight of, to get a glance of, to get a glimpse of, to get a peep of; to get (a) hold of (on, upon), to get possession of, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > seizing > seize [verb (transitive)]

gripea900

afangOE

to lay hands (or hand) on or upon (also in, to)OE

repeOE

atfonga1000

keepc1000

fang1016

kip1297

seize1338

to seize on or upon1399

to grip toc1400

rapc1415

to rap and rendc1415

comprise1423

forsetc1430

grip1488

to put (one's) hand(s) on (also in, to, unto, upon)1495

compass1509

to catch hold1520

hap1528

to lay hold (up)on, of1535

seisin?c1550

cly1567

scratch1582

attach1590

asseizea1593

grasp1642

to grasp at1677

collar1728

smuss1736

get1763

pin1768

grabble1796

bag1818

puckerow1843

nobble1877

jump1882

snaffle1902

snag1962

pull1967

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vi. l. 117 (MED) Hit is ful hard..To gete in-goynge at þat ȝat.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 22570 (MED) Vp to þe lift rise sal þe see, þar wit strenght to get entre.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 785 The discurrouris..Of athir host has gottin sicht.

a1547 Earl of Surrey Poems (1964) 25 The palme playe, where, dispoyled for the game, With dased eyes oft we..Haue mist the ball and got sight of our dame.

1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages 253 The Chylde to speik micht scarse get audience.

1580 A. Fleming tr. N. Hemmingsen Epist. Ephesians (vi. 12) 226 We are put in minde, to flie from all and euerie sinne,..least the diuell make claime to his right, and get rule ouer vs againe.

1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 240 You get acquaintance with him by a bare salutation.

1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. ii. i. 34 And though we followed the Blood a good way, yet did not come up with him..to get a second shot.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical vi. 55 We made hard shift to get now and then a Glance at some of them.

1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Luke iv. 37 Where Satan has once gotten an hold..how unwilling is he to be cast out of Possession.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. viii. 222 We were..in hopes of getting sight of the Gloucester.

1763 D. Hume Hist. Eng. (new ed.) VIII. lxvii. 61 Their enemies, they thought,..had got possession of their Sovereign's confidence.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 202 To the west we got a peep..of Swansea Bay.

c1860 H. Stuart Novices or Young Seaman's Catech. (rev. ed.) 47 As soon as the buntlines are bent get a pull of them.

1889 Times (Weekly ed.) 13 Dec. 14/1 Every effort was made..to get speech of the Emperor.

1919 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 9 Dec. (1993) III. 152 Bet I don't get a sniff of that £7. She's furious with me!

1960 Observer 17 Jan. 12/6 I got a taste of his flimflammery the first time I met him.

2004 Vanity Fair June 213/1 She smiles, a sloe-eyed, let's party grin, and I get a glimpse of the girl she was at the time of the crimes.

†a. intransitive. With non-referential it as subject. To be of advantage, to profit. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 4025 What gette it al to tellen here? Arthur & Ban..So michel pople..slowe, Þat her enemis hem wiþdrowe.

b. intransitive. To derive profit; to gain, be a gainer, esp. by something. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > be advantageous or beneficial [verb (intransitive)] > derive benefit

to be the betterOE

profit1340

getc1390

advancec1405

gain1575

benefit1623

to have (also get, want, etc.) a run for one's money1874

c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) l. 1072 Ac wolde he of þe appel ete, Þenne þou seidest he hedde igete.

1544 A. Cope Hist. Anniball & Scipio lviii. f. 110^v I hadde leauer to gette by my deedes than by my woordes.

1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations 93 Yet was no man pinched in his goodes, or lost any thing, but rather got by it.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iv. iii. 32 We mourne, France smiles: We loose, they dayly get .

1679 W. Penn Addr. Protestants ii. 156 Doing as ill Gamesters are wont to do, get by using false Dice.

1686 E. Waller Poems (ed. 5) 235 Like Jewels to advantage set, Her Beauty by the shade does get.

1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xxv. 315 Whether our East-india Company got or lost by that War, I know not.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. x. 101 People who keep lodgings at public places expect to get by every one who comes into their purlieus.

1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 44 The guardians of the temple, as they got by the self-delusion, were ready to believe him too.

a1871 A. Cary in A. Cary & P. Cary Poet. Wks. (1877) 183 He hath no gain who does not get by giving.

1922 H. J. Desmond Short Cuts to Wisdom 10 It is the program of generous and expansive natures. And they seem to get by giving.

2005 C. Logue Cold Calls 29 The Prince: ‘I get by everything I see. Their war is lost.’

c. transitive. To obtain (much, little, nothing, etc.) by way of profit; to be benefited or advantaged to the extent of; to gain.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain by way of profit or benefit

get1490

1490 W. Caxton tr. Boke yf Eneydos liii. sig. Kv^v We that dyde fyghte ayenst the Troyens..Gatte nor wanne therby nothynge.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 356 When he had made the best agreement with them that he could, he gate but little by them.

1596 B. Griffin Fidessa xlv. sig. D7 I pray you tell me what doe I get by it?

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. i. 62 They neuer meet but there's a skirmish of wit betweene them. Beat. Alas he gets nothing by that.

1677 G. Miege New Dict. French & Eng. ii. sig. V2/3 I got nothing by it, je n'y ai rien gagné.

1750 tr. R.-A. F. de Réaumur Art of hatching Domestick Fowls viii. 336 There is great benefit to be got by feeding hens rather with boiled than with dry barley.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia V. x. vi. 296 He soon finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading.

1841 T. P. Thompson Exercises (1842) VI. 244 Is it that I have ever gotten anything by taking the manufacturers' side?

1869 A. Trollope He knew he was Right I. xxv. 194 It was little enough she got by marrying him... But it was a love-match.

1923 T. Veblen Absentee Ownership ii. 29 Civilised mankind is divided against itself in a predator scramble to get something for nothing.

1955 ‘P. Wentworth’ Listening Eye xxxv. 266 What—he was to be the dogsbody, to do what he was told, to take the most damnable risks, and to get nothing—nothing after all!

2004 Business Rev. Weekly 17 June 58/3 They begin suing the alleged infringers, hoping to get a big return on their investment through damages for patent infringement.

†d. transitive. Of a clock or watch: to run fast by the amount of (a specified period). Also intransitive: to gain, become fast. Obsolete (English regional (midlands) in later use.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [verb (transitive)] > lose or gain time

get1675

lose1955

1675 J. Smith Horol. Dialogues iii. 67 If it [sc. a pendulum of a clock] be let go the year round, it shall in one half year gain or lose what it lost or got in the other.

1736 E. Purefoy in Let. 15 June in Purefoy Lett. (1931) II. 242 Its fault is it gets above an hour in 24 tho' you turn the spring as backward as may be.

1763 N. Maskelyne in Philos. Trans. 1762 (Royal Soc.) 52 440 The clock got 4^m 1^s, upon mean time, in two days.

1879 Norfolk Archaeol. 8 170 My watch get wonderfully.

a1895 E. Smith MS Coll. Warwicks. Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 601/2 This clock gets more than half an hour in a week.

1896 G. F. Northall Warwickshire Word-bk. 91 This watch begins to get.

10.

a. transitive. To win (a victory), to gain the favourable issue of (a battle, a field of combat, a match, etc.). Also: †to win (a bet) (obsolete).to get the day: see day n. 13. to get the gree: see gree n.¹ 5.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > win (a victory or battle)

overcomec1275

getc1330

win1338

vanquisha1400

conquerc1475

conquest1485

obtain1530

import1598

gain1725

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > win (any contest or prize) > win (a prize, etc.)

to bear awayc1325

getc1330

winc1330

to go away with1489

to carry away1565

carry1570

to bear off?1615

to carry off1680

to take out1976

c1330 Horn Child l. 462 in J. Hall King Horn (1901) 184 At iustes & at turnament..euer þai gat þe gre.

a1425 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Galba) l. 25367 (MED) He þat victori may gete Sall be corond [with] wirschippes grete.

1520 Chron. Eng. i. f. 7/1 Y^e chyldren of Israel gate ye victory agaynst Jabyn.

1578 W. B. tr. Appian of Alexandria Aunc. Hist. Romanes Warres ii. 109 They..sware..neuer to returne from the fielde, vnlesse they gette the fyghte.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) i. iv. 1 The Army of the Queene hath got the field.

1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. x. 259 Had Charles gotten the Battail, it is very probable, that England had been the price of the victory.

1737 L. Clarke Compl. Hist. Bible I. ix. 580 For Lathyrus having gotten the Victory, pursued it to the utmost.

1766 H. Lloyd Hist. Late War Germany I. 81 (note) His lordship..advanced, and broke the enemy's line, which got the battle.

1800 J. Woodforde Diary 11 Mar. (1931) V. 243 I got my bet with my Niece.

1838 J. F. Cooper Home as Found II. ii. 29 One who is full of fight can never get the battle on his own terms.

a1859 W. Irving Chron. Fernan Gonzalez viii. in Span. Papers (1866) I. 305 If we attack them and close manfully, we shall get the field of them before they have time to hurl their darts and wound us.

1905 Washington Post 18 Apr. 9/2 Fred Beel, of Wisconsin, to-night got the match on a foul.

1966 Black Belt Apr. 38/2 The player who has made 10 kicks might get the match.

2011 C. Kultgen Men, Women & Children 293 Even though we didn't get the win tonight, you guys should all be proud of a great season and a great last game.

b. transitive. To obtain (a position of superiority or advantage over another person). Cf. to get of —— at Phrasal verbs 2.to get the better of: see better n.¹ 3. to get the better hand: see hand n. Phrases 2i(a). to get a good hand against: see hand n. Phrases 2i(b). to get the over hand (of): see overhand n. to get the start of: see start n.² Phrases 3. to get the sun of: see sun n.¹ Phrases 2c(b). to get the upper hand (of): see upper hand n. 1. to get the wind of: see wind n.¹ 3b.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military operations > manoeuvre > [verb (transitive)] > other manoeuvres

geta1400

to get the sun of1598

to get the back of1653

attenda1674

unmask1779

the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > [verb (transitive)] > track or perceive using sense of smell

i-stinkc1000

smellc1175

smakec1220

feelc1225

asmellc1320

savoura1382

scenta1425

winda1425

get1530

vent1575

nose1577

smell1608

resent1614

snuff1697

to get (also take, pick up) the scent1723

to carry scent1753

find1827

snuffle1871

flair1919

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)]

overcomeeOE

forecomec1000

overwieldlOE

masterc1225

overmaistrie1340

overmatcha1375

overpassa1382

surmount1390

to have the fairer (of)c1400

maistriec1400

overmasterc1425

winc1440

overc1485

bestride1526

rixlec1540

overreach1555

control1567

overmate1567

govern1593

to give (a person) the lurch1598

get1600

to gain cope of1614

top1633

to fetch overa1640

down1641

to have the whip hand (of)1680

carberry1692

to cut down1713

to be more than a match for1762

outflank1773

outmaster1799

outgeneral1831

weather1834

best1839

fore-reach1845

to beat a person at his (also her, etc.) own game1849

scoop1850

euchrec1866

bemaster1871

negotiate1888

to do down1900

to get (someone) wetc1926

lick1946

society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > get into the current of the wind [verb (transitive)] > get or keep weather gauge of

to have the weather of1526

to gain, get, or take the wind of1563

get1600

to give, have the wind of1600

to recover the wind of1604

weather-gauge1892

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2508 (MED) Þai lete þairs was þe land Fra þai had geten þe ouer-hand.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 2236 Þer was noon so manly nor so sage, Þat koude on hir geten avauntage.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/2 I get the upper hande of one, I overcome hym, je vaincs.

1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Resurrection, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 434 He [Christ] hath..overcome the devil, death, and hell, and hath victoriously gotten the better hand of them all.

1568 E. Tilney Brief Disc. Mariage (new ed.) sig. Dv^v By conquest getting y^e upper hande.

?1574 C. Vitell tr. H. Niclaes Dicta iv. 10 In that thou hast gotten the Dominion ouer mee, therto hast thou begyled mee with thy Falshod.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. vii. vii. 253 The other armie..got a good hand against their enemies.

1618 T. Gainsford True Hist. P. Warbeck 8 Where the imposturing of Priests hath got the vpper hand of all religion and piety.

1682 E. Hickeringill Black Non-Conformist Postscr. sig. Y You have got the whipping hand of him.

1684 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 316 Haveing gott the ascendant of him.

1712 A. Pope in Spectator No. 408 If a Man suffers them [sc. the passions] to get the upper Hand.

1718 Mem. Life J. Kettlewell iii. cx. 464 He got the Mastery of his Passions.

1727 tr. A. Dacier in tr. Plutarch Lives VII. 295 Libertinism and Vice must be very predominant indeed to get the better Hand of such powerful Rivals.

1837 E. Colthurst Futurity 80 The tempter won't be let to get the better hand of any one that God has an order over.

1883 Morning Post 20 June 2/5 If they did not take care America would get the superiority.

1926 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Nov. 129 There was no competition except the scenery. After all, almost any woman's got it on a mountain.

1999 M. Frayn Headlong (2000) 290 Slowly my fears begin to recede, and my hopes once again get the upper hand. Everything's possible!

2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Nov. c3/4 But in 2002, ‘retailers panicked and felt if they started earlier they might get first-mover advantage over competitors’, he said.

c. transitive. Horse Racing. To hold out for, to stay (a specified distance).

ΚΠ

1857 Observer 24 May 3/3 Loyola, of whom such great hopes were entertained after his Cherwell race, has given too convincing a proof of his inability to get over a mile.

1898 A. E. T. Watson Turf vii. 148 There are not a few horses that cannot fairly ‘get’ even five furlongs.

1898 Daily News 17 Oct. 3/3 He will..be opposed by plenty of candidates who can get the Cambridgeshire course.

1907 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 3/3 Only a wonder of a horse can ‘get’ those four miles and a half of ditches and fences.

1975 Guardian 29 Sept. 19/3 Jeremy expects the horse to get the Cesarewitch course and in that case, it is going to prove very hard to find one to beat him.

2013 Northern Echo 4 May 58 You can't be too confident, but the horse is bred to get a mile and I am convinced he can.

11.

a. transitive. To earn, win, or acquire (something immaterial arising in the minds or hearts of other people, such as credit, fame, favour, glory, love, renown, etc.).to get oneself a name: see name n. 8b.

ΚΠ

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 340 (MED) So schaltow gete goddes loue.

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. x. 206 Fyndlynges and lyȝers, Vn-Gracios to gete loue or eni good elles.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2546 Mikel it was þat luffeword þan þat abram gat o mani man.

c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew 415 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 202 He fawndyt myn wil for to gate.

1485 W. Caxton tr. Paris & Vienne (1957) 2 Bothe..wente euer to gyder there as they knewe ony Ioustyng..for to gete honour.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 40 He gat himselfe thereby small or little fauour.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 119 If I get your daughters loue, What dowrie shall I haue.

1622 (?a1513) W. Dunbar Poems (Reidpeth) (1998) I. 176 That ȝe may gett ane bettir name.

1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 188 No more approach her..much lesse get the good will of her friends.

1680 T. Otway Orphan i. 3 To send them forth where Glory's to be gotten.

1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 36 By large Quotations..borrowed from Burton's Melancholy..get the Reputation of profound Scholars.

1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison VI. lvi. 372 I had much rather have been in the company..than grubbing pens in my closet; and all to get nothing but discommendation.

1772 S. Paterson Joineriana II. 116 A skilful master in the science of defence—who gets fame, in getting himself in wind, before he mounts in earnest.

1822 J. Galt Provost xxv. 188 By this method,..I got great praise and laud from all reflecting people.

1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley's Secret I. viii. 127 The prettiest woman in Essex would have a poor chance of getting much admiration out of my friend, George Talboys.

a1871 A. Cary in A. Cary & P. Cary Poet. Wks. (1877) 158/1 We must love our neighbor to get his love.

1908 Lit. Guide 1 Aug. 121/1 A Rationalist or an Ethicist can seldom get credit for what he does, however good his intentions.

1964 Guardian 19 June 10/3 What is so strange about young people breaking chairs at rock concerts or fighting in public to get attention?

2013 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 10 Jan. (Sports section) 56 Clemens barked that he couldn't care less about the Hall of Fame. ‘I didn't play my career to get fame.’

b. transitive. In various games: to make (a certain score); to score (so many points, runs, goals, etc.); in Cards, to take (so many tricks). Also: (Cricket) to take (a wicket), to take the wicket of.Early examples of to get the goal may be in the sense of gaining the object of the game: see goal n. 3, 4.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > score

get1634

make1680

score1742

notch1836

steal1836

to put up1860

rattle1860

to put on1865

tally1875

net1907

to rack up1921

slam1959

1634 W. Wood New Englands Prospect ii. xiv. 86 Sometimes also it is two dayes before they get a Goale, then they marke the ground they winne, and beginne there the next day.

1645 W. Bagwell Distressed Merchant xiii. 24 When thou a good game hast, thou bend'st thy wits Thy game to play well, to get many trickes.

a1672 F. Willughby Bk. of Games (2003) 151 Hee that gets 3, or the 2 first, is said to Beast him that plaies.

1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Slam, a Trick; also a Game entirely lost without getting one on that side.

1710 Brit. Apollo 13–15 Feb. The Party..got..the Odd Trick.

1731 London Evening-post 24 Aug. The Duke's Hands came in first, and got 79 before they were out.

1800 Sporting Mag. 16 186/1 The eldest hand..if he thinks..that he can get five tricks or more, played as at Whist, says Boston.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 387 We have'nt got the best wicket yet.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 397 Only seventeen runs to get with four wickets—the game is all but ours!

1882 Daily Tel. 24 June Play was very slow,..twenty minutes being consumed in getting ten runs.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 231/2 Many a bad ball gets a wicket.

1907 W. S. Maugham Explorer (1909) iii. 50 ‘I can't make it out,’ he cried. ‘I play much better than you, and I hold better hands, and yet you get the tricks.’

1912 A. A. Lilley Twenty-four Years Cricket (1914) x. 164 The substantial support Trumper received..left us 194 to get to win.

1930 C. V. Grimmett (title) Getting wickets.

1971 Sunday Express 31 Oct. 31/3 He could not get the goal he sought so eagerly.

2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 4 Aug. d8/3 The rules are simple: The first wrestler to get three points wins.

†12. transitive. With double object. To give or provide (something) to a person. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 5238 (MED) Sonis tuin..his wijf him bare, þat þe king had getin [a1400 Trin. Cambr. geten, a1400 Vesp. gin, a1400 Fairf. gyuyn] him þar.

a1425 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Galba) l. 29047 (MED) Oure lord crist..Gat vs ensaumple forto fast.

1607 (?a1425) Chester Plays (Harl. 2124) ii. 388 After that ghost he them geete [v.r. gette], ryse out of their graves he them leet [v.r. lette].

13.

a. transitive. To capture, gain possession of (a fortress, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > capture or acquire by conquest

i-wina1000

wina1122

fang?c1200

catchc1275

conquer1297

geta1400

stealc1400

conquer1475

conquest1485

conques1488

evict1560

carry1579

intake1646

constrain1700

capture1796

a1400 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Egerton) (1927) l. 1901 Without oure help þou getest it [sc. Troy] neuer.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1453 Þen..Gais him furth to Gasa..& sesis it be-lyue; And quen þis Gasa was geten he graythis him swyth, And Ioynes him toward Ierusalem.

1477 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 502 The Frenshe Kynge hathe gothen many off the townys off the Dukys off Borgoyne.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxj^v Without spedy aide..the whole countrey were like to be gotten from his possession.

1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xiv. viii. 208 Neuerthelesse the Kings fortresse..was not gotten but by fight.

1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 159 And when the city Troy we shall have got.

1727 Magna Britannia IV. 58/2 Some of them he got by Siege, as the Castles of Hereford, Gloucester, &c.

1798 C. Cruttwell New Universal Gazetteer III. at York The walls had suffered so much from the assaults of war, that Osbright..got the city without any difficulty.

1803 Marquess Wellesley Let. 4 Mar. in Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) III. 26 If Darwar is not to be got by force, I shall, at least, try what I can do by fair means and threats.

1886 C. Mair Tecumseh ii. ii. 51 Some thet warn't thar skinned out o' the kentry, end got lands from the British up to the Thames River in Canady.

1905 Rosary Mag. Nov. 481/1 If they could only get Rome, the City of the Emperors..their desires would be satisfied.

1975 K. M. Setton in H. W. Hazard Hist. Crusades III. vii. 251 Any fool could see that his confinement was not helping them to get the city, and there were few fools in the Venetian senate.

2004 D. Tal War in Palestine 1948 v. 201 It was not only the desire to get Jerusalem that led Ben-Gurion to invest huge efforts in the fighting against the Arab Legion.

b. transitive. Sport. To secure possession or control of (the ball).

ΚΠ

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 399 Arthur gets the ball again, and actually drives it forward for two.

1867 Routledge's Handbk. Football 38 When a player has the ball, any of the opposite side may..get the ball from him.

1891 Manitoba Daily Free Press 31 Aug. 5/4 In the face off Barber got the ball.

1900 A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 257 Supposing..one of the centres on the four side gets the ball.

1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes i. 7 I was a reserve tackle, clearly an inappropriate assignment for a college fullback who could score just about any time he got the ball.

2008 J. Kelman Kieron Smith, Boy (2009) 124 Trying to dribble him, ye could not..He just stuck out his foot and got the ball.

14.

a. transitive. To get hold of, capture (a person).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > seizing > catching or capture > catch or capture [verb (transitive)]

i-lecchec1000

fang1016

hentOE

takeOE

alatchlOE

catchc1275

wina1300

to take ina1387

attain1393

geta1400

overhent?a1400

restay?a1400

seizea1400

tachec1400

arrest1481

carrya1500

collara1535

snap1568

overgo1581

surprise1592

nibble1608

incaptivate1611

nicka1640

cop1704

chop1726

nail1735

to give a person the foot1767

capture1796

hooka1800

sniba1801

net1803

nib1819

prehend1831

corral1860

rope1877

a1400 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Egerton) (1927) l. 722 He swereþ he wol ete no meete Til he may hur [sc. Elene] with strengþ gete.

a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 25 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Many of them bee such Losells and scatterlings, as that they cannot easily by any Sheriffe..bee gotten.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. iv. 37 The Plebeians haue got your Fellow Tribune, And hale him vp and downe.

1742 Proc. Old Bailey 3 June 103/1 A Gentleman came to me about 9 at Night, and desired I would go and fetch a Constable, for he had got the Thief.

1893 W. L. Chittenden Ranch Verses 132 Our Sheriff gets the drop, sir, and he likewise gets his man.

1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xi. 123 ‘There's one thing: they might have written something worse.’ ‘They wrote the worst insult they knew,’ said Robert wryly. ‘I suppose you haven't got the culprits?’

1981 M. King Framework of Criminal Justice i. 1 The detective who always ‘gets his man’ and the defence lawyer who always ‘wins his case’ have become part of the mythology of criminal justice.

b. To have a physically damaging or destructive effect on (a person).See also to be out to get (a person) at Phrases 2i.

(a) transitive. Of a natural force, a predator, etc.: to obtain as a victim; to consume, destroy, or defeat.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > absence of movement > hold or holding > hold [verb (transitive)] > lay hold of or grasp > suddenly or forcibly

catcha1250

titc1330

beclapc1386

clutch1393

clitcha1400

cleekc1440

cletch1612

click1651

get1831

to seize hold of1839

1831 Englishman's Mag. June 342 Down he went—the d—d shirk [= shark] had got him at last.

1858 R. T. S. Lowell New Priest in Conception Bay xxii. 214 The sea, that had had so much wickedness done on it, got that boy.

1908 Daily Chron. 16 Sept. 7/5 This climate is sure to get a white man sooner or later.

1948 H. E. Bates Purple Plain (new ed.) v The sort of look people gave you when they thought that at last the sun had got you.

1950 Life 17 July 101/1/ If..you ran for half an hour and then it [sc. an atomic bomb] went off, it would still get you.

1967 M. Meyer Ibsen (1974) i. ii. 75 Whatever you turn your back on gets you in the end.

1988 New Scientist 21 July 24/2 It is the fatigue caused by the relentless battering of waves that gets them in the end.

(b) transitive. Originally U.S. Of a person: to succeed in killing; to kill, esp. by shooting or stabbing.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > manage to secure (a result) > succeed in taking, catching, or killing

get1839

1839 D. P. Thompson Green Mountain Boys I. i. 24 Wolf jump high, catch um away—now rifle all gone—no get um.

1853 ‘P. Paxton’ Stray Yankee in Texas 118 [A Texan] does not kill his game, he saves or gets it, or makes it come.

1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin vii. 138 They'll get you one of these days, Colonel, when you are driving around in your wagon.

1907 C. E. Mulford Bar-20 iii. 33 The man..was dead. Buck got him immediately after he had shot Johnny.

1917 ‘S. Rohmer’ Hand of FuManchu (1920) viii. 65 I turned, dizzily, to see Fletcher sinking to his knees, one hand clutching his breast. ‘She got me…with the knife,’ he whispered.

1932 W. H. Auden Orators iii. 108 The agent clutching his side collapsed at our feet, ‘Sorry! They got me!’

1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse xxiii. 334 He never told me whether he was implicated in the attempt to ‘get’ Guillermo, or not.

1998 P. Jooste Dance with Poor Man's Daughter (1999) xii. 210 They're coming with sticks and knives to get his killers.

(c) transitive. To injure, harm, or cause trouble to (a person), esp. in retribution for an injury or wrong; to ‘get even’ with. Chiefly in threats.See also to be out to get (a person) at Phrases 2i.

ΚΠ

1896 J. Fox in Cent. Mag. June 320/1 The boys was a-goin' up the river one night to git ole Dave Hall fer trickin' Rosie Branham into evil.

1907 Indianapolis Sun 14 Nov. 7/3 ‘I'll get you for that!’ threatened Bill Coughlin, as he was given the bump in rounding first base and knocked out of his stride.

1922 S. Lewis Babbitt x. 141 Of all the rotten dumps that pass 'emselves off as first-class hotels, that's the worst. I'm going to get those guys, one of these days.

1939 N. Langley et al. Wizard of Oz (film script) (1989) 58 I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys E. London 152 I heard this fellow was calling me names... My mates said, ‘You going to get him?’

1987 Washington Post 18 Sept. b4/3 Cal Jr...flipped the whole plate on his old man's shirt. And Cal Sr., covered with ick.., vowed, as all fathers do, ‘Someday I'll get you for this.’

2001 S. Cowley Getting Buggers to Behave v. xiii. 157 I'm gonna get you after school, you ****.

(d) transitive. To hit or injure with a weapon or bullet; to disable, defeat, or overcome in a struggle.

ΚΠ

1900 E. Glyn Visits of Elizabeth 50 She did not hit any rabbits, but she got a gardener in the leg.

1914 J. Driscoll Out-fighting iii. 52 He will..assuredly attempt to ‘get you’ with a mighty swing.

1918 Stars & Stripes 1 Mar. 1/2 Instructors in those two manly arts [sc. boxing and wrestling] are going to travel round to every unit.., putting the men hep who are not hep to the best way in which to get the other fellow.

1962 Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 28 May a21/2 He wanted to get somebody... He gave me a spike, so I hit him.

1979 A. Sillitoe Storyteller i. i. 16 His foot ached where a piece of shrapnel had got it during the war.

1992 R. Kenan Let Dead bury their Dead ii. 39 He just fell over on his side like a spent toy. Mr. John Edgar got him square in the head.

c. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To concern, worry, or annoy.Frequently in what gets me and variants.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > be annoyed or vexed by [verb (transitive)] > annoy or vex

gremec893

dretchc900

awhenec1000

teenOE

fretc1290

annoyc1300

atrayc1320

encumberc1330

diseasec1340

grindc1350

distemperc1386

offenda1387

arra1400

avexa1400

derea1400

miscomforta1400

angerc1400

engrievec1400

vex1418

molesta1425

entrouble?1435

destroublea1450

poina1450

rubc1450

to wring (a person) on the mailsc1450

disprofit1483

agrea1492

trouble1515

grig1553

mis-set?1553

nip?1553

grate1555

gripe1559

spitec1563

fike?1572

gall1573

corsie1574

corrosive1581

touch1581

disaccommodate1586

macerate1588

perplex1590

thorn1592

exulcerate1593

plague1595

incommode1598

affret1600

brier1601

to gall or tread on (one's) kibes1603

discommodate1606

incommodate1611

to grate on or upon1631

disincommodate1635

shog1636

ulcerate1647

incommodiate1650

to put (a person) out of his (her, etc.) way1653

discommodiate1654

discommode1657

ruffle1659

regrate1661

disoblige1668

torment1718

pesta1729

chagrin1734

pingle1740

bothera1745

potter1747

wherrit1762

to tweak the nose of1784

to play up1803

tout1808

rasp1810

outrage1818

worrit1818

werrit1825

buggerlug1850

taigle1865

get1867

to give a person the pip1881

to get across ——1888

nark1888

eat1893

to twist the tail1895

dudgeon1906

to tweak the tail of1909

sore1929

to put up1930

wouldn't it rip you!1941

sheg1943

to dick around1944

cheese1946

to pee off1946

to honk off1970

to fuck off1973

to tweak (a person's or thing's) tail1977

to tweak (a person's or thing's) nose1983

to wind up1984

to dick about1996

to-teen-

1867 B. Harte Condensed Novels 280 To have let bigger things go by, and to be taken in by this cheap trick..is what gets me.

1884 A. E. Sweet & J. A. Knox On Mexican Mustang through Texas xxvii. 356 Well, it just gets me, it do!

1890 Congress. Rec. 4933/2 That is what gets me; I can not stand that.

1904 W. H. Smith Promoters xii. 190 I wish to the Lord he hadn't been so quick about it. That's what gets me.

1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. xvii. 103 What do you know about that..? Wouldn't it come and get you?

1925 W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xxix. 286 ‘Do you think he minds?’ ‘I know he doesn't. But it gets me.’

1960 B. Cobb Don't lie to Police ix. 149 It got me—her talking that way.

2005 Big Issue (S. Afr.) Feb. 42/5 What gets me is how much all this pomp and circumstance is costing us!

d. transitive. Cricket. To dismiss (a batter).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > dismissal of batsman > put out [verb (transitive)]

to put out1735

take1828

to get out1833

remove1843

to send back1870

dismiss1875

out1899

get1901

1901 Daily Chron. 7 June 8/4 Jones getting Bland at square-leg.

1911 E. W. Ballantine in Evening News 18 Dec. 1/3 I see Hordern got Woolley with a ‘wrong 'un’.

2013 Sunday Herald (Nexis) 19 May (Sport section) 14 But Southee bowled Bairstow with an inswinger, then got Prior for the second time in the match.

e. transitive. colloquial. To arouse deep emotions in (a person); to enthral, attract, appeal to.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > attention > attracting attention > engage the attention [verb (transitive)] > hold attention, absorb

swallowc1330

deepc1380

dare1547

suspend1561

preoccupy1567

devour1568

to swallow up1581

enwrap1589

invest1601

steep1603

to take up1603

spell1646

possess1653

enchain1658

engross1661

absorb1749

fix1752

rivet1762

fascinate1782

spell-bind1808

arrest1814

mesmerize1862

to turn on1903

get1913

consume1999

1913 R. Brooke Let. 20 Nov. (1968) 532 It's the Rhythm that gets you.

1916 To-Day 11 Nov. 50/3 The ‘curtain’ on that dog walking across the stage and sticking his cold nose into the hand of his lonely master always used to get me.

1928 F. N. Hart Bellamy Trial i. 6 ‘It [sc. murder]'s always interested me more than anything else.’.. ‘Well, don't let it get you. I'd just keep it as a hobby.’

1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock ii. i. 68 ‘It gets you,’ the Boy said, ‘it gets you,’ surrendering himself to the huge brazen suggestion.

1958 B. Hamilton Too Much of Water xi. 243 ‘How was it that the 'Dichterliebe' made you cry?’ ‘I can't answer that. Somehow it got me.’

2013 Evening Standard (Palmerston North, N.Z.) (Nexis) 3 Aug. 20 There's something about Martinborough sauvignon blanc which gets me every time.

15.

a. transitive. To acquire (knowledge, etc.) by study or experience.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > [verb (transitive)]

learnc900

undernimc1000

lerec1220

knowc1390

apprehenda1398

geta1400

learna1400

to take forth1530

to take out1550

a1400 Cato's Distichs (Fairf.) l. 209 in R. Morris Cursor Mundi (1878) III. App. iv. 1672 Þe man þat is harde witte gode clergis mai gitte, wiþ-in lite ȝeres.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. iv. 7 In al thi possessioun gete thou [a1382 E.V. purchace thou] prudence.

1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xiii. f. 48^v A man may nat be an oratour heaped with praise, but if he haue gotten the knowlege of all thynge.

1577 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) Pref. i. p. cx I gat some knowledge of things by letters and pamphlets.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. v. 21 Reason is not..gotten by Experience onely.

1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xxvii. 360 Solomon..bids us get wisdom rather then gold.

1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vii. xi. 155 Some old Ideas may be lost, and some new ones got.

1796 F. Burney Camilla I. i. v. 94 I shan't so much mind her getting a little learning, because she's not likely to make much hand of it.

1864 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta 297 In such wise I gat knowledge of the Gods.

1868 C. Clarke Relig. & Duty 255 That knowledge which is gotten at school.

1925 Rotarian Feb. 38 Wherever you find them they are busy proving that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing—but not making any effort to get more understanding.

1959 N. M. Taylor Early Travellers N.Z. 350 He was one of the few collectors of Maori lore..who got their knowledge direct from the Maori.

2009 Jrnl. Relig. & Health 48 537 ‘You know, you get wisdom three ways,’ he mused. ‘By meditation; by drugs; and by just getting fucking old.’

b. transitive. to get knowledge (intelligence, †wit, etc.) of: to learn of, receive information of. Cf. to get wind of at wind n.¹ 17b.

ΚΠ

c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 54 (MED) Þay went & helde þam in hidils ay till þay myȝte gete knaweynge of Alexander will.

1577 R. Willes in R. Willes & R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Hist. Trauayle W. & E. Indies Epist. sig. (.).iiii You shal neyther be able to get intelligences of the situation and strength of any citie, nor of the limites and boundes of any countrey.

1591 W. Raleigh Let. 16 Oct. (1999) 57 This is the very trewth I asure your lordship before the livinge God as nire as wee can sett down or gett knowledge of.

c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 45 The governour gettand witt therof, past with his cumpany and saigit the samyn.

1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 128 His wife had already gotten some small knowledge of this matter.

1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. II. xlii. 461 The duke of Parma, who had gotten intelligence of their approach.

1816 Catholicon 3 63/2 Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Stillingfleet had got knowledge of his lodging, and resolv'd to have him taken up (and persecuted as a priest) the very next morning.

1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights II. ii. 26 When I first looked into his face I perceived that he had got intelligence of the catastrophe.

1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 633/2 I thought if you had been sending for money, and thae burglars had got wit of it—.

1916 J. O. Evjen Scand. Immigrants N.Y. ii. 156 The city authorities got knowledge of the matter.

1967 N.Y. Times 11 June (Mag.) If we got intelligence of V.C. at Buon Ya Soup, about 30 clicks..away, it would take us a day and a half to get there.

2010 Classical Q. 60 251 The Phoenicians used the Little Bear for navigation before the Greeks got knowledge of it from Thales.

c. transitive. To learn, ascertain.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > be informed of

hearc950

witc1000

haveOE

learnc1175

undergoc1290

takea1333

receivec1400

aherec1450

partakea1593

get1608

intelligence1637

to get wind of1809

to take away1839

1608 T. Middleton Mad World, my Masters ii. sig. E4 Faith from discourse, yet all the pollicie That I could vse, I could not get her name.

1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 122 He findeth that the unlearned and carelesse multitude hath got his name.

1737 L. Clarke Compl. Hist. Bible I. i. 51 Abraham having got the Price, never offers to beat it down.

1765 L. Sterne Let. 23 Aug. in Lett. 1765–8 (2009) 450 Having got my direction from my wife's banker..he wrote me word that he was in love with my daughter.

1845 J. H. Ingraham Cruiser of Mist vii. 35 He resolved, if tact and art could do it, to possess himself of the confidence of the commander and get the secret.

1866 B. Taylor Story of Kennett xxxii. 384 Says I to him, The door 's open, even accordin' to the Doctor's words; and so it is, for he 's got his true name.

1922 C. K. Scott-Moncrieff tr. M. Proust Swann's Way I. 21 Francoise told us after he had left that she had got it from his coachman that he had been dining ‘with a princess’.

1979 Observer 2 Sept. 10 You cannot get the Arab opinion by sitting and talking to Jews.

1995 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 18 Jan. 35 For older cars it was pretty simple. You rang the dealer or the maker, got the key code, and trotted down to your friendly key cutter.

(a) transitive. colloquial. To understand (a person, the meaning of something). See also get it? at Phrases 2d(d).Frequently (originally U.S.) with a pronoun as object.

ΚΠ

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vi. 347 Arthur saw that he had got his point.

1907 M. C. Harris Tents of Wickedness i. iii. 33 ‘I don't get her,’ she murmured, as if Leonora was a telephone number.

1911 Postville (Iowa) Rev. 24 Nov. 3/4 Here is a fine new word, ‘motorcade’. Do you get it?

1913 J. London Valley of Moon i. vii When I go after anything I get it, an' if anything gets in between it gets hurt. D'ye get that?

1915 H. L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap (1917) viii. 149 ‘I want all parties here to get that.’ ‘Say no more please. It's quite understood.’

1918 P. G. Wodehouse Piccadilly Jim xi. 114 I get you not, friend. Supply a few footnotes.

1923 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean vi. 106 ‘I get you, sir,’ respectfully answered Judson.

1928 F. N. Hart Bellamy Trial v. 166 I have a first-class opportunity..if you get what I mean.

1937 ‘J. Bell’ Murder in Hosp. vii. 136 ‘I'd go about it rather quietly if I were you...’ ‘I get you,’ said Thornton.

1956 I. Bromige Enchanted Garden II. ii. 93 Fiona broke into peals of laughter and became quite helpless for a few moments. ‘Don't get it,’ said Julian.

1988 D. Waters Heathers (film script) (O.E.D. Archive) 52 I don't get the point of me writing a suicide note.

2003 Attitude Jan. 104/2 ‘Maybe I don't get you,’ she replies, matter-of-factly. ‘You do,’ he explodes. ‘You do get me, you just don't want to get me because I am too intensified for you!’

(b) intransitive in sense 15d(a).

ΚΠ

1948 ‘J. Bell’ Wonderful Mrs Marriott xxi. 273 Oh, I get. The Condover Court lady.

1966 ‘M. Innes’ Change of Heir ii. 14 Okay, okay. I get. Norval. My name is Norval.

2009 W. Etheridge Runda 242 Okay, okay, I get. I'll keep my mouth shut.

e. transitive. colloquial. To notice, look at (a person, esp. one who is conceited or laughable); usually mockingly in imperative with a pronoun as object.

ΚΠ

1912 G. Ade Knocking Neighbors 129 Get me!.. Pipe the lid!

1958 News Chron. 22 May 4/4 If he is conceited the girls mutter get yew!

1967 H. Dalmas Fowler Formula (1968) i. 16 It was almost like hearing himself say, ‘Get me! I had a special invitation to the Universal party this afternoon.’

2004 J. Burchill Sugar Rush (2005) 79 I believe the words ‘Get her!’, ‘Up-herself bitch!’ and ‘Slag!’ were tossed from some sorely envious quarters, but we didn't stop to argue.

16.

a. transitive. To receive, meet with, or suffer (a fall, blow, defeat, etc.). Also intransitive: (with implied object) †to be struck on a specified part of the body (with on, over, etc.).to get upon the finger ends: see finger end n. Phrases 6. to get the worst: see worst adj. and n. Phrases 1c.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > adversity > suffer (adversity or affliction) [verb (transitive)]

thave835

i-dreeeOE

tholec897

abeareOE

underbearc950

adreeOE

dreeOE

driveOE

i-tholeOE

throwOE

underfoc1000

bearOE

bidec1200

suffera1250

abidec1275

drinka1340

endure1340

underfong1382

receivec1384

abyea1393

sustain1398

finda1400

undergoa1400

get?c1430

underganga1470

ponder?a1525

a dog's lifea1528

tolerate1531

to stand to ——1540

to feel the weight of?1553

enjoy1577

carry1583

abrook1594

to stand under ——a1616

to fall a victim to1764

the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > suffer pain [verb (transitive)]

acorea1200

suffera1250

get?c1430

insuffer1488

sensea1669

suffer1796

rax1898

?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 129 Pore men schullen stonde with oute & goo dailes but ȝif þei geten knockis & reprouynge.

c1480 (a1400) St. Peter 585 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 24 Sike ane fall þane he gat.

1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 267 Thay gat vpoun the gammis.

1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 698 As he gat ben throw, He gat mony greit schow [shove].

1597 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 200 I got sik check, that I micht neither muife nor neck.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. i. 37 I must giue my selfe some hurts, and say I got them in exploit.

1689 J. Collier Moral Ess. conc. Pride 77 Many persons..in the Crowd, and Tumult of the Action,..get nothing but Blows for their Pains.

1692 J. Fergusson Brief Refut. Errors i. 22 He must get on the fingers to make him more warry, and to scar all Justified Persons in time coming from doing the like.

1693 Apol. Clergy Scotl. 37 I am afraid I may get upon the Finger-ends, because I did not name my Witnesses.

a1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 163 Several of the saints have gotten on the finger ends by this means.

1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 6 I hope you are up for all Day?.. Yes, if I don't get a Fall before Night.

1809 W. Windham Let. 16 Sept. in Speeches Parl. (1812) I. 113 A slight hurt which I got here in riding.

1888 H. R. Haggard Col. Quaritch III. i. 1 Cossey had only got the outside portion of the charge of No. 7.

1906 ‘A. Hope’ Sophy of Kravonia xxiii. 321 I just saw what happened before I got a crack on the crown of the head from the butt-end of a rifle.

1996 D. Brimson & E. Brimson Everywhere we Go vi. 86 We got a bit of a slapping for our pains.

2005 D. Daley-Clarke Lazy Eye 16 I forgot where the outside of my body was so I kept getting bruises from doorframes and table corners.

b. transitive. To receive or suffer as a punishment. Also Scottish with plural noun as object, modified by a possessive adjective indicating the recipient. See also to get it at Phrases 2d(a)(i).to get hell: see hell n. and int. Phrases 5i. to get one's licks: see lick n. 4a. to get one's paiks: see paik n. N.E.D. (1899) gives the phrase to get one's rages ‘to get a scolding’ as an example of the Scots use, but other evidence for it has not been found.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)] > submit to or receive punishment

underliec960

suffera1250

coupc1300

payc1384

get?a1513

drink1677

to take out1910

a1513 W. Dunbar Flyting in Poems (1998) I. 202 Throw all Bretane it salbe blawin owt, How that thow..gat thy paikis.

1567 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. v. 38 It war weill wairit he gat his quhippis.

1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 144 And thus they get Credit among some, for which at Schoole they should have got a whipping.

a1691 R. Boyle Free Disc. Customary Swearing (1695) 103 Nor is it a Prodigy, to see men get most stripes for those offences they get least by.

1786 R. Burns Poems 216 Monie a fallow gat his licks.

1790 R. Burns Tam o' Shanter 201 in Poems & Songs (1968) II. 563 Ah, Tam! Ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin!

1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 128 A naughty or saucy boy, at school, often gets a smack on the face.

1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 238 We did not want to overdo the thing and get six months.

1913 J. Service Memorables Robin Cummell 14 If they werena' gettin' their paiks for fugiein'..it was for herryin' a robin's nest.

1920 G. Parker No Def. xii. 133 Did you ever think what the life of the sailor is, that swings at the top of a mast with the frost freezin' his very soul, and because he's slow, owin' to the cold, gets twenty lashes for not bein' quicker?

1980 M. Williams Dingo! 76 I got five years' hard labour. Five years!..The big shots said I was lucky.

2001 R. Hill Dialogues of Dead (2002) xxi. 240 He's cheated on his wife and he's cheated on his colleagues. Sounds like just the sort of scumbag who ought to get his comeuppance.

17. transitive. To take hold of (something) in one's hands; to grasp or grab; to gain a hold of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > absence of movement > hold or holding > hold [verb (transitive)] > lay hold of or grasp

i-fangc888

gripc950

repeOE

befongOE

keepc1000

latchc1000

hentOE

begripec1175

becatchc1200

fang?c1200

i-gripea1225

warpa1225

fastenc1225

arepa1250

to set (one's) hand(s onc1290

kip1297

cleach?a1300

hendc1300

fasta1325

reachc1330

seizec1374

beclipc1380

takea1387

span1398

to seize on or upon1399

getc1440

handc1460

to catch hold1520

to take hold1530

to lay hold (up)on, of1535

grasple1553

to have by the backa1555

handfast1562

apprehend1572

grapple1582

to clap hold of1583

comprehend1584

graspa1586

attach1590

gripple1591

engrasp1593

clum1594

to seize of1600

begriple1607

fast hold1611

impalm1611

fista1616

to set (one's) hand to1638

to get one's hands on1649

c1440 (c1350) Octovian (Thornton) l. 1246 When his swerde broken was, A mete forme he gatt.

c1480 (a1400) St. John Baptist 1100 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 254 Þis tyrand..in hand a knyfe can gete.

1592 R. Dallington tr. F. Colonna Hypnerotomachia f. 88 Getting him by the winges, she was about to plucke of his fethers.

1676 tr. Josephus Wars of Jews vi. xi, in Wks. 731 They came in, got them by the throat, and took the meat halfe-chewed out of their mouths.

1681 R. Baxter Treat. Episcopacy ii. xxi. 198 The Priscillianists quickly got the handle of the sword.

1763 Proc. Old Bailey 12 Oct. 227/1 He first got him by the arm, then catched him round the middle.

1855 F. Douglass My Bondage & my Freedom xv. 213 As soon as the gate was open, and I let go of it to get the rope, again, off went my oxen..full tilt.

1875 M. H. Catherwood Woman in Armour vii. 63 He got the proprietor by a button—in fact by the whole coat!—and so nagged clerks and waiters that they finally fled before him like wild grouse.

1917 C. Thackeray Goliath Joe 27 One of 'em got it by the gills with a shark 'ook on a chain.

1992 C. McCarthy All Pretty Horses (1993) i. 66 Blevins dropped the reins and reached to get them and almost slid off down the horse's shoulder.

18.

a. transitive. To acquire, to come to have (a quality, power, custom, etc.).to get the hang of: see hang n. Phrases 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > something immaterial

takeOE

get1476

receive1546

contract1691

1476 B. Burgh tr. Cato's Distichs (Caxton) ii Right so is manes soule but a dedly figure Vnto the tyme she be reclaimed with y^e lure Of doctrine and so gete hir a good habit To be expert in cunnyng science & proffit.

?1533 W. Tyndale Expos. Mathew Prol. f. vii And if the fleshe get a custome, then is the spirite none other wise oppressed of the fleshe, then as though she had a mountayne vpon hir backe.

c1575 Perfect Bk. Kepinge Sparhawkes (1886) 15 Lest she get a toye of flinginge her head.

1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxviii. sig. F Euery Alien pen hath got my vse.

1610 R. Hill Pathway to Prayer (ed. 4) 133 They haue gotten a custome of sinning.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iv. ii. 237 Let vs..though now our voyces Haue got the mannish cracke, sing him to'th'ground.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §352 After two Nights..it [a root] got a Shining.

1640 T. Fuller Joseph's Coat 55 Wine was then as subject to spilling, it hath not since gotten a more liquid or diffusive quality.

1676 T. Shadwell Libertine ii It's nothing but a way of speaking, which young amorous fellows have gotten.

1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. v. 85 By accustoming ourselves to any Course of Action, we get an Aptness to go on.

1820 J. Keats Let. June (1931) II. 537 Men get such different habits that they become as oil and vinegar to one another.

1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein II. 456 Unnecessary odium falls upon him, and his power gets the appearance of a Vizirship.

1949 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Aug. 24/4 A sizable number of people who get the habit of regular attendance.

1996 G. Ward Hawaii: Rough Guide i. 30/1 An equally exhilarating way to get a taste for the surf.

2001 J. C. Grimwood Pashazade (2003) x. 49 ‘Let's go back to the steam room.’ Hamzah smiled. ‘Getting a taste for it, eh?’

b. transitive. To come to have (a notion, impression, etc.).

ΚΠ

a1658 J. Durham Dying Man's Test. (1659) ii. xiv. 150 Because they might discern Him and by that come to get the right impression of the Ordinance.

1762 tr. in Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 512/1 The mob had got a notion that Anthony Calas was the next day to have entered into the confraternity of the White Penitents.

1782 J. Elliot Elem. Branches Nat. Philos. connected with Med. iii. xv. 270 It is..by the eye tracing the boundaries of an object, that we get the idea of its shape.

1833 Mother's Mag. Feb. 24 Your child..will soon get the idea that he is a perfect little saint, when, in fact, he will be only a perfect little Pharisee.

1883 Harper's Mag. Feb. 389/2 Are we getting a realizing sense of the joys of this day?

1927 Daily Tel. 16 Aug. 12/5 He has keyed down his playing to such a pitch that we get no impression at all of his character as a man.

1990 R. Blount First Hubby 239 To get a sense of what our parents were like before we were born.

2003 Art Q. Autumn 80/3 It was a great privilege to see his workshop and kilns and to get an inkling of the complexity of the work involved.

19. transitive. To catch or contract (an illness).

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > cause to be ill [verb (transitive)] > catch illness

catcha1393

enticec1400

engender1525

get1527

to take up1629

to come down1837

to pick up1889

start1891

to go down1895

1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Uvi [Water of comon onyons] is good for them that haue gotten the horsenes.

1538 T. Elyot Dict. at Contrahere valitudinem To gette sickenesse.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 66 This is some Monster..who hath got (as I take it) an Ague.

1653 tr. L. van Aitzema Notable Revol. Netherlands 58 The opinion was, hee would get the small pocks.

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 234. ⁋15 To you I apply my self for Redress, having gotten..a Cold on Sunday was Sevennight.

1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VIII. vi. 19 Art thou not tormented with the vile asthma thou gattest in skating against the wind in Flanders?

1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 363 When a person..gets a catarrh [etc.].

1892 Black & White 13 Aug. 182/1 Horses get glanders and men get cholera.

1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn 16 ‘We want to be careful we don't get hypothermia.’ ‘It isn't a thing you get,’ said Marcia bossily. ‘Not like catching an infectious disease.’

2005 W. Wall This is Country 144 How this poor bastard OD'd or fell out of a window or got Aids or bad gear or set fire to himself.

20. transitive. To commit to memory; (now rare) to learn (a language). Somewhat archaic.Frequently in phrases. to get by heart: see heart n., int., and adv. Phrases 1c. to get by rote: see rote n.¹ 1. to get without book: see book n. Phrases 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > memorization > memorize, learn by heart [verb (transitive)]

record?c1225

renderc1380

to can by rotec1405

con?a1425

to con by heartc1449

can1496

to bear away1530

get1540

commend to memory1550

commit?1551

to con over1605

rotea1616

lodge1622

to get off by heart1709

memorize1834

rehearse1902

memorate1983

1540 J. Palsgrave in tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus Pref. sig. bii^v The wyllynge scolers, whiche hadde all redy gotten their grammaticall principles.

1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias xxxi. 77 One of those..after that hee had gotten the Arabian language, went by lande.

1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts f. 20 Which doe you account the speediest way of all, to get and keepe these Verbs?

1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands 185 And he had such an excellent memory, that he had got their Language in perfection.

1761 C. Churchill Rosciad 8 Without the least finesse of art He gets applause!—I wish he'd get his part.

1795 R. Burns Election v. 2 The billy is getting his questions To say at St. Stephens the morn.

1847 C. Dickens Let. 9 July (1880) I. 193 Sounds as of ‘groans’ will be heard while the inimitable Boz is ‘getting’ his words—which happens all day.

1861 H. A. Jacobs Incidents Life Slave Girl xiii. 113 Uncle Fred, how do you manage to get your lessons so well?

1903 H. Keller Story of my Life (1905) iii. iii. 380 She got the language from the language itself, and this is, next to hearing the language spoken, the way for any one to get a foreign tongue.

1929 R. Suckow Cora 20 Pretty soon school'll begin, and then you won't let me stay with Cora because you'll think I've got lessons to get.

1975 R. Kelly Loom 71 I can never get my songs by memory.

2001 Cult Times Feb. 38/3 She's not someone who will forgive you too easily if you're sloppy or lazy or not getting your lines or not hitting your mark.

21. transitive. To find out or ascertain by calculation or experiment; to obtain as a result of arithmetical or other processes.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > find solution, solve [verb (transitive)]

findOE

assoilc1374

soil1382

contrive1393

to find outc1405

resolvea1438

absolvea1525

solute?1531

solve?1541

dissolve1549

get1559

salvec1571

to beat out1577

sort1581

explicate1582

untiea1586

loose1596

unsolve1631

cracka1640

unscruple1647

metagrobolize1653

to puzzle out1717

to work out1719

to get around ——1803

to dope out1906

lick1946

to get out1951

1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 97 It is not so easie..to trie th' eleuation of the Pole: but it is as harde, and laborus, to get the Longitude.

1633 tr. Math. Recreations lxxxxiv. 225 Get the sunnes distance by instrumentall observation from the zenith at noone.

1676 J. Collins Let. 9 Sept. in I. Newton Corr. (1960) II. 99 He doth indeed affirme he can gett the Sum of many Algebraick Nomes.., by ayd of tables of Logmes or Sines.

1734 G. Berkeley Analyst 46 Dividing both Sides by o or B D, we shall get nx^n-1 = B C.

1781 S. Dunn Naut. Propositions xxv. 17 Add the Declination to 90.° to get the Polar Distance.

1832 Edinb. Encycl. (Amer. ed.) X. 519/2 The diameter of the great wheel being thus obtained, we may get the circumference.

1888 Times 2 Oct. 3/2 A trial sand-loaded projectile was first fired in order to get the range.

1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 20 June 400/1 Dividing this by three hundred and sixty we get 364,609·13 feet as the length of a mean degree.

1942 F. Debenham Astrographics (ed. 2) 20 The shadow of the real sun will only give us the irregular real sun time (called Apparent Time), so we have to add or subtract the Equation of Time to get Mean Time.

1970 J. M. Malloy Bolivia viii. 153 When we combine its votes with the votes of the Liberals and Acción Civica, we get a total of 52,941 votes.

2007 Daily Tel. 23 Feb. 31/1 Divide two by three and you get 0.6 recurring—the sign of the Devil.

22.

a. transitive. To succeed in finding (what is required).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > succeed in finding (what is required)

geta1568

a1568 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xlvi. 393 I pray ȝow, cast the leid lyne owt, And gif ȝe can nocht get the grund, Steir be the compas.

1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Eng. 35/2 in Chron. I After he had..gotten a conuenient winde for his purpose, he embarqued himselfe and his people.

1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 297 Like a Trumpeter in the fields, that shifts places to get an eccho.

1670 J. Narborough Jrnl. in Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) 114 I caused the Lead to be cast forth, but could not get ground at eighty Fathom.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. x. 242 To stand no farther to the northward than is..necessary for the getting a westerly wind.

1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. xi. 183 Driving them mad and desperate, just that you may get a handle against them.

1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xxvi. 442 Her father..wondered what he could get to scold her about.

1941 ‘N. Blake’ Case of Abominable Snowman xii. 119 When she'd got her evidence..she'd force a show-down.

1974 J. Gaby Restless Waterfront 245 I never thought I'd get a job on those wharves. I pounded the old Hungry Mile, but I couldn't get a look-in.

1996 India Today 30 June 154 (caption) Actresses now spend hours with designers to get the right ‘look’ while their predecessors would have flung on whatever clothes they were given.

b. transitive. Originally U.S. To get in touch with (a person or place) by telephone.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)]

call1879

get1890

raise1929

1890 Washington Post 8 Dec. 4/6 Wait a minute; don't put in any money until I see if you can get your man.

1905 Secret Service 24 Feb. 5/1 You can get him on the 'phone? I noticed the line across the desert.

1908 G. B. Shaw Let. 1 July (1956) 126 I have just telephoned Stella... I tried to get Mrs. Pat herself... I also tried to get Forbes..but he was out.

1958 P. G. Wodehouse Cocktail Time xxi. 174 He took up the receiver... ‘I hear you've been trying to get me. What's your trouble?’

1989 H. McDonald Rivers & Ravines ii. 84 Hello? Hello? Operator? Get me the White House. That's right. I don't care what time it is.

2011 S. Sallis Promise 177 Mummy said to ring Miss Thorpe and I tried to and couldn't get her—she must have been in bed.

c. transitive. To obtain an audible signal from (a radio or television transmitter or station); to ‘pick up’.

ΚΠ

1898 Jrnl. Royal United Service Inst. July 1243 If anyone is going to start experimenting with it, he will see at once how easy it is to get a signal with almost any apparatus, but will find very great difficulty in getting a message.

1899 Windsor Mag. 10 145/2 Another station can always get us in a few minutes.

1921 Wireless World 9 586/2 If it be possible to get the Dutch concerts..with this three-valve set.

1924 Wireless Ann. 25 Hello, did you get me? 8 XY standing by.

1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano vi. 162 Hugh..turned the radio dial back and forth, trying to get San Antonio.

1965 H. C. Woodruff Short Wave Listener's Guide (chapter for U.K. readers) Although one may expect to be able to get the majority of the stations in this list, the frequencies..may well be different from those quoted..for American reception.

2005 E. Barr Plan B (2006) iv. 64 If I was on a clear stretch of road and it wasn't raining, I could get Radio Four on long wave.

23. transitive. colloquial. To take, have, eat (one's breakfast, dinner, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (transitive)]

eatc825

to-fret?c1225

vourc1330

dinec1380

to eat inc1450

engorge1541

tooth1579

canvass1602

get1603

eat1607

manger1609

upeat1630

dispatch1711

feed1725

yam1725

to eat off1733

repartake1751

patter1803

chop1833

smouse1840

to stow away1858

to put oneself outside ——1865

to get outside ——1876

to feed down1887

1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. Aiii^v I start vp, and see the Sunne, and then sneeze, and then shake mine eares, and then rise, and then get my breakfast, and then fal to worke.

1691 A. Gavin Frauds Romish Monks 182 The Work-men were gone to get their Dinner.

1764 K. O'Hara Midas i. 12 Go boy, and get your dinner.

1775 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1912) XLVIII. 61 This morning we went to rol col & then got our Brefust.

1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene III. ix. 137 Pass the word for them to get their breakfast.

1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield (at cited word) Come and get your tea with us.

1892 ‘J. S. Winter’ Mere Luck i Here, get your dinner, my lad.

1928 P. O'Donnell Islanders ii. 20 Bolt that door..till ye get yer breakfast in peace.

1984 J. Kelman Busconductor Hines iii. 110 I can get my tea there and maybe go out with the auld man for a pint or something.

2006 C. Tate et al. Am I Bovvered? 1st Ser. Episode 3. 75 Bernie: Yeah.., no worries, yeah, go and get your lunch, yeah. I'm cutting down meself.

24. transitive. Originally U.S. To respond to, to answer (a telephone, door-bell, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > answer > answer [verb (transitive)] > in response to a signal

answer1590

get1927

1927 Life 27 Oct. 10/1 Some one get that damned phone.

1941 J. Thurber & E. Nugent Male Animal i. 29 (Doorbell rings.)..Tommy (going to door). I'll get it.

1970 G. Scott-Heron Vulture i. 56 I was interrupted by a knock at the door. ‘Could you get that?’ Debbie called.

1992 R. Kroetsch Puppeteer iii. 36 ‘Do you want me to get the phone?..Or are you planning to stagger to your feet today?’ ‘Kee-rist on a fishhook!’ Ida hauled herself up.

2006 J. M. Troost Getting Stoned with Savages 120 Just then the telephone rang. ‘Why don't you get it, Pip?’

II. To beget.

25.

a. Of a male parent: to bring (offspring) into existence by the natural process of reproduction; to beget, procreate, conceive. Now usually of an animal, esp. a stallion.In early use occasionally with both parents as subject.When used of humans, now somewhat archaic or literary.

(a) transitive. Without prepositional phrase as complement. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > multiply or reproduce [verb (transitive)] > beget

sowc1250

getc1300

begeta1325

engenderc1330

conceivec1350

makea1382

wina1400

fathera1425

rutc1450

tread1594

sirea1616

engraff1864

the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [verb (transitive)] > copulate with > procreate

getc1300

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 495 Sweren y wole þat bircabein Neuere yete me ne gat.

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 2893 So þey dide [emended in ed. to diden]..geten samen sones fiue.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xii. i. 597 Males [of birds]..fedeþ onliche briddes þat þey getyn.

?1530 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry (rev. ed.) f. xxx It is a hors fole bycause a hors gate it.

1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 ii. ii. 133 Whosoeuer got thee, there thy mother stands.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxix. 167 The bodies of children, gotten by diseased parents, are subject..to untimely death.

c1704 M. Prior Henry & Emma 136 What groom shall get, and 'squire maintain the child.

1760 R. Heber Horse Matches ix. 144 Bay Horse..sure in getting stock.

1833 Amer. Turf Reg. & Sporting Mag. Apr. 383 He was got by Sir Archy; her dam by Peeble's Ratler—a horse of no reputation; her grandam one of Mr. Amis' work mares.

1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 53 It means, strictly speaking, the foal of an ass, got by a horse.

1859 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 20 ii. 350 Thoroughbred Stallions for getting hunters.

1930 H. Walpole Rogue Herries (1931) ii. 282 He should be let out, like a stallion, to the women of the country to get fine sons.

1975 T. Fitzgeorge-Parker Great Racehorse Trainers iii. 49 Hurry On was champion sire in 1926 and got three Derby winners.

(b) transitive. With from, on, out of, upon (a female).

ΚΠ

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 112 (MED) He gat him, as god ȝaf grace, on his ferst wyue.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 27 (MED) Fourtene childre he gate opon tuo wifes.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xiv. 213 On hir he gat a doughter the same nyght that he hadde geten Gonnore on his wife.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 6^v Ercules..was getton of a god on..a gret lady.

1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 265 Though you be strong and on a Goddess got.

1712 J. Arbuthnot John Bull in his Senses iv. 16 Hocus lov'd her best, believing her to be his own, got upon the Body of Mrs. Bull.

1805 G. Huddesford Champignons du Diable v. 185 We know who lent that Pope the coal-Black colt, out of the Night-mare got.

1923 R. Graves Feather Bed 23 We are his sons Got on she-furies of our Northern gales.

1941 E. J. Russell Eng. Farming 20 Comet..was got by Favourite out of one of his own daughters.

1987 Horse Internat. Mar. 50/2 This horse is getting some impressive offspring from Thoroughbred mares.

2007 ‘T. Bishop’ Airs Beneath Moon 153 His sire was a fine dapple gray, known..for getting winged foals on wingless mares.

†b. transitive. figurative and in figurative context. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 206 (MED) The flesh shal first be roten and neewe geten ayen at the general assemblee.

c1475 Proverbs (Rawl. D.328) in Mod. Philol. (1940) 38 118 Brume tempestas vorat hoc quod procreat estas, Whynter etyt þat somer getyt.

a1500 (?c1378) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 441 (MED) Siche good preching is þe beste werk þat a prest doiþ; for bi þis werk a prest getiþ goddis children & makiþ hem to come to heuene.

a1648 Ld. Herbert Occas. Verses (1665) 31 Love is no work of Art, It must be got and born, Not made and worn.

1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 19 If they were under any disbelief themselves, or aimed at the getting any in others, touching the Truth of Fact now discoursed upon [etc.].

1733 Islington Pref. This Pamphlet..'Twas got, conceived and born in six Hours' space.

a1796 J. Macpherson Poems of Ossian (1805) II. 447 Intemp'rance, daughter of this age, Got on Prosperity.

1857 J. Woodmansee Closing Scene 95 Death, that imp accurs'd by Satan got And born of Sin at fall of man, I'll see In winding-sheet of World-consuming fire.

1884 ‘M. Field’ Fair Rosamund i. i. in Callirrhoë 140 Oh, I'll marry Seclusion for the sake of getting famous progeny—Meditation—Peace.

1910 W. Watson Sable & Purple 37 A song of the loveliness gotten of Power, Born of Rage in her blackest hour.

III. (To cause) to come to a place or condition.Formerly, in intransitive uses, also with to be in the perfect (cf. e.g. quots. 1487, 1820, 1867 at sense 26b(a), 1662 at sense 30b(a)).

26. With prepositional phrase, adverb, or adverbial phrase as complement.In numerous phrasal and prepositional verb uses, as to get away, to get out, to get out of, to get up, etc.: see Phrasal verbs 1, Phrasal verbs 2.

a. transitive. Followed by a preposition or adverb of place.

(a) To bring, succeed in bringing (oneself, another person, a thing) into or out of a certain position or state; (also) to come to have (a person or thing) in a certain state.to get with child: see child n. Phrases 1a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > fecundation or impregnation > [verb (transitive)]

geta1375

to beget with childa1393

impregn?c1550

season1555

enwomb1590

knock1598

with-child1605

fill1607

fertilitate1638

ingravidate1642

impregnate1646

improlificate1646

prolificate1650

pregnant1660

pregnate1686

fecundate1721

fecundify1736

to knock up1813

to put in the family way1898

inseminate1923

to get or put (someone) in the (pudding) club1936

stork1936

to put in the way1960

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2895 (MED) Þe grettest of þe grim bestes he gat to prison sone.

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 1070 His manere..gat hym so yn grace.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2051 And I hem gete in my daungere Her falshede shull they bie full dere.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 324 He abrayded up with a grete myght, and gate hym uppon hys feete.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 84 Buy the cloathes, and get thee into flesh.

1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles i. 210 If I can get him within my Pistols length, Ile make him sure enough.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. i. 28 Honesty is his [fault]. I ha told him on't, but I could nere get him from't.

1640 R. Brome Sparagus Garden iv. vii Could I get her In a marriage vaine, but she'll not look Upon a man not she.

1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age iv. i. i. 97 Having gotten on foot, a fresh Army of sixteen thousand men.

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 32 A wild Ass, which after a long Chase they got within shot and wounded.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iv. 161 We exerted ourselves in getting our ships in readiness for the sea.

1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 149 He was sorry to find, that Forester had gotten himself into such a scrape.

1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland (1823) 19 He..got the ship under close-reefed topsails.

1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 289 Having..got our prizes in tow, we stretched about a league to the eastward.

1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 23 A difficulty into which I have got myself.

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxviii. 390 Why, you can get him so, in a little while, that he'll love you.

1896 Law Times 100 508/1 Mr. Justice Grantham succeeded in getting the animal under control.

1920 Hearst's Jan. 80 A nice mess you've got me into—mixing me up with this girl!

1955 ‘Miss Read’ Village School xxiii. 219 Eric had managed to get the rope into a tangle of gargantuan proportions.

2002 K. Conley Stud (2003) v. 48 He's the only horse in Kentucky that can get mares in foal across a fence.

(b) To succeed in bringing, conveying, putting, causing to come or go (to, from, into, out of a place, through, over, etc., a space); (also) to come to have (a thing) (in a place), e.g. ‘to get the key in the door’.to get (it) into one's head: see head n.¹ Phrases 4d(b). to get a person nowhere, to get a person somewhere, etc.: see Phrases 3j.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > [verb (transitive)]

haveeOE

ferryOE

weighOE

bearOE

take?a1160

weve13..

carry1348

passa1350

tow1391

geta1393

convey1393

winc1400

transport1483

set1487

convoy1500

traduce1535

port1566

repair1612

vehiculate1628

transmute1683

transplant1769

gallant1806

transit1859

inveigh1878

waltz1884

sashay1928

conduct-

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > manage to secure (a result) > succeed in bringing or putting

winc1374

geta1393

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2455 Ferst forto gete it out of Myne, And after forto trie and fyne.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 27147 (MED) Þeir ar þe pointes þat scriftes lattes, And mani saul to warlau [= the Devil] gettes.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Miller's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 354 Er þ^t he [sc. Noah] myghte gete his wyf to shipe.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 6024 Þare was a monke of durham, To helpe to kary þis bell hame..he did his bysynes ilk a dele to durham it to gett.

1568 D. Lindsay Justing Watsoun & Bour in Wks. (1931) I. 22 Thay could neuer thair speir get in the reist.

1568 E. Tilney Brief Disc. Mariage (new ed.) sig. Eiv^v If you perceive him in such case..speake hym faire..till you get him to bed.

1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 38 He commands them to get the sailes to the yards.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. 17 Go hawl down the Yeard, and get the Sail into the Ship.

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 25 We were forc'd to get a Rope from the Ship to the watering-place.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. ii. 133 We bent the cable to the spare anchor, and got it over the ship's side.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §318 The wind..blowed too fresh for her to be gotten into the Gut.

1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany ii. 11 The next point was to get my little knapsack through the custom-house.

1888 A. de G. Stevens Miss Hildreth II. iv. 74 The same powerful influence that got her out of Russia..has now sent her back.

1933 ‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune iv. v. 267 The fun they'd had..just over nothing, shelling peas and eating one here and there, getting the stones out of plums and cracking them for the kernels.

1945 G. Marx Let. 16 Feb. in Groucho Lett. (1967) 50 Your father and I have many run-ins these days... He can't get it into his thick skull that I have come of age.

1950 Western Mail (Perth, Austral.) 12 Oct. 50/3 Wests got the ball over the centre.

1988 New Scientist 29 Oct. 72/1 A short summary which anyone can get their brains around in five minutes.

2001 Cosmopolitan Dec. 228/1 Theo had point-blank told her that he intended to get her into the sack, and that kind of smooth-operator attitude infuriated her.

(c) reflexive. To betake oneself to or convey oneself away from a place; to make one's way, to go away. Formerly frequently in imperative, in get thee (you) away, hence, in, out, etc. (cf. sense Phrases 3b) (now archaic).

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > [verb (reflexive)]

wendeOE

meteOE

drawc1175

flitc1175

do?c1225

kenc1275

teemc1275

movec1300

graitha1325

dightc1330

redec1330

windc1330

yieldc1330

dressa1375

raikc1400

winc1400

pass?a1425

get1492

tirec1540

flitch?1567

frame1576

betake1639

rely1641

1492 tr. Dyalogus Salomon & Marcolphus sig. ciiii^v He bethoughte hym in his mynde how he myght beste gete hym ayen into the kinges courte.

c1520 tr. Terence Andria i. i in Terens in Eng. sig. A.iii Haue in thys gere now. Sirs get ye hens.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 562/2 I get me hence..I get me out of the waye..I get me a syde.

a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 43/1 [She] gate her selfe in all the haste possible..oute of the Palyce of westminster.

a1550 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Wemyss) lxiv. l. 1761 All his pigh put to the speid, As he wes hasterit in þat neid, And gat him throu speid of horss away.

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 37 Shut vpp the Schoole, and get you home.

1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 53 [He] got him vp into the highest tower of the pallace.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. iv. 57 Goe, get thee hence, and finde my dog againe.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 17 Early the next morning I got me above Deck.

1734 H. Fielding Intrig. Chambermaid i. iii. 8 Hist! hist! get you both about your Business.

1828 N. Hawthorne Fanshawe iv. 42 The elderly men..gat themselves silently to their steeds, and hied homeward.

1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. iii. 86 Get you away now you have said your lesson.

1859 J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire x. 557 Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee.

1910 J. Le Gay Brereton To-Morrow 54 You slavering sleepy brute! Will you sleep till the last trump wakes you? Get you in.

1932 P. G. Wodehouse Hot Water xiii. 227 Oily's got himself into the house, and he's planning to let Soup in when he's good and ready.

1971 A. McCaffrey Mark of Merlin i, in Three Women (1990) 261 The stationman brushed by the figure with an apology, hurrying to get himself and his unwieldy sacks into the warmth.

2011 J. Sellers Old Man & Swamp 172 Mrs. Yared flashed me a look that equated to: ‘You have no musical talent and now you can't even spell “piano”? Get thee hence!’

(d) Scottish colloquial. To escort or accompany (a person); to walk with.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > show (the way) [verb (transitive)] > accompany as a guide

leada900

conduec1330

conductc1400

convey14..

condc1460

conducec1475

convoyc1480

carrya1522

wain1540

train1549

marshal1590

gallant1806

usha1824

trot1888

get1984

1984 A. Owens Gentlemen of West 85 That was what I thought until I got Big Joe along the road to the site on Monday morning.

1987 G. Sprott in New Writing Scotl. 5 184 Her mother was getting ready to go to the kirk... ‘I'll get ye doun the road, Mum..for the daunder, like.’

2001 I. Welsh Glue iii. 120 Go up tae Sweet Inspiration in Tollcross... Ah'll git ye up thaire if ye like.

2012 A. Coogan Tomorrow you Die ii. 59 Another policeman stopped me. ‘You're out late, son. Where do you stay?’ ‘Thistle Street.’..‘I'll get you along the road, son, to the corner of Adelphi Street.’

(a) intransitive. With a preposition indicating motion, an adverb of motion to or from a place, or an adverbial or prepositional phrase expressing distance: to succeed in coming or going, to bring oneself to, from, into, out of, as far as, etc. (a place or position), across, over, through, etc. (a space, an intervening object), here, near, there, etc. Also (in weakened sense) with to: to arrive at, reach (in the course or at the end of a journey). Esp. of a person, a conveyance carrying people, an animal, etc.; also of a thing, esp. a substance that easily spreads.For figurative phrases, as to get to the bottom of, root of, windward of, see the nouns.In quot. 1639 spec. (of land): †to stretch, extend (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > go or come out [verb (intransitive)]

outgoeOE

to come outOE

forthcomeOE

to go outOE

ishc1330

to take forth one's way (also journey, road, etc.)a1375

proceedc1380

getc1390

exorta1400

issue?a1400

precedec1425

purgea1430

to come forthc1449

suea1450

ushc1475

to call one's way (also course)1488

to turn outa1500

void1558

redound1565

egress1578

outpacea1596

result1598

pursue1651

out1653

pop1770

to get out1835

progress1851

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > go or come into [verb (transitive)]

i-goc1275

entera1325

to step into ——c1380

enterc1400

get1585

invade1590

ingressa1631

c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 497 (MED) Þei han geten on hem þe lengþe of a gleyue.

a1393 [see to get upon —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2].

c1440 (?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) 2226 Be that so nere getis he, Þat scho myghte nangatis fle.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xviii. 454 Thai bar thaim swa That thai ar gottyn aboun the bra.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxi. 212 Yf they perceyue vs, we shal neuer get hense.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxiiii Many..[were] apprehended before they could get to the castel.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xx. 25 b He found meanes to recover a barke, intoo the which he and his men got.

1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E2 From earths dark-womb, some gentle gust doth get .

1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 192 Basse or Low-Brittaine, is a corner of the earth which gets farre into the Ocean.

a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) v. ii. 326 Assoone as she was gotten into a grove of Orange-trees..she call'd for Palantus.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 594 Amid the Tree now got..to pluck and eat my fill I spar'd not.

1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 18 Let us get into the most airy Room of the House.

1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome iii. 510 Maximus was got as far as Ravenna.

1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 186 When your Ever-green Trees and Shrubs are got to some Height.

1770 Trial W. Wemms 103 I had not got three yards before the guns were fired.

1782 A. Monro Ess. Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 49 in Monro's Anat. Human Bones (new ed.) There seems to be no way of the bile getting into the gall bladder but by regurgitation.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §262 The buss..had got a considerable distance from the buoy;..we had really got out of the accustomed place.

1820 R. Southey Life Wesley II. 452 No less than ninety persons set out in pursuit of him; but he was got beyond their reach.

1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. v. 76 We never can get across this patch of clear grass without being seen.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 609 The drums of Dumbarton's regiment beat to arms; and the men got fast into their ranks.

1864 J. A. Grant Walk across Afr. viii. 150 The mould getting amongst plants was very disheartening to the collector.

1867 W. D. Howells Ital. Journeys 71 We were got no further than Porto Longone.

1917 R. Curle Echo of Voices 68 How the dust gets everywhere! I know I brushed this shelf only yesterday.

1927 Amer. Mercury May 16/1 The first to get to the North Pole in a mechanical sleigh.

1962 Boys' Life July 56/4 We flagged down a Phoenix-bound greyhound bus and got out of town.

2000 K. Atkinson Emotionally Weird (2001) 241 I had got as far as The Grosvenor pub on the Perth Road when I realized that someone was kerbcrawling me.

(b) intransitive. With prepositional phrase as complement: to reach or attain an end aimed at, or a condition towards which progress has been made; esp. to come to or come to be in a state or condition.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] > achieve an end or condition by progress

acomeOE

wina1300

chevec1300

attainc1375

reacha1400

achievec1400

geta1425

sort1543

a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 86 (MED) Traveil in þis hervest were worþ to gete to blisse of hevene.

1596 H. Clapham Briefe of Bible ii. xviii. 181 The Gentiles once, got to the height of sinne.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §744 Those that are very Cold, and especially in their Feet, cannot get to Sleepe.

1668 H. More Divine Dialogues: Two Last Dial. 416 All the difficulty is to get to that state of Unprejudicateness.

1701 J. Swift Disc. Contests Nobles & Commons iii. 31 The Carthaginians were declining, because the Balance was got too much on the side of the People.

1785 W. M. Roberts Let. 14 Apr. in G. Washington Papers (1992) Confederation Ser. II. 496 Your Exsellency has Got in A Pasion with Me.

1798 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 205 The scene has not yet got to its height.

1820 J. Keats Isabella in Lamia & Other Poems 61 [He] went in haste, to get in readiness, With belt, and spur, and bracing huntsman's dress.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. v. vi. 267 Paris wholly has got to the acme of its frenzy.

1888 J. McCarthy & R. C. Praed Ladies' Gallery III. xv. 298 He..succeeded in getting to speech of a police officer.

1895 19th Cent. Aug. 322 I don't think that I get quite as far as having views of my own.

1915 F. Cannon Writing Play xxii. 240 Your play must begin at once, get to its climax quickly, and terminate just at the right moment.

1955 Househ. Guide & Almanac (News of World) 227/2 Only 1,311 got as far as taking the oath on the first day of training.

1981 Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. 32 43 I wanted to get to a state where I had no security whatsoever. And I found this in Canada.

1992 A. Lambert Rather Eng. Marriage (1993) xv. 256 I still get in a total tizz when some attractive male asks me out for the first time.

2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 6 Jan. a1/1 My generation of Catholics have paid, prayed and obeyed, but you get to a point where you've had it.

(c) intransitive. Now chiefly U.S. With to followed by a gerund or verbal noun: to reach the point of; to start. Cf. to get to —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)] > begin an action or fall to doing something

fangc888

goOE

fallc1175

to fall upon ——a1398

to take upa1400

fall?c1450

to fall out ina1555

get1751

1751 R. Paltock Life Peter Wilkins I. xxvi. 257 He..got to champing the Blade.

1763 Proc. Old Bailey 7 Dec. 8/2 We got to pulling one another about for 7 or 8 minutes, the other man calling murder at the same time.

1833 A. Greene Life & Adv. D. Duckworth I. xii. 148 Be careful not to talk in your sleep, if you should get to dreaming; because you might tell tales.

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn ii. 9 There was a place on my ankle that got to itching.

1904 W. H. Smith Promoters i. 9 When once an idea gets to going in the world it is liable to be picked up by any one.

1910 W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 12 Don't you think you'd arrive earlier at the end of your run if your choo-choo got to puffing?

1961 J. Dos Passos Midcentury 94 Eileen got to dancing..and trying to pick up strange men.

2010 D. Stimson in ‘T. Vee’ et al. Touch & Go p. xv/2 Bob and I got to talking and seemed to hit it off almost instantly.

(d) intransitive. Originally and chiefly U.S. colloquial. With following clause expressing result or consequence (usually introduced by so, so as, so that, or that): to reach the point or stage where.

ΚΠ

1805 Experienced Christian's Mag. May 8 I had then got so that I could refrain from crying out in the bitterness of my soul, and from telling every one I was entirely cast off.

1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing xxix. 118 The Huntonites got so they could n't do nothing but spit.

1881 S. O. Jewett Country By-ways 229 My boys and girls got so's they could work, and then there wa'n't any more trouble.

1882 Cent. Mag. Mar. 765/1 You wount scurcely believe me, but now jist to show you—he got so that he used to stop the clock nights so'st' it wouldn't wear out so fast.

1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands viii. 98 I got I could pick 'em out in me sleep.

1944 E. S. Gardner Case of Crooked Candle (1947) xviii. 193 You get so you know your way around.

1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. b41/5 It's getting so now that real estate news is getting ‘daily space’..to match the Vietnam war stories.

1980 Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 19/7 It is getting that you can't wear a badge or ‘T’ shirt for fear of being beaten up.

1999 E. Anderson Code of Street 220 It got that he wouldn't do for me, he wouldn't do for the kids.

2004 ‘Dr. K.’ Hackers' Tales viii. 150 Already it's getting so that you can't go anywhere on the web without someone attempting to foist some kind of spyware on you.

27. transitive. To gain, reach, or arrive at (a place). Formerly frequently Nautical. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > arrive at or reach [verb (transitive)]

to come toOE

reachOE

hita1075

ofreachlOE

catchc1330

latchc1330

recovera1375

getc1390

henta1393

win?1473

fetch1589

to fetch up1589

obtain1589

attainc1592

make1610

gaina1616

arrive1647

advene1684

strike1798

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > reach (a point or place) [verb (transitive)]

areach1014

reachOE

ofreachlOE

overtakec1225

catchc1330

acomec1350

touchc1384

getc1390

to come at ——a1393

henta1393

overreacha1400

win?1473

aspire1581

obtain1589

attainc1592

make1610

gaina1616

acquire1665

advene1684

c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 523 Hedde þei geten þat holt..þei mihten haue do muche harm.

c1390 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 716 Þouȝ þe see were rouh or elles dimuir, Gode hauenes þat Schip wolde gete.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 12382 Forþ in pes he bad þam ga..Til þai had geten þair herd a-gain.

a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. Bi With sound of broken waues they gate the strand.

1578 T. Nicholas tr. F. Lopez de Gómara Pleasant Hist. Conquest W. India 31 The fleete sayled to get the coast of Yucatan.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 504 The men saved themselves, and..built a Carvall, wherein to get the Continent.

1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacra iii. iv. 20 Mariners, who when they have got the Harbour, and are out of the Storm, Mend their Ship.

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. App. 2 If the Wind blows strong out, and you cannot get the Harbour, you must anchor.

1788 J. Chandler Seaman's Guide 81/2 In the winter, if you cannot get harbour, it is best to run back into Elsineur road.

1854 G. E. Rice Blondel i. iii. 22 King R. We've got the road, at last. Blond. I knew we'd strike it.

1932 Geogr. Rev. 22 86 Captain Borchgrevink got the coast again outside Queen Maud Land.

2002 R. Roper Fatal Mountaineer vii. 73 For Roskelley, going to high mountains was more and more about getting the summit, getting it efficiently and then getting the hell out of there.

28. With infinitive clause as complement.

(a) transitive. With to-infinitive (also formerly †bare infinitive or with †for to): to induce, prevail upon, or compel (a person) or to succeed in causing (a thing) to do something. Also (in weakened sense): to cause or set (a person) to do something for one.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > [verb (transitive)] > cause to do or cause to act

makea1225

putc1300

gara1340

have1390

geta1400

to set (a-)going1530

set1577

occasion1587

a1400 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Egerton) (1966) l. 1007 Yf it were þy wylle, þow ne getest [emended in ed. to auȝtest] not þat maide to spylle.

c1430 N. Love Mirror Blessed Life (Brasenose e.9) (1908) 106 (MED) Abideth a litell, and I schal gete ȝow to haue more.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxi. 260 And so myght we gett hym Som word for to say.

1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion i. 11 Their King Groffarius [they] get to raise his powerfull force.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. ii. 38 I bad the rascall knocke vpon your gate, And could not get him for my heart to do it.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 74 They could neuer get her so much as sippe on a cup with the prowdest of them all.

a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) iii. v. 134 Get him be propitious to thee.

a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) v. ii. 339 By the helpe of a great tumult which he heard in the lower towne, hee got slide some troopes into the enemies intrenchments.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 83 The women..got their husbands to sit down again.

1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 9 His Mother had much ado to get him but to cover the Bed..with Skins.

1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 51 It would be impossible to get them to listen to reason.

1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship x. 44 The horse..went oddly; and I got the hostler..to get up instead of me.

1807 Salmagundi 11 Nov. 351 At such times there was no getting Will to join in our walks.

1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. 75 He promptly got a bookseller to pirate Curll's edition.

1907 Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 3/3 The schoolboy trick of making a statement which is a fabrication and getting another boy to believe it.

1949 H. S. Truman in V. Ferguson Sayings of Week (1978) 59 The President spends most of his time kissing people on the cheek to get them to do what they ought to do without getting kissed.

2001 E. Kelly in M. Hickey Irish Days (2004) 98 He installed a piano there, and he would get us to sing sea shanties.

(b) transitive. With passive infinitive: to cause to undergo the specified action. Cf. sense 29a(a). Now rare.

ΚΠ

1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie xci. sig. Ooii^v For his defence, He gat the case to be reasond, in conscience.

c1592 C. Marlowe Jew of Malta iii. iii Abig. I am bold to sollicite thee. Fry. Wherein? Abig. To get me be admitted for a Nun.

1677 A. Yarranton England's Improvem. 8 The Gentleman gets..Friends..to be bound for his Covenants.

1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel 166 Laodice..got him to be poisoned.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 475 She got him to be brought out of prison.

1736 T. Lediard Life Marlborough I. 20 His Father got him to be made Page of Honour.

1834 J. Browne Hist. Highlands I. xii. 247 They at last succeeded so far as to get him to be sent home to Scotland a prisoner.

2011 A. Owings Indian Voices x. 201 Council was trying to get me to be flown around the country by this private jet.

b. intransitive. With to-infinitive: to come (to be or do something); to secure an opportunity, manage, or be permitted (to be or do something). Frequently in to get to know at know v. Phrases 14.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > undertake or set oneself to do [verb (intransitive)] > come or attain (an opportunity) to be doing

get?a1425

?a1425 (?a1350) T. Castleford Chron. (1996) II. l. 24099 And suo, þoru falsede and treson, He gatte to haf Britaines coron.

1564 N. Haward tr. Eutropius Briefe Chron. x. f. 116^v Thinking by this meanes..he shoulde get to be receiued of his sonne in law.

1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. L3^v Then get they to be chaplines, to honorable, & noble personages.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) i. vi. 3 By what meanes got's [t] thou to be releas'd.

1649 J. Ellistone tr. J. Böhme Epist. xxxii. xv. 201 All those that shall get to read them.

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 21 We..could never get to see it quick in the Microscope.

1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 272 By the Interest of Laetus..he got to be sent into Illyricum, to command the Legions there.

1770 tr. C. H. Manstein Mem. Russia 211 The more distant troops could not get to be there at the time.

1833 New Monthly Mag. 37 22 They get to look upon every law as a mere conventional enactment.

1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters IV. 350 The evil that God sends to warn us gets to be forgotten, and the evil that He sends to be mended by us gets left unmended.

1870 H. B. Stowe in Atlantic Monthly June 690/1 But it got to be so that the women would count and calculate.

1891 Blackwood's Mag. 149 103/1 It is not quite two years since we got to be friends.

1922 W. M. Raine Fighting Edge viii. 51 Do we get to kiss the bride?

1936 W. H. S. Smith Let. 9 Aug. in Young Man's Country (1977) ii. 22 I've now had a good opportunity to get to know Hill... We haven't got many tastes in common, but I like him.

1972 H. Kemelman Monday Rabbi took Off ii. 24 When a rabbi gets to be around fifty, his chances of getting another job are not so good.

2001 fRoots Oct. 15/3 It's getting to be that you can barely turn around these days without bumping into another kora album.

2006 R. Chandrasekaran Imperial Life in Emerald City (2007) xv. 297 We're finally getting to do what we're paid for.

29. With past participle as complement.

a. transitive. With past participle of a transitive verb or intransitive prepositional verb.

(a) To cause, or succeed in causing, the specified action to be performed upon (a person or thing). Also reflexive.Also in passive (now rare); cf. quots. 1628, 1701, 1843, 1876 N.E.D. (1899) comments that this is (in later use) used ‘with intentional quaintness’.The following quot. could be interpreted as showing this construction, but is more likely to show a transmission or transcription error:

a1500 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Adv.) in W. B. D. D. Turnbull Visions of Tundale (1843) 129 [Mary's virginity] In hyr chyldyng no more thorow got [c1450 Durh. grace] broke At hyr conceyvyng then hyt was vnloke.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > [verb (transitive)] > cause to do or cause to act > cause to be done (to someone or something)

haveOE

to gar makec1330

gara1375

procurec1450

get?a1513

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 239 Thai get indoist All haill thair evidens.

1548 in W. Page Inventories Church Goods York, Durham & Northumberland (1897) 119 I can get no such some [= sum] confessed.

1562 P. Whitehorne tr. N. Machiavelli Arte of Warre v. f. lxxiii^v The first thyng that he ought to doo, is to get described, and payncted oute all the countrie.

1628 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Peloponnesian War (1822) 127 Without gifts there was nothing to be gotten done amongst them.

1689 Proc. & Tryal Archbishop of Canterbury & Right Rev. Fathers 134 These Declarations which they were commanded to take care of getting read.

1701 J. Gordon Diary 17 May (1949) 103 The burning was got so speedily extinguished.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 120 La Fleur..had got himself so gallantly array'd, I scarce knew him.

1793 C. Smith Let. 20 Dec. (2003) 91 I may..get over this difficulty by getting the Bill discounted at 6 months.

1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iv. i. 327 The Bravest men..had here..been got selected.

1867 C. M. Yonge Cameos lxxxvi, in Monthly Packet Dec. 533 The difficulty was not in making laws, but in getting them obeyed.

1870 T. Carlyle Let. 28 Sept. in Corr. Emerson & Carlyle (1964) 573 I am by no means certain..that the whole of this amendatory programme will get itself performed to equal satisfaction.

1876 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera VI. lxvii. 234 I have more to say when my lecture on Jewels can be got published.

1927 B. Johnston Let. 3 Dec. in Lett. Home 1926–45 (1998) 11 I loved the photo of Joe, I am going to get it enlarged.

1962 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 75 319 One boy wanted to ‘git his fortune tole’.

2010 Your Cat Feb. 29/1 Thornton, an elegant, suave looking cat, unsurprisingly got himself adopted fairly early on in life.

(b) To incur or suffer a specified injury to (something belonging to one, a part of the body).

ΚΠ

1675 T. Thompson Quakers Quibbles iii. viii. 27 He onely got his Shins broken directly there amongst them.

1787 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 249 I got my right wrist dislocated.

1813 M. L. Weems Drunkard's Looking Glass (ed. 2) 14 Coming home one night, quite blue, from a grog shop, he got his neck snapped short by a fall into his own saw pit.

1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke vi. 47 You might chance to get your own skin beaten.

1920 Everybody's Mag. Sept. 24/3 It's lucky I'm not a giddy, impressionable creature, or I surely would get my heart broken.

1957 J. Braine Room at Top 242 [They] were devouring me with glittering eyes, hoping that there'd be a fight and I'd get my face bashed in.

1982 ‘E. Peters’ Virgin in Ice ix. 124 A strutting little cockerel of the nobility you may be, but many a cock has got his neck wrung for crowing too loud.

2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 15 July i. 2/2 I am assuming I am going to get my ass kicked once the inmates find out I am a police officer.

b. intransitive. With past participle of a transitive verb or intransitive prepositional verb: to cause or procure oneself to be treated in a certain way or to undergo a certain action. Also in weaker sense: to come to be the object of a certain action. Often taking the place of to be as a passive-forming auxiliary where it is not intended to express a continuous state.

(a) In uses approximately equivalent to the passive with to be.Typically the passive with to get conveys the implication that the referent of the subject of the verb has some responsibility for the action and that the action has adverse consequences for the referent.As an established adjective, acquainted in quot. 1568 strictly belongs to sense 30b(a) (cf. acquainted adj. 1).

ΚΠ

1568 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Dial Princes (rev. ed.) ii. 114 If hee bee not his kynseman, or neere allied, let him yet at least get acquaynted with him.]

1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxlii. 253 These men..were yet captiues to Cupid, and could hardly get loosed out of his bands, or whether they were loosed at all, it may be doubted.

a1628 J. Preston Sins Overthrow (1633) 124 Her hands to bee as bands, in respect of the difficulty to get loosed from.

1665 J. Winthrop Let. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1986) XIII. 403 These are a small black Caterpillar that breed in the very bud of the tree... Some [trees] also get killed by it.

1693 G. Powell Very Good Wife ii. i. 10 Now I have furnish'd my self with Wit and Mony, I am resolv'd to get introduced to Mrs. Annabella.

?1717 in W. Cramond Parish of Grange (1895) 14 The schoolmaster complained that the session books were getting destroyed owing to the ‘mothiness’ of his room.

1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal I. ii. i. 142 Let the fellow go to America and get scalped.

1773 Public Advertiser 14 Sept. The Boy coming over in the dead of Night, could not get ferried over till Morning.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §266 We had got (as we thought) compleatly moored upon the 13th of May.

1814 D. H. O'Brien Narr. Captiv. & Escape 113 I got supplied with bread, cheese and a pint of wine.

1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 183 We got entangled among a quantity of heavy drift-ice.

1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey I. ii. i. 71 His Lordship was voted a bore, and got shelved.

1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iii. 140 The different tenures of Scotland and Lothian got confounded.

1887 H. R. Haggard Jess vi. 54 I..got caught in the storm.

1891 Nation (N.Y.) 19 Nov. 389/3 It may leave on your readers an impression unfair to Prof. Royce if nothing more gets said.

1919 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Consequences i. viii. 100 Any girl who goes in for being fast gets talked about.

1947 P. White Let. 9 May (1994) iii. 69 It surprised me by getting produced in London a couple of months ago.

1988 E. Segal Doctors xliii. 658 If I ever got sued for malpractice.

2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane i. 15 'E got knifed on Adler Street when 'e was, like, walking 'ome.

(b) In uses where there is little or no sense of an agent other than the subject of the clause.

ΚΠ

1692 Prejudices Intended Act concerning Marriages 4 A Man of 17. years of Age contracts with a Woman of the same years, the Woman has Consent of her Parents, the Man has not his Fathers Consent, however these get married.

1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse ii. 29 So [I] huddle on my Cloaths, and get drest by One.

1722 E. Nettleton Let. 18 Sept. in J. D. Humphreys Life & Corr. P. Doddridge (1829) I. 150 I am sorry that you do not like your new habitation so well as Kibworth; but hope, that when you get settled, it will be more agreeable.

1732 ‘J. Thomson’ Tricks of Town 4 A Train of Chamber-maids, and old Housekeepers, who have got married, and are permitted to visit the Families they once lived in.

1773 P. Brydone Tour Sicily & Malta II. xxiii. 75 She told him, it would be too long before she could get dressed.

1846 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 193/1 I'll go and get changed, and then I'll finish what I was going to tell you.

1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. i. 17 Hurry up, and get done. Don't stop to quirk your little finger, and prink over your plate, Amy.

1881 Dr. Gheist 190 You will be astonished to hear that I am going to get married.

1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island iii. 23 Marilla, brusque and tearless, pecked Anne's cheek and said she supposed they'd hear from her when she got settled.

1932 W. Soutar Diary 2 Feb. in Diaries of Dying Man (1991) iii. 10 Mr Buchanan and Miss Mackenzie got started on a religious discussion.

1989 B. Park My Mother got Married vi. 69 It wasn't his fault that my mother and Ben got married.

2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black ix. 323 So I have to ask you about the payments, for the flat. I have to cut down my outgoings. Just till I get sorted.

c. intransitive. With past participle of an intransitive verb: to accomplish or complete an action. Now nonstandard.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)]

enda1340

finisha1400

conclude1526

to get through1589

get1594

dispatcha1616

to shut up1626

to wind up1631

finale1797

to top off1836

to top up1837

through1894

to roll up1963

1594 R. Wilson Coblers Prophesie sig. D4 Get gone or I will send thee gone.

1612 G. Chapman Widdowes Teares i. sig. C Get gone; and let this malipert humour returne thee no more.

1716 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 117 If we could get fled I would remove all my family from this.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 2 By three I had got sat down to my dinner.

1841 W. Greener Sci. Gunnery ix. 310 Thou art always dreaming. I can't get slept for thee and thy dreams.

1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. iv. 358 No sooner had they got sat down than Mr. Mason spoilt it all.

1951 J. Jones From Here to Eternity xxxiv. 510 ‘Are you finished, Sergeant?’ The Sgt nodded busily... ‘Well, lets get gone then.’

1992 D. Glazer Last Oasis 33 ‘Come on, get sat down—tea's ready—I've got you something real special.’

30. With adjective (or equivalent noun phrase) as complement.

a. transitive. To bring into the specified state; to succeed in making.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)]

yarec888

yarkc1000

graithc1175

readya1225

biredienc1275

to make yarec1290

forgraitha1300

adightc1330

buskc1330

purveyc1330

agraith1340

disposec1375

before-graithea1382

to forge and filec1381

to make readya1382

devisec1385

bounc1390

buss?a1400

address?a1425

parel?a1425

to get upc1425

providec1425

prepare1449

bakec1450

aready1470

arm?a1505

prevenea1522

get?1530

to get ready1530

to set in readiness1575

apply1577

compose1612

predy1627

make1637

to dispose of1655

do1660

fallowa1764

to line up1934

prep1936

tee1938

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (reflexive)] > in specific way

revesta1325

get?1530

to get ready1530

slovena1591

veil1614

wrap1647

fit1667

fetish1735

toff1914

?1530 R. Whitford Werke for Housholders sig. A.iii^v Yf it were ones (by vse) goten redy & incorporate, & prynted in the herte & mynde.

?1535 Trewe Nyew Tydynges Rebaptisers of Munster sig. A.iv As sone as they hadde gotten the gaetes open, ranne they streight to the towre.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A5^v He..Knitting all his force got one hand free.

1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 247 The maid runnes against the chamber door, gets it open [etc.].

1699 T. Allison Acct. Voy. Archangel 103 We set our Sprit-Sail too, but all the Watch, which were ten Men, were two hours in getting it loose.

1761 Proc. Old Bailey 20 Apr. 214/2 I..could not get it clean, and was obliged to send it to the scowerer's.

1817 J. Austen Sanditon i. in Minor Wks. (1954) 365 One or two of the Men lent their help to the Driver in getting the Carriage upright again.

1827 Masonic Mirror 24 Feb. 70/2 And I knew, that by abusing, insulting and provoking them, I should get them mad after a while.

1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. xi. 203 Let us get him all right again.

1891 Outing (U.S.) Dec. 246/2 Rum had so far ‘got him dead’.

1897 ‘M. Twain’ Following Equator lii. 504 He got me so nervous that I couldn't look at the view.

1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xi. 169 I get my fingers so dirty when I use a pen.

1982 W. Brandmark in Everyday Matters 74 Her father belonged to an orthodox temple where the women sat upstairs. ‘Always got me so mad’, she used to tell Rachel. ‘They put women down’.

1998 J. Cocker Mother, Brother, Lover: Sel. Lyrics (2011) 83 I'd like to make this water wine but it's impossible—I've got to get these dishes dry.

b. To become, or succeed in becoming; to make oneself; to grow (with comparatives); to come to be.

(a) intransitive. With adjective as complement. Also (since the late 18th cent.) with non-referential it as subject, referring to temperature, weather, time, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > change [verb (intransitive)] > pass into state, become

yworthOE

worthOE

goOE

becomec1175

come?a1200

waxc1220

charea1225

aworthc1275

makea1300

fallc1300

breedc1325

grow1340

strikea1375

yern1377

entera1382

turna1400

smitec1400

raxa1500

resolvea1500

to get into ——?1510

waxen1540

get1558

prove1560

proceed1578

befall1592

drop1654

evade1677

emerge1699

to turn out1740

to gain into1756

permute1864

slip1864

the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > get or be rid of

refusea1387

to be rid of (also on)c1450

beskyfte1470

to be, get shut of, (dialect) shut on?a1500

to claw off1514

get1558

to put away1577

to get rid of1591

quit1606

to get off with1719

ding1753

shoot1805

to stay shet of1837

shuck1848

shunt1858

shake1872

to dust off1938

1558 P. Morwen tr. A. ben David ibn Daud Hist. Latter Tymes Iewes Commune Weale f. lxiii^v Antipater saw he coulde not get loose, wept for anger at the keper.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. i. 134 How to get cleere of all the debts I owe.

1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. i. vi. 175 Having, with very much adoe, gotten loose from their Enemies [etc.].

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 220 They were both gotten sufficiently Drunk.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 179 He..got past me before I could get aware of him.

1728 J. Gonson Charge to Grand Jury Royalty Tower of London in G. Lamoine Charges to Grand Jury (1992) 219 Numbers of the lower sort of people get drunk with Geneva.

1776 Trial Maha Rajah Nundocomar for Forgery 23/1 He was at first very ill, then got better; he is now worse.

1798 J. O'Keeffe Czar Peter iii. i, in Dramatic Wks. III. 187 On the set in of winter—‘Ha, it's got astonishingly sharp’.

1810 Sporting Mag. 36 60 After which he [a horse] got lame.

1818 E. P. Fordham Pers. Narr. Trav. (1906) 167 The fire went out and it got quite dark.

1824 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) §7455 As the trees get old..or infected with canker,..or rottenness, they are scarified.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 227 He will smoke himself into a mummy, for he gets thinner day by day.

1857 J. Ruskin Polit. Econ. Art i. 20 They got all wrong in their experiments.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 55 Almost everything gets smaller as it is cooled.

1907 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 802 The only time in my life I ever got tipsy was at Weymouth.

1938 Amer. Home June 4/1 (advt.) I had tried everything for my dandruff but my hair got duller and drier.

1952 J. Lait & L. Mortimer U.S.A. Confidential ii. xiv. 169 The lonesome broads sit by themselves, moodily getting drunk alone.

1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny ii. 42/2 We figured that other stores were getting wise, too, so it was time to find another hustle.

1981 B. Head Serowe xviii. 108 Suddenly it got cloudy and we couldn't get our bearings.

2004 V. N. McIntyre Duty, Honor, Redempt. 224 Ambassador, with all due respect—that explanation is getting pretty stale!

(b) intransitive. With noun phrase (now chiefly indicating age) as complement.

ΚΠ

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 158 I had got master of my secret, just in time.

1862 Temple Bar 5 254 I am getting an old man, and I'm ailing.

1874 G. W. Dasent Half a Life III. 88 You must not suppose we got very great friends with Honora Tailby all at once.

1885 Bookseller July 650/1 Retail bookselling seems to be getting a less remunerative business every day.

1891 Illustr. Sporting & Dramatic News 10 Jan. 581/3 He worked hard, and soon got chums with the swells.

1920 J. L. Mosby Paul Winslow xix. 253 But he was getting a big boy now—‘goin' on twelve’ as he proudly expressed it.

1986 P. Lively Pack of Cards (1989) 242 She's getting a big girl now.

1995 J. Melville Morbid Kitchen 146 Muff..had decided to eat; her head was in the bowl... ‘You're getting an old lady,’ said Charmian, bending down to stroke her.

31. With present participle as complement.

a. intransitive. To come to be, to get involved in (doing something). Also: (Scottish) to find opportunity for (doing something). Also formerly †with on and gerund or verbal noun. Frequently in to get going at Phrases 3g, to get moving at Phrases 3k.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > be occupied or busy (in or at something) [verb (intransitive)] > be involved in or have to do with something

entermetec1300

to make (a) market1340

meddlec1390

to do with ——a1400

mell1416

intermeddle1477

intermell1480

to have art or (and) part ina1500

participate1531

to have a finger (also hand) in the pie?1553

tigc1598

get1727

concern1791

involve1843

to mix up1882

tew1891

to screw with ——1973

1727 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 298 Probably I'll scarce get writing, the Assembly will sit so late.

1759 Bp. W. Warburton Lett. (1809) 288 And now I am got on transcribing, I will send you a passage or two from some late letters.

a1810 R. Tannahill Barrochan Jean in Poems (1846) 117 Naething got growing for Barrochan Jean.

1872 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera II. xix. 10 Instead of looking at the sun, I got thinking about the dry bed of the stream, just beneath.

1889 M. E. Martin Common Clay III. ix. 144 When they got talking together it was Greek to me.

1931 K. A. Porter Let. 24 Apr. (1990) i. 38 Gene is apt to say ‘Stop talking rot’ when Hart gets explaining what all is wrong with my attitude towards Mexico.

1969 G. Friel Grace & Miss Partridge i, in Glasgow Trilogy (1999) 201 She didn't like boys, and we couldn't get playing in peace in the backgreen for her shouting at us over the staircase windows.

2008 S. Armitage Gig (2009) 63 I get chatting with a couple of Brits, two ski-tanned guys from Kent who've come north to drive a Land Rover across a glacier and canoe down a waterfall.

b. transitive. Originally Irish English (northern) and U.S. To cause (a person or thing) to be doing something.Apparently earliest in to get going: see Phrases 3g(b).

ΚΠ

1835 3rd Rep. Select Comm. Orange Lodges Ireland App. D.2 156 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 476) XVI. 1 Deponent proceeded with the party as quick as he could to get them going.

1857 tr. Molière in D. Fellowes Fourth School Reader 44 Zounds! don't get me talking about that, I might tell you—.

1870 Appleton's Jrnl. 18 June 679/1 Sometimes, you know, she'd get me talking, and somehow the time would fly, and it would be ever so late before I could get away.

1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered Ashes xiii. 253 He again got Clem Hill feeling for the ball.

1917 Weekly Disp. 3 June 1/3 To-day we have got the Germans guessing harder than at any time since the week before the opening of the great Somme offensive.

1950 N. Coward Diary 7 July (2000) 151 Pat got them roaring with ‘Josephine’ and ‘Charlie’.

1989 U.S. Air Sept. 98/2 Its recent cachet as an upscale ingredient has got everyone cooking.

2013 Guardian 29 May (G2 section) 6/3 A mission to get more women cycling.

32. intransitive. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S. regional). Frequently in form git. Without complement, chiefly in imperative.

a. to get up and get: = to get up and go at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)]

wendeOE

i-wite971

ashakec975

shakeOE

to go awayOE

witea1000

afareOE

agoOE

atwendOE

awayOE

to wend awayOE

awendOE

gangOE

rimeOE

flitc1175

to fare forthc1200

depart?c1225

part?c1225

partc1230

to-partc1275

biwitec1300

atwitea1325

withdrawa1325

to draw awayc1330

passc1330

to turn one's (also the) backc1330

lenda1350

begonec1370

remuea1375

voidc1374

removec1380

to long awaya1382

twinc1386

to pass one's wayc1390

trussc1390

waive1390

to pass out ofa1398

avoida1400

to pass awaya1400

to turn awaya1400

slakec1400

wagc1400

returnc1405

to be gonea1425

muck1429

packc1450

recede1450

roomc1450

to show (a person) the feetc1450

to come offc1475

to take one's licence1475

issue1484

devoidc1485

rebatea1500

walka1500

to go adieua1522

pikea1529

to go one's ways1530

retire?1543

avaunt1549

to make out1558

trudge1562

vade?1570

fly1581

leave1593

wag1594

to get off1595

to go off1600

to put off1600

shog1600

troop1600

to forsake patch1602

exit1607

hence1614

to give offa1616

to take off1657

to move off1692

to cut (also slip) the painter1699

sheera1704

to go about one's business1749

mizzle1772

to move out1792

transit1797–1803

stump it1803

to run away1809

quit1811

to clear off1816

to clear out1816

nash1819

fuff1822

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

mosey1829

slope1830

to tail out1830

to walk one's chalks1835

to take away1838

shove1844

trot1847

fade1848

evacuate1849

shag1851

to get up and get1854

to pull out1855

to cut (the) cable(s)1859

to light out1859

to pick up1872

to sling one's Daniel or hook1873

to sling (also take) one's hook1874

smoke1893

screw1896

shoot1897

voetsak1897

to tootle off1902

to ship out1908

to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909

to push off1918

to bugger off1922

biff1923

to fuck off1929

to hit, split or take the breeze1931

to jack off1931

to piss offa1935

to do a mick1937

to take a walk1937

to head off1941

to take a hike1944

moulder1945

to chuff off1947

to get lost1947

to shoot through1947

skidoo1949

to sod off1950

peel1951

bug1952

split1954

poop1961

mugger1962

frig1965

1854 D. Emmett Hard Times: Negro Extravaganza i. 5 Gabe: Dat ain't fair! you throw stones; I can lick you, tho'..now ‘git up an' git’.

1864 B. Cotton Songster 10 Monsieur will be invited to just ‘get up and get’.

1877 Providence Jrnl. in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms We must do what there is to do, and then we can get up and get.

1893 J. H. McCarthy Red Diamonds I. 66 He got up and gitted before we struck ile.

1903 J. Fox Little Shepherd xxii A voice bellowed from the rear..‘Git up and git, boys!’ That was the order for the charge.

1943 M. Morriss Diary 15 Apr. in S. Pacific Diary (1996) 148 Which is why I like to just git up and git—without having the opportunity to think about water landings, et al.

1982 M. F. Knudtsen Under Mountain 101 I made up my mind ter git up and git.

b. To be off, ‘clear out’. Also: to make speed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily

fleec825

runOE

swervea1225

biwevec1275

skip1338

streekc1380

warpa1400

yerna1400

smoltc1400

stepc1460

to flee (one's) touch?1515

skirr1548

rubc1550

to make awaya1566

lope1575

scuddle1577

scoura1592

to take the start1600

to walk off1604

to break awaya1616

to make off1652

to fly off1667

scuttle1681

whew1684

scamper1687

whistle off1689

brush1699

to buy a brush1699

to take (its, etc.) wing1704

decamp1751

to take (a) French leave1751

morris1765

to rush off1794

to hop the twig1797

to run along1803

scoot1805

to take off1815

speela1818

to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

absquatulize1829

mosey1829

absquatulate1830

put1834

streak1834

vamoose1834

to put out1835

cut1836

stump it1841

scratch1843

scarper1846

to vamoose the ranch1847

hook1851

shoo1851

slide1859

to cut and run1861

get1861

skedaddle1862

bolt1864

cheese it1866

to do a bunkc1870

to wake snakes1872

bunk1877

nit1882

to pull one's freight1884

fooster1892

to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892

smoke1893

mooch1899

to fly the coop1901

skyhoot1901

shemozzle1902

to light a shuck1905

to beat it1906

pooter1907

to take a run-out powder1909

blow1912

to buzz off1914

to hop it1914

skate1915

beetle1919

scram1928

amscray1931

boogie1940

skidoo1949

bug1950

do a flit1952

to do a scarper1958

to hit, split or take the breeze1959

to do a runner1980

to be (also get, go) ghost1986

1861 W. C. Bryant Songs from Dixie's Land 26 The thoughts of my dear Sally soon made them feelings git.

1874 ‘M. Twain’ Sketches New & Old 12/1 Then he says, ‘one-two-three-git!’

1884 Graceville (Minn.) Transcript 25 Aug. He presented a cocked revolver and told them to get, and they got.

1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xi. 190 ‘I reckon you're bound to git.’ ‘Yes, Bill, sharp's the word.’

1892 H. Nisbet Bushranger's Sweetheart xxiii. 176 None of your damned impertinence. Get.

1907 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 5/1 In other words, as the Americans said, ‘That fleet can get.’

1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock ii. i. 81 Turn out the light and get.

1959 ‘D. Buckingham’ Wind Tunnel viii. 72 I want you out of the way—so git. And what's more—git quickly.

1967 K. Giles Death & Mr. Prettyman ii. 62 Anybody in a room either gets or pays for another twenty-four hours.

2000 C. Thayer Certain Slant of Light 140 ‘Get the fuck out of here,’ he says. ‘Go on. Git.’

c. = to get up 6b at Phrasal verbs 1. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1864 Harper's Mag. Oct. 565/2 Belaboring the mules till he was tired, and telling them to ‘git’ till he was hoarse.

1869 A. K. McClure 3,000 Miles through Rocky Mts. 149 As he yelled to them [sc. his horses] to ‘git’, his keen silken cracker flashed about their flanks.

1895 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 282 Our team proceeded with many a ‘git’ and whip crack from their dusky Jehu.

1965–70 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. 661/1 To make a horse go faster.., Git.

IV. Specialized uses of the perfect.In this use, the perfect and past perfect of get (have got, has got, had got) function as a present and past tense verb, which, owing to its formation, does not enter into further compound forms (perfect and past perfect, progressive, passive, or periphrastic expressions with to do), or have an imperative or infinitive.

In colloquial, regional, and nonstandard use, omission of auxiliary have is frequent in the uses at this branch (e.g. I got some, you got to): see examples in etymology section. An inflected form gots is also sometimes found in similar use (e.g. I gots some, he gots to), especially in African-American usage: see further examples in etymology section.

* In senses equivalent to those of the present and past tenses of have.Often, especially in early use, difficult to distinguish from the dynamic use ‘have obtained or acquired’.

33.

a. transitive. To hold as property, be in possession of, own; to possess as a part, attribute, or characteristic; = have v. I.*

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > have or possess [verb (transitive)]

holda855

haveeOE

feoffc1330

werec1330

possede1392

possess1394

to be seized (seised) of or with1477

get1611

rejoice1822

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ii. 89 What a beard hast thou got; thou hast got more haire on thy chinne, then Dobbin my philhorse hase on his taile. ]

1611 J. Maxwell tr. Treasure of Tranquillity xvii. 144 The care of conseruing and increasing the goods they haue got, and the feare of loosing that which they enioy.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) i. ii. 25 Fie, th'art a churle, ye'haue got a humour there Does not become a man.

c1635 H. Glapthorne Lady Mother (1959) ii. i. 22 My lady has got a cast of her eye.

1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 113 They have got..such a peculiar Method of Text-dividing.

1699 T. Cockman tr. Cicero Offices iii. i. 234 But I, who han't got such a strength of Genius.

1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 144 They have got a Custom of heading it from Time to Time.

1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 68 Miss, you have got my Handkerchief; pray, let me have it.

1770 Fatal Friendship I. xii. 96 Clara is not half the girl she was;..has got a trick of rambling in the woods by herself.

1836 N. Tucker George Balcombe II. iii. 35 ‘It depends upon your business,’ says I, ‘whether I'll suit you or no, 'cause I hain't got no book larning.’

1876 J. Ruskin Mornings in Florence V. 128 Quite ‘from the heart’—such hearts as the people have got.

1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. 12 As a general rule the banker has not got in his possession the money which he owes to his customers.

1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. 138 ‘We ought to join on to other socialists,’ I said. ‘They've got something.’

1909 A. Wimperis Arcadians III. 20 I've gotter motter—Always merry and bright!

1957 J. Braine Room at Top (1960) 45 What's Alice got that I haven't got?

1986 J. Wilson Amber iii. 26 I've got money, I'll treat you. I'll buy you a big squidgy cream cake.

2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy vii. 170 Now that I was here I didn't know if I'd got the bottle to go through with it.

b. transitive. To have in a specified relationship, in a certain position or condition, or available; to have as a requirement or obligation; = have v. I.**.

ΚΠ

1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts (Acts xxviii. 27) It is a heavy case when men have got a kind of hoof over their hearts.

1658 F. Teate Ter Tria 135 What's this, said Hope, that I've got on?

1693 T. Smith in J. Ray Coll. Curious Trav. II. 59 This presently took vent, and the Turks thought that they had got a man among them that could cure all Diseases infallibly.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 143 He began to reflect that the dead body had got a ring upon one of the fingers.

1793 C. Smith Old Manor House II. xi. 261 I suppose she thoft I had got you locked up in my cupboard.

1839 W. M. Thackeray Catherine v, in Fraser's Mag. July 102/2 He has..got C. R. in blue upon his right arm.

1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. 125 What..has the general public got to do with literature?

1917 J. Martin Diary 30 Sept. in Sapper Martin (2010) 112 I've got a bit of back pay to pick up.

1921 A. P. Terhune Buff iii. 181 I've got a taxi waiting at the other end of the pier.

1984 C. Boylan Last Resorts viii. 83 ‘I'm all they've got.’..‘No. They've got themselves.’

2011 M. Hanif Our Lady of Alice Bhatti ii. 12 So l have got a criminal but no crime that I can prove right now.

c. transitive. To suffer from, be subject to; = have v. 17a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > cause to be ill [verb (transitive)] > be ill with

get1694

1694 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: Pt. 1 i. ii. 10 Now is my Mother as Rusty as an old Cow that has got the Belly Ach, but I care not; She dares not beat me.

1775 S. Johnson Let. 23 Dec. (1992) II. 280 I have just now got a cough, but it has never yet hindered me from sleeping.

1869 B. Harte Return Belisarius 14 You knew that he's got the consumption?

1924 J. Galsworthy White Monkey i. iii, in Mod. Comedy (1929) 19 Wilfrid's got the hump to-night; says he's not fit for human society.

1926 H. G. Wells World of W. Clissold I. ii. i. 133 When I tried to cheer things up..with this agreeable refrain my mother quenched me with, ‘Don't Billykins, I've got a headache.’

2010 Observer (Nexis) 4 July (Review section) 4 ‘But if it helps..,’ she waved the ignited cigarette melodramatically in the air, ‘I have got cancer.’

d. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To have at a disadvantage in an argument or discussion; = have v. 15b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > confuse, perplex, bewilder [verb (transitive)] > nonplus

stagger1556

gravel1566

set1577

trump1586

bumbaze1587

puzzlec1595

ground1597

stunt1603

nonplus1605

pose1605

stumble1605

buzzard1624

quandary1681

bamboozle1712

hobble1762

stump1807

have1816

floor1830

flummox1837

stick1851

get1868

to stick up1897

buffalo1903

1868 Harper's Mag. Mar. 538/2 Scratching his head a minute, Benjamin F. replied: ‘Well, I confess your Honor's got me there!’

1879 ‘Cavendish’ Card Ess. 198 Second hand put on knave, saying, ‘Now I've got you!’

1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin xiii. 236 Who was Navajo? Ah, that's where you've got me, young man. Heaven knows.

1888 H. F. Lester Hartas Maturin III. vi. 157 Yes..I did. I don't deny it. You've got me there.

1906 W. Churchill Coniston i. xiv. 171 ‘What's the name of your gal?’ ‘Well,’ said Mr. Hopkins, ‘I guess you've got me. We did christen her Lily, but she didn't turn out exactly Lily... I guess her name's Cassandra.’

1936 W. de la Mare Wind blows Over 32 ‘That's Mistaken Point,’ he said. ‘Why was it mistaken?’ He shook his head... ‘That's got me, miss,’ he replied.

1977 E. Figes Nelly's Version (1988) i. iv. 39 ‘Who do you think you are?’ She had got me there: I could not answer.

** colloquial. With to-infinitive, in senses corresponding to must v.¹ II., III.

34. To be under a necessity or obligation to do something; = have v. 42.

a. transitive. In affirmative declarative clauses and in interrogative clauses.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > necessity > must of necessity [verb (intransitive)] > be absolutely compelled or obliged

shallc888

moteOE

must?c1225

bida1300

maunc1480

fall1681

get1767

1767 Proc. Old Bailey 15 Jan. 79/2 I know best what I have got to do, I shall do it.

1786 Lady's Mag. July 356/2 Bless me! the coach is at the door, and I have got to dress myself.

1825 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 13 164 The last thing he has got to do is to open the injection-cocks.

1865 ‘L. Carroll’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland iv. 54 The first thing I've got to do..is to grow to my right size again.

1882 A. de Fonblanque Blackest of Lies I. v. 90 I've got to admit, though, that we are timid too, about your art.

1889 A. V. Carr Margaret Maliphant II. xvii. 42 The thing has got to be fought out.

1917 J. Martin Diary 21 Sept. in Sapper Martin (2010) 107 I..told him that we had got to get back to Hedge St. in the quickest possible time.

1919 E. Jordan Girl in Mirror (1925) iv. 79 You'll have to see me every day. I've got to look after you.

1952 J. Bingham My Name is Michael Sibley xv. 183 You and me have got to understand each other right, see?

1969 A. Lurie Real People 18 You've got to admit she's not madly attractive.

2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black ix. 328 You've got to move on. I mean..what's the use of brooding?

b. In negative declarative clauses.

(a) transitive. Expressing lack of necessity: to be under no obligation or requirement to; = have v. 43a(a). Corresponding to need not, do not need to.

ΚΠ

1831 B. Disraeli Young Duke I. i. ii. 13 Thank your stars you have not got to present that account to old Dacre.

1845 H. Cockton Love Match xiv. 151 Why, I haven't got to go above five hundred yards.

1878 Cornhill Mag. July 16 Thank heaven! this hasn't got to last for ever.

1922 Sat. Evening Post 19 Aug. 85/1 I haven't got to buy in, or anything—I haven't got to put up a cent.

1955 D. Howarth We die Alone xi. 170 There was going to be some delay, and he had not got to set off again at once.

1999 S. Bishop in J. Gay & J. Bell Hard Shoulder 143 Mum goes and drops me right in it by saying, That hasn't got to be in until the start of the new term.

(b) transitive. nonstandard. Expressing prohibition: to be obliged or required not to do something; = have v. 43b(a). Corresponding to must not.

ΚΠ

1911 A. Bennett Hilda Lessways i. xiii. 152 ‘I don't care if he works all night.’ ‘But—’ ‘There hasn't got to be any “buts”, Dayson.’

1927 E. Wallace Hand of Power xix. 99 This hasn't got to go into your report, Bullott, because I wish that young woman's name kept out of the newspapers.

1969 C. Cookson Our Kate (1974) iii. 312 She would not let me go in [to the doctor] with her, and when she came out she said, ‘I haven't got to eat so much meat.’

1970 D. Coleman World Cup 70 Preview 21/2 You've not got to let them slow the game down to the pace that they want to play it at.

1989 Eng. World-wide 10 75 He hasn't got to do U-turns in my country—they are illegal.

ΚΠ

1940 M. K. Tomita Let. 1 Jan. in Dear Miye (1995) 67 I've got to not disappoint their trust in me.

1971 Motor Boating & Sailing June 119/2 They have got to never do anything that would wind up giving us a disadvantage.

1991 R. J. Stoller Porn x. 206 It's up to them to protect themselves from this danger. They've got to not do it.

2011 J. Blundell Strings Attached 35 You've got to not mind that they're bored.

35. transitive. Used to assert the necessary truth of a statement: to be required by logic or evidence to; = have v. 45.Also (colloquial) used to emphasize one's belief in a statement; = have v. 46.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > necessity > must of necessity [verb (intransitive)]

must1372

needs must1604

havea1829

get1912

1912 J. Conrad Secret Sharer ii in 'Twixt Land & Sea 164 We two bent our..heads over a half-unrolled chart... ‘There,’ I said. ‘It's got to be Koh-ring. I've been looking at it ever since sunrise.’

1935 C. George Sweetest Girl in Town ii. 79 Come with me, Mrs. Hart, and we'll find it somehow. It's got to be around somewhere.

1949 J. H. Schmitz in Astounding Sci. Fiction July 48/2 That will let me in close to the control room, and that's where U-1's got to be.

1960 Pop. Sci. Oct. 214/2 There's nothing but ironmongery in that box... You've got to be kidding.

1969 R. Airth Snatch! vi. 61 He said to Morland, ‘This guy has got to be a comedian.’

1989 O. Clark Diary 3 Oct. (1998) 300 The DHSS building in Elephant and Castle has got to be one of the most hideous buildings in London.

2003 P. Lovesey House Sitter (2004) viii. 99 Now I know what you're on about, and you've got to be joking.

Phrases

P1. In proverbs expressing the idea that wealth easily, quickly, or evilly obtained is lost or spent in the same manner.

ΚΠ

1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vi. sig. I^v Soone gotten soone spent, yll gotten yll spent.

1548 in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) II. App. Q. 51 Evil gotten, worse spent.

a1626 J. Horsey Relacion Trav. in E. A. Bond Russia at Close of 16th Cent. (1856) 206 Eyll gotton soen lost.

1700 J. Astry tr. D. de Saavedra Fajardo Royal Politician II. liii. 20 That which is ill got is soon spent.

1785 Fergusson's Sc. Prov. (new ed.) 29 in Select Coll. Poems Buchan Dial. Soon gotten soon spent.

1845 J. B. Buckstone Green Bushes iii. v. 60 Nothing has thriven with me since I have held my brother's wealth—ill got, ill gone.

1899 W. Besant Orange Girl ii. iv. 162 Lightly got, lightly spent.

1917 Official Mag. Internat. Brotherhood Dec. 6 The money they receive in this way never seems to do them any good, as the old saying is still true, ‘Easy got, easy gone’.

2008 Transportation 35 378 Regression quickly follows progress; ‘soon got, soon gone’.

P2. In uses corresponding to Branch I.

†a. to get a stomach: to procure an appetite (also with indirect object, and with the means employed as subject). Obsolete.In quot. a1475: (perhaps) to get a good digestion.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > have (good) appetite [verb (intransitive)] > procure an appetite

to get a stomach1561

a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (1999) II. l. 8529 Who a good stomak miȝt gete..To him is best..Þe flesshe of bugle and of neet.]

1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Excellent & perfecte Homish Apothecarye sig. hii^v Let him rise, and take meate if he listeth: if not, and that he thyrsteth, let him drinke of the forsayd water in the morning, and he shall amende, & get a stomake.

1577 Arte of Angling sig. Avii^v You do vse it [sc. Angling]..sometimes to get you a stomach.

a1631 J. Donne Poems (1633) 76 To'get stomachs, we walke up and downe.

1657 C. Hoole tr. M. Cordier School-colloquies i. 29/1 So also we shall get a stomach to our meat.

1682 T. Shadwell Lancashire-witches 11 Coursing had gotten me a woundy stomach, and I eat like a Swine.

1684 tr. T. Bonet Guide Pract. Physician i. 16 Peaches eaten before Meals get a stomach, if it be lost through a hot cause.

1725 I. Watts Logick i. iv. §6 When we say..to get a stomach, and to get a cold, etc.

1766 Earl of March in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1843) II. 62 I am just going to ride out to see if air and exercise will get me a stomach.

b. to get ground: to make progress, advance. †Also to get ground of (also upon): to encroach upon, obtain the mastery of; to draw away from (pursuers) (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)] > make progress or advance (of action or operation)

fremec1000

furtherc1200

profit1340

to go onc1449

grow1487

to commence to, intoa1500

framea1529

to get ground?1529

movec1540

work1566

promove1570

advance1577

devolve1579

to come on1584

progress1612

to gain ground1625

germinate1640

proceed1670

to gather ground1697

march1702

to make its way1711

to come forward1722

develop1744

to turn a wheel1864

shape1865

come1899

?1529 S. Fish Supplicacyon for Beggers sig. A3 The Turke..shulde neuer be abill to get so moche grounde of cristendome.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 101 Þen the troiens..Getyn þere ground with a gret strenght And frusshet þere fos fer vppo abacke.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. iii. 53 If they get ground and vantage of the King, Then ioyne you with them.

?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxiii. 399 This, the horse fear'd, and more powre Put to their knees, straite getting ground.

1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes i. 127 Being better mounted then they, he quickly got a great deal of ground of them.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical ix. 92 A Feaver..that press'd hard upon a Sick Man, and every Minute got Ground of him.

1737 W. Whiston tr. Tacitus in tr. Josephus Genuine Wks. p. cxii The rest of their institutions..got ground by their pravity.

1846 Juvenile Missionary Herald Aug. 191 The Christian race is not to be run by so many fits, but by a constant course and progress; still getting ground upon our lusts; still approaching nearer to the kingdom of heaven.

1882 W. Harris Homiletical Comm. Prov. xv. 426/1 The way of a slothful man is perplexed and letsome, so that he gets no ground, makes no riddance.

1952 Eng. Hist. Rev. 67 554 The Bedford party got ground and began to give him umbrage.

1999 Odds On Feb. 16/1 This brilliant horse richly deserves to win a Gold Cup and finally looks to have a real chance of getting his ground on the big day.

c. colloquial. what has got ——?: what has befallen or happened to, what has become of ——?

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1760 J. Carr Life Tristram Shandy I. xvi. 77 I wonder what has got my nephew's memory.

1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 124 They all at once, on looking round..enquired what had got Carr.

1871 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Fireside Stories (1872) 185 Bill warn't nowhere to be found. So they sent one o' the girls up chamber to see what'd got him.

1939 Poetry 53 292 Where are the gods gone? What has got 'em?

1957 V. Adair in Clairemont Q. Winter 31 But frequently, before we know What has got us, off we go!

d. to get it.

(a)

(i) colloquial. To receive a punishment, scolding, or beating; to ‘catch it’. Also: to receive a blow, to be hit.to get it hot: see hot adj. and n.¹ Phrases 5. to get it in the neck: see neck n.¹ Phrases 2b.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > punishment > [verb (intransitive)] > receive punishment > be punished severely

to buy the bargain dear1352

smart1534

sweata1625

to nap it1699

to get it1805

to catch or get Jesse1839

to get (also catch, take) it in the neck1881

to get beans1893

to get (also do) the book1928

1805 G. Colman Who wants Guinea? iv. ii. 61 Henry. Can he ever have the heart to beat you? Boy. Never very hard when mother's by; for then he'd get it himself.

1841 J. H. Ingraham Quadroone I. xvi. 207 Slain! Bullets and baggenets! Gobin ha' got it! I have bled a barrel and a bucket full. I haven't two pints o' pure red blood left!

1863 J. Lester Rosedale i. in America's Lost Plays (1940) IV. 10 Ell. Did you think you were going to get it? Miles. No, but damn me—you shall get it!

1872 Figaro 22 June 389/1 The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl Granville also ‘got’ it, but not quite so hotly.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 4/3 You will get it hot before you are done.

1938 ‘E. Queen’ Devil to Pay xx. 276 Now she'll get it—that sawed-off, pinky little wurst!

1982 M. Piercy Braided Lives i. 13 I'll get it for being late.

2011 S. Twain From this Moment on (2012) iv. 61 When things snowballed to where it became clear that my mother was about to really get it, I ran up behind my dad with a chair in both hands and smashed it across his back.

(ii) colloquial (originally U.S.). To be fatally injured, to be killed; to be shot.

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1844 Spirit of Times 18 May 139/1 Bang ! Oh, dam you ! You've got it ! I know you is!..Yes, thar's blood on the snow !

1845 ‘C. Winterfield’ Adventures on Frontier Texas & Mexico in Amer. Rev. 2 372 The warrior reeled..and..pitched head foremost from his horse. ‘That fellow's got it, anyhow!’

1899 E. Marshall Story Rough Riders x. 196 Once in a while one of them would ‘get it’.

1917 A. G. Empey Over Top v. 35 Always remember that if you are going to get it, you'll get it, so never worry.

1943 W. Simmons Joe Foss Flying Marine x. 100 Poor old Joe finally got it... He's shark bait.

1997 A. Frewin London Blues i. i. 31 Two days after Jack Kennedy got it, Oswald got it too!

(b) colloquial (ironic). I wish you may get it, also don't you wish you may get it?, and variants: implying the speaker's doubt of, or lack of desire for, another's success.

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1824 Morning Chron. 13 Oct. When informed that it [sc. a gold pin] was six shillings and sixpence, he said ‘I wish you may get it,’ and ran out of the shop with one of them.

1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. I. 42 An ‘I wish you may get it’ sort of expression in his eye.

1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxvi. 274 ‘But the plaintiff must get it,’ resumed Mrs. Cluppins... ‘Vell,’ said Sam... ‘All I can say is, that I vish you may get it.’

1842 R. H. Barham Lay St. Aloys in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 245 Ah, ha! my good friend!—don't you wish you may get it?

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xiii. 111 ‘There's one of the greatest men in the kingdom wants some.’ ‘Does he?’ growled the senior. ‘Wish he may get it.’

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 54/2 I've heard people say when I've cried ‘all a-growing’ on a fine-ish day, ‘Aye, now summer's a-coming.’ I wish you may get it, says I to myself; for I've studied the seasons.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. ix. 216 Don't you wish you may get it?

1929 Barron's 17 June 16/2 With pardonable cynicism the impartial reader will say, ‘Don't they wish they may get it.’

1944 Yale Univ. Libr. Gaz. 19 17/2 The last words he uttered were spoken to an anxious creditor; to whom he said, ‘Don't you wish you may get it.’

2003 BBC Summary of World Broadcasts (Nexis) 13 Oct. If this does not work, then as Moldovans say, I wish you may get it.

(c) Originally U.S. Services' slang. come and get it: indicating that food or drink is ready. Also in extended use, esp. as a sexual invitation.

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1913 Motor Age 13 June 20/1 ‘Come and get it.’ This is the polite way of saying: ‘We are now serving a meal in the dining car (mess truck). Will you kindly step up and satisfy your appetite?’

1936 H. L. Ickes in Dedicated to Conservation (U.S. Department of the Interior) 12 We had not been altogether wise in putting all of our natural resources on the table and yelling in a voice that could be heard around the world, ‘Come and get it’.

1965 C. Himes Cotton comes to Harlem x. 101 ‘Come and get it, pansy,’ she taunted, lying on the bed with her legs open.

1976 M. Frayn Alphabet. Order i. 13 Come on, Lucy. Grub up. Come and get it.

1997 M. Groening et al. Simpsons: Compl. Guide 106/3 I want to have a baby before it's too late. You're looking at a free lunch, boys. Come and get it.

(d) humorous. get it?: ‘do you understand?’, ‘do you see the joke?’ (used parenthetically as a tag to a joke, pun, or allusion, esp. one the speaker or writer regards as bad, obvious, or laboured). Cf. geddit int.

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1926 New Yorker 11 Dec. 46/2 (caption) The verse will be, ‘Tidings of Comfort and Joy’, and—ah—suppose we tie up the thought of the suspender buttons with that? Get it?

1937 R. Westerby Wide Boys never Work (1938) 161 ‘And you—Mick—you're through! Get it?’

1940 S. J. Perelman in New Yorker 24 Aug. 14/3 A high-spirited travesty on How to Read a Book, by Mortimer J. Adler. It is called How to Read Two Books, by Erasmus J. Addlepate (get it?).

1985 ‘J. Gash’ Pearlhanger (1986) vii. 61 Similor's lightweight, love... Cheap old alloy. French bloke called Renty invented it: similar to or, gold. Get it?

2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xlvi. 732 ‘By the way, I personally object to the word testimony regarding a woman's sworn statements, simply because’—she crudely grabbed her crotch—‘the etymology of the word is testes. Get it?’

e. slang. to get his (also hers, theirs): to be punished, get one's just deserts; to be killed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (intransitive)] > be killed

to be deadc1000

fallOE

spilla1300

suffera1616

to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) toa1774

to lose the number of one's mess1807

to go up1825

to get his (also hers, theirs)1903

to cop (also stop, catch, get, etc.) a packet1916

click1917

not to know (or to wonder) what hit one1923

to get the works1928

to go for a burton1941

(to get) the chop or chopper1945

1903 Washington Post 21 Apr. 6 Large numbers of mashers are constantly coming into their own, which is to say, in the vernacular, are ‘getting theirs’.

a1910 ‘O. Henry’ Rolling Stones (1913) iii. 65 Clifford Wainwright being shot by a squad of soldiers... Oh, yes, it was rum that did it. He backslided and got his.

1913 R. Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 288 He'd got his. I knew it by the way the head rolled in my hands.

1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad viii. 107 The other women leave her alone because they know that if they don't—they'll get theirs from Johnny.

1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 30 May 1 If this is where I get mine up there..on a battlefield where the dead don't lie about and rot..; if I get mine up there, there must be no regrets.

1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 66 He was going to get his, come two three four hours. That was all right, of course, you didn't live forever.

2001 M. Blake 24 Karat Schmooze xxxv. 392 But right now he wanted to maim, torture and kill her. Slowly. She'd get hers, he decided, soon as he was back up on his feet.

f. colloquial and euphemistic (originally U.S.). to get any (also much): to obtain sexual attention or fulfilment, esp. sexual intercourse. Frequently as a conversational gambit between men: getting any? (also much?). Cf. it pron. 10, to get some at some pron. 4e.

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1916 Dominecker Rooster (song) in V. Randolph & G. Legman Blow Candle Out (1992) 598 Shit, says the rooster to the hen, I ain't had any since God knows when.]

1927 D. Hammett Big Knock-over in Black Mask Feb. 23/2 We shook hands, exchanged How's everything and Getting muches.

1936 J. O'Hara in New Yorker 18 July 24/1 Well, what's with you. Leonard?.. You gettin' much?

1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 124 The jocular greeting between man and man, gettin' any?..draws such set replies as, climbing trees to get away from it!

1950 F. Feikema Brother 38 The book salesman asked, ‘Gettin' any lately?’ Thurs threw him a bewildered look... ‘Gettin' what?’ ‘When'd you have it last? You know. Pussy.’

1963 J. Naish That Men should Fear 82 Hey there, Hans, gettin' any, kid?

1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere iii. 31 People come up to me and ask, ‘Mickey, are you getting any,’ and I pull a thermometer out of my jockey shorts, it says twenty-five below.

1993 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 15 Aug. (Mag.) 4 Her status in the firmament of American popular culture is secure, right up there with..Groucho Marx, who loved to inquire when he ran into her in their later years: ‘Gettin' much, Mae?’

2001 D. King Burglar Diaries xxii. 179 That's the thing about women, they do love to rub a bloke′s nose in it when he isn′t getting any.

g. come and get me: (used as a defiant taunt) ‘I dare you to catch me or challenge me’.

ΚΠ

1921 O. R. O'Neil Adventures in Swaziland xiv. 228 They..announced to the stowaways that they were under arrest. ‘We are, are we?’ these worthies asked. ‘Well then, come and get us!’

1949 F. W. Dixon Sign of Crooked Arrow xxv. 210 ‘Come out, Morgan!’ the sheriff roared into the cave. ‘Come and get me!’ a voice replied.

1984 T. C. Boyle Budding Prospects (1985) iv. ii. 260 Come and get me, Jerpbak, I thought, popping the clutch and fishtailing up the road.

2001 M. Cerasini et al. Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius 127 Hey you big chicken!.. Come and get me!

h. U.S. slang. to get mine (also yours): to get my (or your) fair share.

ΚΠ

1935 J.T. Farrell Little Blond Fellow in Guillotine Party & Other Stories 69 ‘Well, Marty, how's the Nation Oil shark these days?’ Al Bleecker said... ‘Sure you're getting yours?’ asked Pete Studebaker. ‘I'd be a fool not to’..Marty responded.

a1938 T. Wolfe Web & Rock (1939) xxv. 402 Were officials in the city government grafters, thieves? Every man..was ‘getting his’.

1944 Rotarian Mar. 24/2 So what! I'm going to get mine while getting is good.

1958 Life 26 May 139/1 A rise in class and individual irresponsibility, and attitude of ‘I'll get mine’ (or ‘I'll keep mine’).

1975 L. C. Pogrebin (title) Getting yours: how to make the system work for the working woman.

1994 tr. E. Coutinho Bye, bye Soccer 17 Fuck the others, I've got to get mine while I'm doing fine.

1999 R. Kenan Walking on Water (2000) xx. 526 I gots to get mine before it's too late.

i. to be out to get (a person): to be intent on harming (a person).

ΚΠ

1950 Life 17 July 12/2 The committee is not out to ‘get’ anyone.

1969 Bucks County (Pa.) Courier-Times 29 Aug. 11/4 He..contended Levy had publicly stated he was ‘out to get me’.

1988 H. Mantel Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1989) 141 They come here and they're suddenly cut off from their families, they've got language problems, and they start to think everybody's out to get them.

2003 G. Shteyngart Russ. Debutante's Handbk. iv. xxi. 228 Which proved once and for all that the world was out to get him.

j. to get a room: to move from a public to a private setting. Frequently in imperative as an expression of (usually mild or humorous) disapproval for public displays of overly affectionate or sexualized behaviour.

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1991 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 22 Mar. At one point, a person watching yelled, ‘Get a room’.

1997 M. Groening et al. Simpsons: Compl. Guide 204/2 Bart. I won't get embarrassed. I don't care who knows I love my Grampa. Von Wortzenburger. Hey, funboys! Get a room!

2007 C. Peetz Fly Paper for Freaks 64 We are just sitting at the bar talking and in-between kissing, I am like oh my gosh we are one of those couples that need to get a room.

2012 K. Whiddon Wolf Whisperer 273 She sagged her entire body into him, giving herself up to his kiss. ‘Hey, get a room’, Simon said, laughing.

k. to get cold feet: see cold feet n. at cold adj. Compounds 4. to get a grip on oneself: see grip n.¹ 2a. to get head: see head n.¹ Phrases 4d(a). to get it in one: see one adj., n., and pron. Phrases 2b(g). to get a life: see life n. Phrases 12k. to get a load of: see load n. 7e. to get the mitten: see mitten n. Phrases 2. to get religion: see religion n. Phrases 4. to get the sack (bag, boot, bounce, etc.): see the nouns. to get vent: see vent n.² 5b. to get wind: see wind n.¹ 17a. to get a word out of: see word n. and int. Phrases 4b. to play hard to get: see play v. 28c.

P3. In uses corresponding to Branch III.

†a. transitive. to get one's way(s): to go away, take oneself off. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 683 The fox scathless gat his way.

1574 J. Higgins 1st Pt. Mirour for Magistrates f. 52^v I am pleasde from thee to get my wayes.

1606 W. Birnie Blame of Kirk-buriall xii. sig. D1^v Either God must get his way, or be content to dwell in a dedicate Innes to Idoles.

1671 C. Wase tr. Cicero Cicero against Catiline ii. 41 He is gone, he is got his way, he is escaped.

1799 W. Wennington tr. A. H. J. Lafontaine Man of Nature xii. 98 Now get thy ways and marry!

1815 Woman's Will iii. ii Well, get thy ways for an incorrigible coxcomb.

1853 H. W. Herbert Chevaliers of France ii. 30 Get thy ways hence, and deem it mercy I let thee go alive!

b. to get oneself gone: to take oneself away, go, be off; esp. get thee (you) gone. Cf. sense 26a(c). Now archaic.

ΚΠ

1580 J. Stow Chrons. of Eng. 557 A company of the Iland men, that forced them..to get them gone (with shame ynough) to theyr Shippes.

a1592 R. Greene Hist. Orlando Furioso (1594) sig. Cii^v I wish thee well Orlando: get thee gone, Say that a Centynell did suffer thee.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. i. 85 Go, get thee gon, fetch me an iron Crow.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 85 Repose your selfe on your pillow, or I will get me gone.

1678 T. Otway Friendship in Fashion iii. 26 Well, get thee gone for an Arch-wagg.

1712 J. Arbuthnot Law is Bottomless-pit xii. 22 Get you gone into the Country to look after your Mothers Poultry.

1731 G. Lillo Silvia iii. v. 59 Out, you're naughty: get you gone.

1843 G. P. R. James Forest Days I. ii. 12 Get thee gone, slut!..what dost thou know of friars' cells? Too much, I misdoubt me.

1891 Illustr. London News 21 Mar. 382/2 He was recommended to get him gone.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage 260 ‘Get thee gone, fellow,’ said Cronshaw. ‘May wild asses defile the grave of thy maternal grandmother.’

1961 M. C. Beverley tr. S. T. Aksakov Family Chrons. iii. 94 When Stepan Michailovitsch bellowed: ‘Get you gone!’ in a tone which resembled the roar of an approaching storm, she and her daughters hurried off as fast as possible.

2000 S. Dallas Alice's Tulips v. 95 Now take these with you, and get you gone before Mrs. Bullock wakes.

c. to get by oneself: to escape from company.

ΚΠ

1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania iii. 302 Amphilanthus and Selarinus..got by themselues, to giue account to each other of their passions.

a1674 J. Janeway Token for Children (1676) vii. 60 He would get by himself, and weep and mourn bitterly.

1760 E. Macfait Remarks Life & Writings Plato 46 When got by myself, I had great perplexity.

1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. vii. 130 She was in purgatory throughout the day, and wearying to find an opportunity of getting by herself.

1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters iii. 65 Inexpressibly affecting is that eagerness he betrays to get by himself.

1902 Cent. Mag. May 141/1 In the evening, when the rest are canoeing, or chatting on piazzas, I like to get by myself.

1931 Relig. Educ. 26 42/1 The night before registration of the second semester I got by myself and tried to balance my strong and my weak points.

2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Jan. (Sports section) 1/5 He loves to release, get by himself—he's listening to music and he's going his own speed.

d. to get done with: to have done with (see do v. 10b(b)).

ΚΠ

1751 Parl. Hist. Eng. VIII. 107 To get done with this Affair, to come to Matters of much greater Moment.

1827 T. Carlyle tr. J. P. F. Richter in German Romance III. 156 To get the sooner done with it, he had used to begin his devotion..before leaving that place where [etc.].

a1888 B. Campbell Fairfax ii. in White Slave & Other Plays (1941) 168 When you get done with this technical dissertation, I trust you will be good enough to tell me what it's all about.

1924 H. J. Seligmann D. H. Lawrence 44 These people too, Aaron Sisson gets done with, as he got done with wife and children.

1958 A. Boulton Part of Long Story 110 Though it had seemed, before it happened, only a ceremony that was to be gone through and got done with, we now felt that it had made a difference—that we had come into a new estate.

1999 V. Headley in T. White Britpulp! 74 ‘Let's get done with this,’ I was thinking.

e. colloquial. where has (also have) —— got to?: what has become of; where is (or are) ——? Also in indirect questions.

ΚΠ

1798 J. O'Keeffe Czar Peter iii. i, in Dramatic Wks. III. 184 Ma'am!—this brings both me and the Colonel off—but where has he got to!

1840 H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox xxvi Blister 'em! Where can the scoundrels be got to?

1862 E. L. Blanchard Cherry & Fair Star i. 1 I wonder where Queen Mab has got to, Out of the way in her fairy grotto?

1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 242 Muttering something about its being extraordinary where his umbrella could have got to.

1945 D. Bolster Roll on my Twelve 9 Where's the lime-juice got to, Snotty?

1979 M. Leigh Abigail's Party ii, in Abigail's Party & Goose-pimples (1983) 49 Angela : Where's Tony got to? Laurence : Perhaps you'd better ask him that, when he gets back.

2007 S. Jones Outcast (2008) iii. iii. 264 I wonder where they all can have got to.

f. English regional (chiefly northern and north midlands). to get wrong: (originally) to quarrel, argue; (now usually) to get into trouble; to be reprimanded or punished. Frequently with with, from, or off. Cf. to get in wrong at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > hatred > quarrel or falling out > quarrel or fall at variance [verb (intransitive)]

varyc1450

quarrel1530

square1530

to fall offa1535

breach1573

snarl1593

snarl1597

breaka1616

to break offa1645

to cast out1730

to get wrong1803

split1835

split1843

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (intransitive)] > be rebuked or scolded

to hear of it1598

to get on (also upon) the finger ends1693

to get one's lug in one's loof1744

to get wrong1803

to catch or get Jesse1839

to come in for it1841

to get hell1851

to cop (also stop, catch, get, etc.) a packet1916

to have a strip torn off1940

1803 G. Culley Let. 16 Aug. in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 516 I do think we should have come to some agreement, but unfortunately your uncle and he got wrong.

1838 Newcastle Courant 9 Mar. They denied it, and told him if he persisted in saying so he would get wrong.

1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. at Wrong If a parson gets drunk reg'lar, or goäs wi’ uther women as well as his wife, he gets wrong wi' his bishop.

1901 Eastern Counties Mag. 1 292 When they got wrong wi' each other my gran'father he says: ‘You 'ont come to mine no more for the milk.’

1968 F. Grice Oak & Ash vi. 32 I'm not coming... I'll get wrong from my father. He'll hit me.

2016 @LukeyD1912 20 Aug. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I get wrong off me lass for being on me phone in bed because apparently I'm being unsociable.

g. to get going.

(a) To begin; to start acting vigorously, energetically, or determinedly; to start talking fluently or volubly; to get into full swing; to ‘get a move on’; to depart. See also to get cracking at crack v. 22b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > resolutely or energetically

to go to it1490

busklea1535

settle1576

to lay on1587

to put in (also get into) one's gearsa1658

to put (occasionally lay, set) one's shoulder to the wheel1678

yark1721

to get going1822

to pitch in1835

to roll up one's sleeves1838

square1849

to clap on1850

to wire in (also away)1864

to dig in1884

hunker1903

tie into1904

to get cracking1937

to get stuck in1938

to get weaving1942

to get it on1954

1822 Kaleidoscope 29 Jan. 236/3 ‘It's not almighty hot.’—‘I think as how you'll feel it better when we get going,’ replied the driver.

1897 O. W. Holmes Pollock-Holmes Lett. (1942) I. 77 He is really fine when he gets going on the Church of England.

1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum Epil. 391 David is not only living, but appears almost no older than when we first knew him, and still just as likely to ‘git goin'’ on occasion.

1930 L. Charteris Enter Saint i. 57 I'm going to prove that nothing on earth can stop me when I get going.

1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest i. 8 If this task is as important as you men say..we must get going.

1995 D. McLean Bunker Man 177 I think we better get going soon, said Karen.

2006 A. M. Foley Having my Say iv. 19 We had a job getting started, but once we got going, we could sing pretty good.

(b) To cause (something) to operate; to cause (a person) to go; to make (someone) excited, angry, talkative, aroused, etc.

ΚΠ

1835 [see sense 31b].

1844 Rover 3 383/1 It would be a great use to everybody when he got it [sc. the telegraph] going.

1852 W. Stillman Misc. Compositions Poetry & Prose 9 I stuck to it till I got it [sc. a clock] going.

1887 2nd Ann. Rep. State Board Agric. Rhode Island 223 If you get me going I am afraid you can't stop me.

1920 S. Lewis Main St. xxviii. 326 She kidded him along, and got him going.

1932 ‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic iv. 38 She's rather a character, you know, when you get her going.

1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest iii. 189 To get the Hanford plant going.

1959 R. Galton & A. Simpson Hancock's Half-hour (1987) 165 She's a lovely girl. It's those black stockings that gets me going.

1997 W. Self Great Apes (1998) ii. 20 He could get her going, crank up the galvanic heart of her so that she came and came and came.

2005 M. H. Smith Delicious vi. 58 Certain stories in Hawaiian mythology were funny, but the myth of Kamapua'a, the Hog God, was the one that got the kids going.

h. to get somewhere (also anywhere): to be successful; to make some progress. not to get anywhere: not to reach any goal or object; to make no progress; to achieve nothing; similarly to get nowhere: see nowhere adv. 4b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail or be unsuccessful [verb (intransitive)] > fail to reach goal or objective > achieve nothing

to get somewhere (also anywhere)1843

not to get anywhere1932

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress

furtherc1200

profit1340

to go alongc1400

to get forward1523

advance1577

proceedc1592

to take or make strides1600

to get on1655

to get along1768

to get ahead1807

to be well away1821

to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923

ramp1980

1843 C. H. Knox Harry Mowbray xiv. 102 We are all of us striving all our lives to get somewhere or other.

1849 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 149/2 For heaven's sake, my dear fellow, don't suppose that any man could get on in England—get anywhere but to the Old Bailey or Norfolk Island, if he squared his conduct to such topsy-turvy notions of the world as I find here.

1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent ii. 38 Its deliberations upon international action for the suppression of political crime don't seem to get anywhere.

1923 H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood i. 18 I'm going to get somewhere! Right now I ain't got no more idea than a baby of what I'm going to be.

1932 W. Cather Obscure Destinies i. 84 Mrs. Rosen felt that she was not getting anywhere.

1940 E. H. W. Meyerstein Let. 4 June (1959) 242 Even when Jews ‘get somewhere’—if they marry Englishwomen they are condemned by their wives.

2010 J. McGregor Even Dogs (2011) iii. 82 Like he was only pleased she was getting anywhere because then he could mark her up on his monitoring forms.

i. Originally U.S. to get there: to attain one's object, be successful in an undertaking.

ΚΠ

1883 E. W. Nye Baled Hay 49 They were high-toned, and they got there.

1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin viii. 144 He said as he'd been gambling, and was two hundred dollars ahead of the town. He ‘got there with both feet’ at starting.

1888 N.Y. Herald 29 July 7/2 Although not a delegate he got there all the same.

1891 Daily News 18 Nov. 5/1 As the humorous American phrase goes, ‘he gets there all the same’.

2005 K. Holden In my Skin 100 Every user's story has a beginning, a middle and an end. You'll get there. Whether you end alive or dead is up to you.

j. Originally U.S. to get a person nowhere, not to get a person anywhere: to fail to benefit or improve the situation of a person, to fail to enable a person to make progress, to be of no avail to a person. to get a person somewhere: to enable a person to make progress or be successful. Similarly where does it get you (etc.)?

ΚΠ

1902 F. Hopkinson Smith Fortunes of Oliver Horn xi. 231 I've been doing that all winter; I expect to be doing it for years. That don't get me anywhere, does it?

1910 Proc. Fourteenth Ann. Meeting National Assoc. Mutual Insurance Companies 1909 62 Scattering effort will get you nowhere.

1916 E. Miniter Our Natupski Neighbors ii. i. 163 American language as adopted by the Natupski family made constant use of the term ‘Where does it get you?’ It was no use to wash your face. That got you nowhere.

1921 R. A. Hood Quest of Alistair xxxvii. 274 It's all very well to play the good fellow but it doesn't get you anywhere.

1925 N.Y. World 14 Jan. 15/1 If you watch the clock you waste a lot of time that might be spent in things that Get You Somewhere.

1938 Open Road for Boys July 3/2 Here is a rifle and cartridge team that will get you somewhere, at low cost.

1939 M. Mitchell Let. 9 Feb. in Gone with the Wind Lett. (1986) 249 I noticed, however, that my noncommittal statements got me nowhere.

1962 A. La Guma Walk in Night i. 4 To hell with work. Work, work, work, where does it get you?

1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn x. 86 The sort of answer that got one nowhere.

2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black vi. 194 I don't think that trying to love him would get you anywhere.

k. to get moving: to begin to function; to begin to do something, esp. immediately; to make a start (on a task, journey, etc.); (also) to act swiftly, to hurry up (cf. to get a move on at move n. 3f). Now frequently in imperative.

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1863 M. Oliphant Salem Chapel II. xxx. 170 I'll go with you cheerful to Mr Brown, if you'll take my advice, afore Mrs Vincent gets moving about again.]

1890 Atlantic Monthly June 836/2 I suppose the first fool that looked on the first crank that was ever made asked what that crooked, queer-looking thing was good for. When the wheels got moving he found out.

?a1927 F. S. Anthony Follow Call (1936) 26 I decided to get moving.

1977 Grimsby Evening Tel. 27 May 2/5 Old people had to get moving and be bloody-minded to improve their lot.

1990 S. Gates Lock (BNC) xii. 129 Get moving, you stupid bitch! Get off your backside and do summat!

2002 Hull Daily Mail (Electronic ed.) 4 Jan. The new project leader will be the final piece in the jigsaw to enable the scheme to really get moving.

l. to get lost (slang, originally U.S.): to go away; to take oneself off. Frequently in imperative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)]

wendeOE

i-wite971

ashakec975

shakeOE

to go awayOE

witea1000

afareOE

agoOE

atwendOE

awayOE

to wend awayOE

awendOE

gangOE

rimeOE

flitc1175

to fare forthc1200

depart?c1225

part?c1225

partc1230

to-partc1275

biwitec1300

atwitea1325

withdrawa1325

to draw awayc1330

passc1330

to turn one's (also the) backc1330

lenda1350

begonec1370

remuea1375

voidc1374

removec1380

to long awaya1382

twinc1386

to pass one's wayc1390

trussc1390

waive1390

to pass out ofa1398

avoida1400

to pass awaya1400

to turn awaya1400

slakec1400

wagc1400

returnc1405

to be gonea1425

muck1429

packc1450

recede1450

roomc1450

to show (a person) the feetc1450

to come offc1475

to take one's licence1475

issue1484

devoidc1485

rebatea1500

walka1500

to go adieua1522

pikea1529

to go one's ways1530

retire?1543

avaunt1549

to make out1558

trudge1562

vade?1570

fly1581

leave1593

wag1594

to get off1595

to go off1600

to put off1600

shog1600

troop1600

to forsake patch1602

exit1607

hence1614

to give offa1616

to take off1657

to move off1692

to cut (also slip) the painter1699

sheera1704

to go about one's business1749

mizzle1772

to move out1792

transit1797–1803

stump it1803

to run away1809

quit1811

to clear off1816

to clear out1816

nash1819

fuff1822

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

mosey1829

slope1830

to tail out1830

to walk one's chalks1835

to take away1838

shove1844

trot1847

fade1848

evacuate1849

shag1851

to get up and get1854

to pull out1855

to cut (the) cable(s)1859

to light out1859

to pick up1872

to sling one's Daniel or hook1873

to sling (also take) one's hook1874

smoke1893

screw1896

shoot1897

voetsak1897

to tootle off1902

to ship out1908

to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909

to push off1918

to bugger off1922

biff1923

to fuck off1929

to hit, split or take the breeze1931

to jack off1931

to piss offa1935

to do a mick1937

to take a walk1937

to head off1941

to take a hike1944

moulder1945

to chuff off1947

to get lost1947

to shoot through1947

skidoo1949

to sod off1950

peel1951

bug1952

split1954

poop1961

mugger1962

frig1965

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)]

scud1602

go scrape!1611

to push off (also along)1740

to go it1797

to walk one's chalks1835

morris1838

scat1838

go 'long1859

to take a walk1881

shoot1897

skidoo1905

to beat it1906

to go to the dickens1910

to jump (or go (and) jump) in the lake1912

scram1928

to piss offa1935

to bugger off1937

to fuck off1940

go and have a roll1941

eff1945

to feck off?1945

to get lost1947

to sod off1950

bug1956

to hit, split or take the breeze1959

naff1959

frig1965

muck1974

to rack off1975

1947 F. Wakeman Hucksters v. 66 If Kimberly were to walk in tomorrow..I'd tell him to get lost.

1959 Times 25 Sept. 9/2 Tell him to get lost.

1961 ‘B. Wells’ Day Earth caught Fire ix. 145 ‘Cut that out, man,’ the beatnik said... ‘Get lost, man,’ replied Pete.

1962 ‘H. Calvin’ System xiii. 179 The last time Carabine came in I told him to get lost.

1967 P. G. Wodehouse Company for Henry v. 80 Can I have a word with you?.. In private. Get lost, young Jane.

1999 J. Arnott Long Firm ii. 81 Should have told him to get lost, really. But he looked desperate & I feared some sort of scene in the street.

m. slang (euphemistic); chiefly British and Australian. to get off (also out) at Edge Hill (also Gateshead, Redfern, etc.): to engage in coitus interruptus; to withdraw the penis from the vagina before ejaculation.Cf. to get off 6a at Phrasal verbs 1, to get off 9a at Phrasal verbs 1. The names used are train stations positioned one stop before a terminus or major destination and reflect regional variation: Edge Hill in Liverpool, Gateshead in Newcastle, Redfern in Sydney, etc.

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1967 E. Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 6) II. 1325/2 Redfern, get off at, to practise coïtus interruptus; Sydneyites': since ca. 1950.

1970 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Dec. 1422/5 To get off at Redfern..is dull and unoriginal. Since the nineteenth century, natives of Newcastle upon Tyne have described the procedure alliteratively as getting out at Gateshead.

1987 I. Rankin Knots & Crosses (U.S. ed.) vii. 41 Rebus remembered that the premature withdrawal of the penis during intercourse for contraceptive reasons was often referred to as ‘getting off at Haymarket’.

1995 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 29 June 18 I remember once telling my father, a Sydneysider, about the term ‘getting off at Richmond’, and him informing me of the Redfern usage.

2009 J. A. Allen in C. Kevin Feminism & Body i. 13 Worrying whether husbands would, as promised, ‘get off at Clapham Junction’, was hardly conducive to sensual abandon.

2016 @TheGaryLambert 30 June in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) If only Boris' parents had got off at Edge Hill.

n. to get clear: see clear adj., adv., and n. to get cracking: see crack v. 22b. to get even: see even adj.¹ and n.² Phrases 10b. to get left: see leave v.¹ Phrases 7. to get next to: see next adj. 14b. to get outside ——: see outside n., adj., adv., and prep. Phrases 3b. to get outside of ——: see outside n., adj., adv., and prep. Phrases 2a(b). to get rid of: see rid v. Phrases 2. to get something right: see right adj. and int. Phrases 6. to get shut of: see shut v. 11a. to get (something) straight: see straight adj. 8d. to get stuck in(to): see to stick into —— 2b at stick v.¹ Phrasal verbs 2. get stuffed: see stuffed adj. 6. to get to blows: see blow n.¹ 3. to get to grips with: see grip n.¹ 2a. to get tough: see tough adj. 5b. to get under sail: see sail n.¹ 3e. to get under way: see under way adv. to get used to: see use v. 20c. to get weaving: see weave v.² 1d. to get wise to: see wise adj. 3b(b). to get (someone) wrong: see wrong adv. 4b.

P4. In uses corresponding to Branch IV.

a. slang. to have got 'em (bad): to have delirium tremens, to have an attack of horror or extreme depression; (also in weakened sense) to have a fit of nerves.

ΚΠ

1878 Phrenological Jrnl. & Sci. of Health Aug. 113/1 Lemme 'lone! Got 'em bad!

1879 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Nov. 586/1 Umph! I have got 'em again, Carrie. Fly around and get us something to eat.

1893 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang III. 188/1 A very sick person, especially a patient in the horrors, is said to have got 'em bad.

1996 Scotsman (Nexis) 19 Nov. 35 ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I replied: ‘I really don't know.’ From that day on I'd got 'em.

2006 San Bernardino (Calif.) Sun (Nexis) 17 Oct. Hello, Jimmy, what's up? Got 'em bad?

b. Originally U.S. to have got it in for: to be determined to harm or cause trouble for; to feel hostility or strong dislike towards; = to have it in for at have v. Phrases 1e.

ΚΠ

1889 Road (Denver, Colo.) 28 Dec. 4/3 Phil, we have got it in for you if you don't quit being so flossy.

1956 N. Coward South Sea Bubble ii. i Ch. You have got it in for her, haven't you? C. Certainly not. I just don't happen to like the way she goes on.

2003 Independent 7 Apr. 15/2 It is not only the media who have got it in for Mr Galloway.

c. to have got it made: see make v.¹ 52k. to have got (a person or thing) on the brain: see brain n. Phrases 2e.

Phrasal verbs

PV1. With adverbs. to get aboard

1. transitive. To succeed in bringing or putting on board; to put or load on to a vessel or (in recent use) a train, vehicle, or aircraft (cf. aboard adv. 2b).

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > rail travel > [verb (transitive)] > put into a train

to get aboard1577

entrain1878

society > travel > travel by water > transportation by water > transport by water [verb (transitive)] > put or take on board

put to shippinga1300

ship13..

board1542

emboat1542

embark1550

to get aboard1577

to take in1585

imbarge1604

inship1615

to take on1877

society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport of goods in a vehicle > transport goods in vehicle [verb (transitive)] > place on or in a vehicle as a load

load1495

to get aboard1577

1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 1823/2 Perceyuing in what daunger they stoode,..[they] drew towardes the shore, to take in the rest of their company, and getting them aboorde vnto them, they manfully stoode to their defence.

1594 R. Carew tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne i. 37 Vnto some Frigate light get thee aboord, And towards Greekish soyle no sayling slake.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iv. iv. 159 Therefore away, to get our stuffe aboord.

1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures x. 31 He got his Merchandise aboard.

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 40 We had got a great deal of Water and Wood aboard.

1846 J. H. Ingraham Spectre Steamer & Other Tales i. 20 I shall be glad, for one, when our frigate lying off there gets her armament aboard.

1875 J. G. Holland Sevenoaks xxix. 421 There's Pilot-boat Number 10... Perhaps I can get you aboard of her, but you are rather heavy for a jump.

1985 N.Y. Times 8 June x. 3/1 Tour buses have lifts to get wheelchairs aboard..and restrooms that are readily accessible.

2002 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 19 May 54/5 I had no idea how often the trains ran, how long the trip would take, how seats were assigned or how I would get my bulky luggage aboard.

2. intransitive. To go or come on board; to board a vessel, train, aircraft, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > rail travel > [verb (intransitive)] > board a train

to get aboarda1616

entrain1878

society > travel > travel by water > [verb (intransitive)] > embark or take ship

shipa1122

to take (one's) shippinga1300

to take waterc1425

boat1540

embarka1586

bark1592

to get aboarda1616

society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > riding in a vehicle > ride in a vehicle [verb (intransitive)] > get into a vehicle

to get aboarda1616

to step into ——1825

to step in1832

to hop in (also out)1914

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. iii. 7 Go get a-boord, Looke to thy barke.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World v. 116 They knew not how to get aboard.

1780 W. Coxe Acct. Russ. Discov. 58 They had no sooner got aboard than a violent gale of wind..broke the cable.

1850 G. Grote Hist. Greece VII. ii. lvii. 118 The Syracusans got aboard, and rowed close along-shore.

1866 T. Dimsdale Vigilantes of Montana xi. 60 The road agents finished the proceedings by saying,‘Get aboard, every—of you; and get out of this.’

1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music i. 19 They arrived at the tram-stop to find a solid wedge of humanity struggling to get aboard.

1953 P. Adler House is not Home ix. 321 As soon as we got Mr. Huckster sobered up, we set out for the station. Once there, I..insisted on getting aboard to see them settled.

2008 Daily Tel. 8 July 7/6 Flight staff allegedly warned the couple that it was Ryanair policy to leave behind passengers who could not get aboard.

to get about

1. intransitive. Of a rumour, report, etc.: to be circulated, become generally known, obtain currency.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (intransitive)] > spread or be current

springOE

spreadc1300

to go abouta1325

quicka1400

risea1400

runa1400

walkc1400

stir1423

voice1429

fly1480

to go abroad1513

to come abroad1525

wandera1547

divulge1604

to get abroad1615

to take aira1616

to make (also do) the rounds1669

to get about1740

reach1970

1740 M. Foster Let. 9 Feb. in M. Dodson Life of Michael Foster (1811) 10 A rumour is got about, that the lords of the admiralty are taking this affair into their own hands.

1816 J. Austen Emma III. xii. 219 Mr. Weston..did not conceive..that it would be of any consequence; for ‘such things..always got about ’.

1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain 244 When the report got about, Sheffield said that he was not surprised at it.

1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship II. i. 8 Paine's ‘Age of Reason’, for instance, gets about.

1890 F. Barrett Between Life & Death III. l. 298 The rumour..had got about that the timber was not his.

1930 D. L. Sayers Strong Poison ii. 27 Well, you know how a thing like that gets about. One person tells another, and it is discussed at tea-parties.

1952 A. Waley tr. in Real Tripitaka iv. 218 If it gets about that you keep hairy caterpillars you will be thought a disgusting girl and no one will want to know you.

2006 I. Murray Franchising Handbk. ii. 20 Word got about, business flowed in, and as fast as socks grew holes, he was mending them.

2. intransitive.

a. To begin to walk or move around (after an accident, illness, etc.). Now only as merged in sense 2b.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] > travel about or visit many places

runeOE

to go aboutc1300

passc1400

discur1557

dispace1588

perambulate1607

to get about1776

to go around1796

to get around1798

circulate1848

the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > recover or be healed [verb (intransitive)] > move around

to get about1776

1776 A. Adams Let. 10 Mar. in M. A. Hogan & C. J. Taylor My Dearest Friend (2007) 102 Tommy has been very sick with what is call'd the Scarlet or purple fever, but has got about again.

1778 Remembrancer 6 53/1 The last two weeks I have been obliged to keep my hammock most of the time; since I have got about, I find a report circulated among the officers.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vi. 341 You're getting well... But you'll get about now directly, won't you?

1867 H. Parr Mr. Wynyard's Ward II. 79 I frames to get about, but I'se racked wi' rheumatiz terrible—terrible.

1957 J. C. Adams Outl. Fractures iv. 73 Even when there is considerable irrecoverable damage the patient can usually get about well with elbow crutches or sticks.

b. To make one's way about, go from place to place (frequently in contexts indicating or implying some impediment); to frequent a variety of social circles.

ΚΠ

1861 Bell's Life in London 10 Nov. 3 For some time the game was so close that the ball could not get about, but after awhile a ‘fair catch’ fell into T. Davenport's hands, to end, unfortunately, in ‘a miss’.

1863 W. H. Brewer Let. 13 Aug. in Up & down Calif. (2003) 435 The only way of getting about is on snowshoes.

1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship I. xiii. 171 Not even a cab can get about in December for the snow.

1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 654 How nice it must be to be able to get about in cars, omnibuses and railway trains again!

1936 ‘N. Blake’ Thou Shell of Death iii. 51 ‘I'd no idea you knew that girl.’..‘Oh, I get about.’

1939 T. S. Eliot Family Reunion i. iii. 66 Look at your mother! Except that she can't get about now in winter You wouldn't think that she was a day older Than on her birthday ten years ago.

1952 M. Kennedy Troy Chimneys 41 A fellow who never gets about, but crows on his own dunghill, will contract a boorish suspicion of anyone who knows more than he does.

1973 D. Clement & I. La Frenais Porridge: Scripts (2002) Pilot Episode. 20/1 Barrowclough. Anyhow, I'm a bit of all sorts. Scots, English, Irish... Polish—Fletcher. She got about a bit your mother.

2002 Kitesurf (Internat. ed.) Feb. 77/5 It was originally..designed so that you could get about easily.

to get abroad

†1. transitive (chiefly reflexive). To take oneself out of a house or one's home; to get out. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 107 He gate him abroade and prated thereof at large.

a1594 R. Greenham Second Pt. Wks. (1600) xlviii. 270 Hee should get him abroade, and shew himselfe to the world.

1711 Disguise I. 244 You would better please your mistress by contriving to get us abroad,..for we want to call on Miss Edmonds.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. xix. 439 Hence—get thee abroad,..or soon..we will thrust thee forth.

a. intransitive. Of a rumour, a report, etc.: to become current.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (intransitive)] > spread or be current

springOE

spreadc1300

to go abouta1325

quicka1400

risea1400

runa1400

walkc1400

stir1423

voice1429

fly1480

to go abroad1513

to come abroad1525

wandera1547

divulge1604

to get abroad1615

to take aira1616

to make (also do) the rounds1669

to get about1740

reach1970

1615 R. Hamor True Disc. Present Estate Virginia To Rdr. sig. A3^v That they [sc. these particulars] are got abroade and become publike, was no purpose in their first conception.

1660 A. Marvell Corr. in Wks. (1875) II. 40 The last of December here was an ugly false report got abroad, that his Majesty was stabb'd.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 When such Things get abroad.

1779 Coxheath-Camp II. xxxvi. 145 What a noise the affair would make, if it was to get abroad!

1825 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Wks. (1859) I. 32 Should the idea get abroad..it will damp the minds of the people.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. viii. 327 As soon as the questions got abroad, a form of answer..was circulated all over the kingdom.

1885 Manch. Examiner 6 Nov. 5/2 A suspicion has got abroad that they are meditating a reimposition of the tax on corn.

1901 A. Menzies Earliest Gospel 78 But his return is not a secret long; the report soon gets abroad that he is in the house.

1946 W. L. Sperry Relig. in Amer. vi. 102 Meanwhile unpleasant stories began to get abroad about the luxurious life which King Benjamin was living in ‘Shiloh Palace’.

2000 K. Chase & M. H. Levenson Spectacle of Intimacy ix. 188 The question for the partisans of respectability was how to tame the demon that had got abroad.

†b. transitive. To make public or generally known. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (transitive)]

sowc888

blowc1275

dispeple1297

to do abroadc1300

fame1303

publyc1350

defamea1382

publisha1382

open?1387

proclaima1393

slandera1400

spreada1400

abroachc1400

throwc1400

to give outa1425

promote?a1425

noisec1425

publicc1430

noisec1440

divulgea1464

to put outc1475

skail1487

to come out witha1500

bruit1525

bruita1529

to bear out1530

divulgate1530

promulgate1530

propale?1530

ventilate1530

provulgate1535

sparple1536

sparse1536

promulge1539

disperse1548

publicate1548

forthtell1549

hurly-burly?1550

propagate1554

to set abroada1555

utter1561

to set forth1567

blaze1570

evulgate1570

scatter1576

rear?1577

to carry about1585

pervulgate1586

celebrate?1596

propalate1598

vent1602

evulge1611

to give forth1611

impublic1628

ventilate1637

disseminate1643

expose1644

emit1650

to put about1664

to send abroad1681

to get abroad1688

to take out1697

advertise1710

forward1713

to set abouta1715

circulate1780

broadcast1829

vent1832

vulgate1851

debit1879

float1883

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 To get a Thing abroad, to publish it.

to get across

a. intransitive. To reach the other side of an intervening space or obstacle.

ΚΠ

1851 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin in National Era 24 July 118/1 I jumped right on to the ice, and how I got across I don't know.

1880 Colburn's United Service Mag. May 52 The news got across to the Zulus in less than an hour.

1902 F. Lynde Master of Appleby xlviii. 523 And so swimming and wading by turns we got across in time to give the alarum.

1995 Leisureways Nov. 24/2 To get across to the Port you board a free ferry.

b. transitive. To convey to the other side of an intervening space or obstacle.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > [verb (transitive)] > across

overcarrya1382

to set overc1540

to put over1569

to take over1573

traject1635

put1636

cross1804

to pass over1832

to get across1909

1909 Chatterbox 62/2 They were strong, thick planks, not likely to sag in the middle, if I could only get them across.

1943 Coast to Coast 1942 29 Might be he lose his leg if we don't get him across right away to the quack.

1985 J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (1999) I. 4th Ser. Christmas Special 273 Well then how in God's name did you expect to get us across to Holland?

2. Originally Theatre.

a. transitive. To convey (words, a message, etc.) so that they are understood or appreciated. Originally and frequently with it as indefinite object.

ΚΠ

1911 Field Notes (Northwestern Mutual Life Assurance Co.) June 1/2 Stage people have a phrase that clearly expresses the matter. However good a line may be, however fraught with meaning, it falls flat if the actor fails to ‘get it across’.

1917 R. Kipling Diversity of Creatures 190 Tell a fellow now, did I get it across?

1918 Proc. Ann. Session Wisconsin Teachers' Assoc. 1917 149 In some way they must learn to get their ideas across.

1927 Observer 16 Oct. 15/3 The lower comedy is at present in the making, but Miss B. C., Mr. E. M. and Mr. L. H. are experts at getting it across.

1975 Times 23 Aug. 4/7 Mrs Ford..makes it plain she gets her views across to Mr Ford in what she calls ‘Pillow talk’.

1999 W. Gibson All Tomorrow's Parties xix. 80 The sheer crunch required to get it across.

b. intransitive. Of something performed or written: to be conveyed so as to be understood or appreciated by an audience. Also: (of the person communicating) to convey a message, emotion, impression, etc., so as to be understood or appreciated. Also with to.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > [verb (intransitive)]

communique?1473

communicate1598

correspond1605

talk1705

connect1750

to get across1913

liaise1928

network1980

society > communication > [verb (intransitive)] > successfully

to get across1913

to get over1918

connect1942

to come over1946

communicate1959

1913 J. B. Esenwein & A. Leeds Writing Photoplay 24 It is sometimes said that an effect, a bit of business, or an emotion which an actor is endeavoring to portray, ‘will not register’, meaning that it will not ‘get across’ or be understood by the audience in the way intended by the producer.

1921 Sat. Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 14/2 Some vitality that may be as far away as you like from lifelikeness..but nevertheless gets across to the reader from the writer.

1923 U. L. Silberrad Lett. Jean Armiter vi. 148 Sorry—my fault—one fails to get across.

1928 Observer 1 Apr. 6 His verse..in spite of all the efforts of his friends and admirers..has not really ‘got across’ eleven years after his death.

1941 N. Farson Behind God's Back iii. 42 If you can't talk to us, you can't ‘get across’ to us, can you? And so you can't impose your ideas upon us.

2010 Church Times 28 May 25/3 Only the failure of traditionalists to be sufficiently Anselmian in their arguments about this stops the message from getting across.

to get again

transitive. Originally: to recover, get back (now rare). Subsequently: to obtain a second time.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > again or back

acovera1225

covera1300

gain-covera1300

to get againc1380

recovera1387

becoverc1400

recounsel?a1425

recurea1425

win1489

redeem1526

readept1537

rehave1541

recuperate1542

regain1548

reobtain1579

retire1584

reget1585

to get back1587

retrieve1589

reprise1590

reprocure1590

reattain1595

relieve1596

recompassc1604

reacquire1627

reacquist1635

recruit1656

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 2872 (MED) Hast þou gode chere þy faire tour to gete aȝan wyþ-oute any where.

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vi. 106 Þus maihtou leosen his loue..Bote gete hit aȝeyn bi grace.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8677 Bot moght i neuer gete hider til, Mi child a-gain.

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 206 (MED) The flesh shal first be roten and neewe geten ayen at the general assemblee.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 91^v Then the grekes agayne geton þere hertes And myche comford kaght of his come þen.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxviij^v It was to her declared, how that kyng Edward had gotten again the garland.

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 47 When he had gotten his Roll again.

1754 E. Kimber Hist. Life & Adventures Mr. Anderson 185 The next day [he] borrowed five hundred of my thousand livres, which I could never get again.

1846 J. H. Ingraham Lady of Gulf iii. 21 A man's life should not be weighed against gold—no, not even fifty thousand worth of it. Gold may be got again; but life, never.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 25 Can't you see I'm as anxious to get that statue again as ever you can be?

1919 E. R. Turner Ireland & Eng. viii. 296 Meanwhile the Celtic inhabitants obtained..assistance from the state for getting again the land once lost by their fathers.

1950 B. Mussey tr. F. Molnar Compan. in Exile ii. 21 The favorite coat shrank so that she could not get it on. She sent it back. She waited, got it again, but it was never the same afterward.

2011 S. F. Dunham Beyond Schizophrenia ii. 10 You'll never get the chance again to have this freedom. Once you are in the work force, your employer owns you!

to get ahead

1. intransitive. To make progress, meet with success.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress

furtherc1200

profit1340

to go alongc1400

to get forward1523

advance1577

proceedc1592

to take or make strides1600

to get on1655

to get along1768

to get ahead1807

to be well away1821

to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923

ramp1980

1807 R. Southey in J. W. Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) II. 190 I have better hopes than I ever yet had of getting ahead.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 136 Bullies are cowards, and one coward makes many; so good-bye to the School-house match if bullying gets ahead here.

1909 A. C. Rice Mr. Opp 30 Have you been putting up cash all this time..Is that why you have never gotten ahead?

1973 B. Rubens Go tell Lemming (1991) iv. 51 He had no grievance against those who got ahead with less talent than himself.

2006 D. Trussoni Falling through Earth (2007) xiv. 252 Working double-time is the only way you'll get ahead in this world.

2. intransitive. Originally U.S. With of.

a. To move so as to be in advance of (a person or thing). Frequently figurative.to get ahead of oneself: see ahead adv., prep., and adj. Phrases 3.

ΚΠ

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 385 I was working, all the time, to get ahead of Edith.

1834 Jeffersonian (N.Y.) 13 Aug. 2/2 You'll have a big row to hoe, if you get ahead of us next fall.

1874 J. Blackwood Let. 29 Feb. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1956) VI. 225 From the states you have of Middlemarch you will see that Deronda has already got ahead of its great predecessor.

1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 11/1 Lashed together and propelled by the outside oars, the two boats shot off in a circular course to get ahead of the fish.

1955 W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston 173 Any attempt to fudge or finagle or to get ahead of the other fellow will be recognized by the judge for what it is.

2003 BusinessWeek 27 Oct. 50/1 Specialists..get ahead of the pack by buying or selling shares for their own accounts.

b. To clear oneself from (a debt).

ΚΠ

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 380/2 There are many who have incurred a tally debt, and have never been able to ‘get a-head of it’, but have been kept poor by it all their lives.

1917 U. Sinclair King Coal iv. 366 In the year and more that he had worked, faithfully and persistently, to get out coal for Peter Harrigan, he had never once been able to get ahead of his bill for the necessities of life at Old Peter's store.

1983 L. R. Miller & K. Gilman Horses at Work 134 Their energies were spent to pay the enormous principal and interest to the bank. They were never able to get ahead of their debt.

2011 Herald Sun (Austral.) (Nexis) 22 Sept. (Business section) 57 The vast majority of those borrowers who report feeling stressed over their mortgage..are keeping up payments, with 41 per cent getting ahead of their repayments in the past year.

to get along

1. intransitive.

a. To proceed, progress, advance. Also (frequently in the progressive): to depart, go on one's way, get going. Also formerly: †to go in company with.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > progressive motion > move along [verb (intransitive)]

goeOE

lithec900

nimOE

fare971

shakeOE

strikea1000

gangOE

gengOE

seekc1000

glidea1275

wevec1300

hove1390

drevea1400

sway?a1400

wainc1540

discoursea1547

yede1563

trot1612

to get along1683

locomove1792

locomote1831

1683 F. C. Ph. tr. Crafty Lady 118 The Major,..seeing her so much moved, gets along with her into the room, offers to comfort her.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 19 I have only just set out upon my travels; and shall learn better manners as I get along.

1797 R. Proud Hist. Pennsylvania II. App. Pt. ii. 73 They surrounded me with drawn knives in their hands, in such a manner, that I could hardly get along.

1832 W. Cobbett Let. 7 Oct. in Tour in Scotl. (1833) 74 I must get along; beginning to feel devilishly home-sick since I left Newcastle.

1839 New World 2 Nov. 4/3 It is so everlasting slippy out, I cood n't get along no how, every step I took forrard, I went two steps backward.

1889 C. L. Pirkis At Moment of Victory III. x. 158 She gets along faster in the wind than Havelock.

1897 B. Harte Three Partners vi. 271 I must be getting along... I've got to catch a train at Three Boulders Station.

1921 S. K. Aiyangar S. India & her Muhammadan Invaders vi. 161 They preferred to get along through forest tracts by secret path-ways.

1969 I. Murdoch Bruno's Dream xxii. 189 ‘You're drunk, aren't you.’ ‘Yes. Now I really must be getting along’.

1977 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Mar. 1331/2 I..got along slowly with two sticks.

2007 Z. Roos Sea Spray & Cherry Peppers 94 When three of the six weeks had passed and Daniel could get along on crutches, Stuurman received his first disability pension.

b. In imperative. Go away. Chiefly in get along with you (formerly also figurative ‘stop it, be quiet’). colloquial (somewhat archaic).

ΚΠ

1732 H. Baker & J. Miller tr. Molière Amphitryon iii. 129 in Sel. Comedies VII Get along, my dear Friend, take my Word for't, no body minds you here.

1785 J. O'Keeffe Peeping Tom of Coventry i. 14 Mayor. Get along with you..drives the two men out.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 331 Get along, you horned thing.

1834 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 10 May 120/2 ‘Get along, you old Scotch fool,’ cried the clerk.

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xiv. 135 ‘Get along with you, you wretch,’ said the hand-maiden, obviously not ill pleased with the compliment, however.

1879 J. R. Planché King Charming ii. ii. 117 You wish to see the King! a slut like you! Go, get along with you, you hussy, do!

1906 M. Merington Captain Lettarblair iii. i. 169 Polly Is he young and handsome? Let's ask him to join us. Seton Certainly not!—Get along with you.

1923 J. Colton & C. Randolph Rain i. 7 Get along, you scamps.

1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse xxiii. 306 Now get along with you, and don't let me hear of your using that filthy word again!

2004 D. Frye tr. J. J. F. de Lizardi Mangy Parrot 345 Get along with you, off to your gentlemen friends with their capes and their cloaks, and don't set foot in here again until you can bring a peso to gamble.

2. intransitive.

a. Originally U.S. To get on, fare (well, ill); to succeed, find no insurmountable difficulties; to manage, esp. without something. Cf. to get on at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)]

wadec1374

passc1387

proceeda1393

followa1400

to pass ona1400

to get forward1523

pace1597

step1599

to get on1655

to get along1768

to tide one's way1827

to come along1844

press1870

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed or be a success [verb (intransitive)]

speedc1175

fayc1300

provec1300

flourishc1400

passc1425

prosper1434

succeedc1450

to take placea1464

to come well to (our) pass1481

shift?1533

hitc1540

walka1556

fadge1573

thrive1587

work1599

to come (good) speedc1600

to go off1608

sort1613

go1699

answer1721

to get along1768

to turn up trumps1785

to come off1854

pan1865

scour1871

arrive1889

to work out1899

to ring the bell1900

to go over1907

click1916

happen1949

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress

furtherc1200

profit1340

to go alongc1400

to get forward1523

advance1577

proceedc1592

to take or make strides1600

to get on1655

to get along1768

to get ahead1807

to be well away1821

to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923

ramp1980

1768 J. Parsons Funeral Serm. 12 God not only bro't him into great inward and outward Distress, but left him friendless, alone to get along as he could.

1831 F. Trollope Domest. Manners Amer. (1832) I. iii. 32 I was then new to the Western America, and unaccustomed to their mode of ‘getting along’, as they term it.

1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing xvii. 81 I wish you'd write me..whether you think I could get along with the business [of Governorship].

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xvi. 261 But she'll get along in heaven better than you or I.

1868 C. Dickens Let. 28 Feb. (2002) XII. 63 Some of those halls turn out to be smaller than represented, but I have no doubt, to use an American expression, that we shall ‘get along’.

1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 145 You are wanted there, and we can get along without you!

1922 C. S. Parker Working with Working Woman vi. 185 Bridget, the dear old soul, came down that afternoon to see how I was getting along.

1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 June 27/8 We could get along for a month on what a modern kid might receive from his parents for one Saturday night fling.

1971 R. Allen Suedehead xv. 106 The hell with you and the Marylebone Martyrs… I'll get along on my tod.

2004 D. Braybrooke Utilitarianism iii. v. 152 People can't get along without shelter any more than they can get along without food, can they?

b. To agree, act, or live harmoniously with (a person). Also: (of more than one person) to agree, act, or live harmoniously with one another (frequently with together). Cf. to get on 8 at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb] > act or live harmoniously together

to get along1805

1805 Echo 4 Mar. 169 To meet with squatters of a different race, With whom, perhaps, possess'd of better right, We cannot get along unless we fight.

1875 B. L. Farjeon Love's Victory xi You and Mr. Barton do not seem to get along well together.

1881 London Society June 611/2 Each seemed so desperately anxious to make the other pleased. They got along like a house on fire.

1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 501/2 If they wished to get along well with him they must let him have his own way.

1937 Life 13 Sept. 18/1 (advt.) Glass and steel don't get along together. Heat and cold make them expand and contract at different rates.

1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 13/2 I get along pretty good with my parents most of the time, but the thing we don't get along too good about is school.

2005 Vanity Fair Jan. 149/2 Despite our different viewpoints, we still got along like a house on fire.

to get around

1. intransitive.

a. Esp. of news, a report, etc.: to go round, to circulate. Chiefly U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] > travel about or visit many places

runeOE

to go aboutc1300

passc1400

discur1557

dispace1588

perambulate1607

to get about1776

to go around1796

to get around1798

circulate1848

society > leisure > social event > [verb (intransitive)] > participate in social events

show1631

racket1650

to go into society1788

to get around1798

socialize1841

butterfly1855

circulate1856

1798 W. Ridgeway Rep. Proc. in Cases of High Treason, 148 After a small interval from the first enaction of any law in Great Britain, the dreams of fancy get around, and the law is lost in the mass of absurd comment.

1834 W. P. Hawes Legend Brick-house Creek in Atlantic Club-bk. I. 306 The report soon got around that Jaac had had an interview with old Colonel Tom.

1935 Fortune Aug. 60/1 The report got around that the town of Baguio..was built upon great veins of gold-bearing ore.

1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 60/2 The news got around fast.

2004 S. Mehta Maximum City 438 Word got around in the small town that they were having some sort of affair.

b. To move about (originally esp. after incapacitation: cf. to get about 2a at Phrasal verbs 1), to travel about. Also: to go out socially a great deal; to have numerous intimate relationships.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > move [verb (intransitive)]

stira1000

icchec1175

wag?c1225

movea1325

routa1325

to-wawea1375

removea1400

sway?a1400

trotc1430

ayrec1440

quinch1511

walk1533

twitch1542

shift1595

jee1727

to get around1849

society > travel > [verb (intransitive)]

nimeOE

becomec885

teec888

goeOE

i-goc900

lithec900

wendeOE

i-farec950

yongc950

to wend one's streetOE

fare971

i-wende971

shakeOE

winda1000

meteOE

wendOE

strikec1175

seekc1200

wevec1200

drawa1225

stira1225

glidea1275

kenc1275

movec1275

teemc1275

tightc1275

till1297

chevec1300

strake13..

travelc1300

choosec1320

to choose one's gatea1325

journeyc1330

reachc1330

repairc1330

wisec1330

cairc1340

covera1375

dressa1375

passa1375

tenda1375

puta1382

proceedc1392

doa1400

fanda1400

haunta1400

snya1400

take?a1400

thrilla1400

trace?a1400

trinea1400

fangc1400

to make (also have) resortc1425

to make one's repair (to)c1425

resort1429

ayrec1440

havea1450

speer?c1450

rokec1475

wina1500

hent1508

persevere?1521

pursuec1540

rechec1540

yede1563

bing1567

march1568

to go one's ways1581

groyl1582

yode1587

sally1590

track1590

way1596

frame1609

trickle1629

recur1654

wag1684

fadge1694

haul1802

hike1809

to get around1849

riddle1856

bat1867

biff1923

truck1925

1849 Prairie Du Chien (Wisconsin) Patriot 28 Nov. 3/6 (advt.) Hearing of your Ointment..I went and got a box, and applied it according to directions...I have..used it on a cow that had the Hollow Horn so bad that she could not get around without help...Five applications restored her to perfect health.

1867 J. Carroll Case & his Cotemporaries I. ii. 77 In many places there were trees fallen across the path, which made it difficult in getting around in deep snow.

1886 Railway Conductors' Monthly Nov. 657 Bro. Sam Phipps..has been on the sick list for the past week or so, but I understand he is getting around once more.

1916 C. J. Marshall Diary 6 Apr. in Gen. Mag. & Hist. Chron. (Univ. Pennsylvania) Apr. (1942) 317 It is much harder to get things or to get around here than it is in London.

1921 Northeastern Reporter 131 666/1 He gradually grew weaker, and his ability to get around diminished until he was unable to get around unassisted for the last month or six weeks of his life.

1928 Amer. Speech 3 219 Get around, to..have many desirable dates. ‘Mary Jane sure did get around last semester.’

1958 R. Galton & A. Simpson Hancock's Half-hour (1987) 121 He gets around doesn't he?..You wouldn't think he'd attract women with a hooter like that.

1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Mar. 159/3 Still, Mr. Donnelly has got around... He makes his way to places like Tashkent, Samarkand and Alma Ata.

2011 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 May 16/4 I..clamber aboard a 1956 Oldsmobile that, despite its veteran status, is the kind of vehicle most people use to get around.

2. intransitive. To pass from one place to another by a roundabout or circuitous route. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1817 Monthly Mag. July 526/2 They succeeded, however, after much difficulty, in getting around to the bay opposite to their ships, where other boats were sent to their relief.

1875 E. P. Roe From Jest to Earnest xxvi. 365 No, we have not time, the tide is running very swiftly. The ice would close on us before we could get around.

1904 Horseless Age 5 Oct. 349/2 At another washout we could not get around, and had to hunt up some planks and run on them over a break in the road.

2006 S. M. Stirling Meeting at Corvallis xviii. 470 You told me that you didn't think the Mackenzies could get around north of you.

3. intransitive. With to: to succeed in finding the time, energy, or inclination for (doing something); = to get round 3 at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > do [verb (transitive)] > come to the point of doing

to get around1852

to get round1873

1852 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 24 Mar. Well! Well! our democratic friends will get around to the good old doctrine of the second Adams and all Whigs since his time, after much tribulation and twisting.

1887 M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 35 There has been a good many things I haven't got around to.

1930 C. Ward Dutch & Swedes on Delaware 117 Although he had not yet got around to proselyting the Indians..the energy of this man-mountain had been effectively utilized.

1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 9 Oct. 7/3 They tended to get rubbed out before he got around to it.

2004 A. McCall Smith Sunday Philos. Club xviii. 199 She'll get around to forgiving you in due course, but it will be easier if you've left the door open.

to get away

1. intransitive.

a. To escape; to succeed in departing. In recent use also with the implication of going on holiday.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [verb (intransitive)]

atfareOE

atcomec1220

atstertc1220

atrouta1250

ascape1250

astart1250

atblenchc1275

scapec1275

aschapec1300

fleec1300

ofscapea1325

escapec1330

overfleea1382

to get awaya1400

slipa1400

starta1400

skiftc1440

eschewc1450

withstartec1460

rida1470

chape1489

to flee (one's) touch?1515

evadea1522

betwynde?1534

to make out1558

outscape1562

outslip1600

to come off1630

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7902 (MED) In batail sua he suld be sette, þat he awai suld neuer gette.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiv. 223 The lordis war gottin all avay.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job i. 17 The Caldees..haue..slayne the seruauntes with the swearde: and I only am gotten awaye, to tell the.

1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 2174/1 Ere euer I could arise and get away, he was come in with me.

1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 131 David..had leisure enough to get away whilest the Kings messengers were so deceived.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 309 They also fasten them..that, in case they should break or slip their Halters, they may not get away.

1706 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. to North xxi. 209 A drunken Bout at parting, without which there's no getting away from a House in Russia.

1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 15 They escap'd from the City, as from a Prison, and got away into the Country.

1775 S. Johnson Let. 8 Apr. (1992) II. 197 When shall I come down to you? I believe I can get away pretty early in May.

1818 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 33 13 He came out of the Tower, or, rather, got away out of it somehow or other.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 30 Mar. (1955) VI. 235 We want very much to get away, but I fear we shall hardly be able to start till the end of May.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 56 All our party was glad to get away.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlvi. 228 He was in a hurry to get away. The mustiness of the room made his head ache.

1961 E. R. Curtis Season in Utopia iv. 127 The older man, himself in a state of spiritual dissatisfaction, understood Isaac's need to get away by himself.

1987 P. Lively Moon Tiger x. 130 You ought to get away for a bit... You must be run-down.

2008 C. Clark Hangman Blind (2009) 286 I'll be watching, waiting, following. You'll never get away. The fields have eyes.

b. In imperative. Also in get away with you (now rare).

(a) Go away, be off; = to get along 1b at Phrasal verbs 1. Also with from, sometimes as a warning or caution.

ΚΠ

1600 Looke about You sig. K4^v Ley. Is that your busines? Red. I by my t t troth is it. Hen. Then get away.

1783 Double Conspiracy ii. 23 Bet.Get away;—I'll tell Father on you.

1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. vii. 135 Take whatever you like, and get away .

1828 Punch & Judy i. i. 77 Toby, you're one nasty cross dog: get away with you!

1859 A. L. Elwyn Gloss. Supposed Americanisms 80 ‘Get away, you nasty fellow!’ may be heard from one of the female sex, who finds one of the male sex somewhat too importunate or familiar.

1886 App. Jrnl. House of Representatives Ohio 82 157 You get away from here, damn you, or I will knock the shit out of you.

1900 K. L. Bates Spanish Highways & Byways vii. 101 Children sing insulting verses after him in the street, especially that pious ditty:—‘Get away with you, Protestants, Out of our Catholic Spain.’

1935 H. Heslop Last Cage Down ii. x. 253 ‘Get away!’ snapped Bill, wearying of the argument. ‘Go on, get out-bye before I lose me temper.’

1997 A. Smith Like (2001) 272 Get away from those canal banks Aisling McCarthy or I'll tell your father on you.

1999 C. Grimshaw Provocation xvi. 263 He stood at the kitchen window starring at me. I moved towards him and he held up his hand. ‘Get away,’ he said.

(b) colloquial (chiefly British). As an expression of astonishment or incredulity: ‘go on’, you don't say (so).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressions of disbelief [interjection]

to go toc1275

in good timea1470

Walker1811

to get off1818

this beats my grandmother1819

to go on1835

your granny!1837

to get away1847

I ask you1855

great guns!1875

sure1907

oh yeah1927

Aunt Fanny1928

go 'long1974

to sod off1976

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection]

whatOE

well, wellOE

avoyc1300

ouc1300

ay1340

lorda1393

ahaa1400

hillaa1400

whannowc1450

wow1513

why?1520

heydaya1529

ah1538

ah me!a1547

fore me!a1547

o me!a1547

what the (also a) goodyear1570

precious coals1576

Lord have mercy (on us)1581

good heavens1588

whau1589

coads1590

ay me!1591

my stars!a1593

Gods me1595

law1598

Godso1600

to go out1600

coads-nigs1608

for mercy!a1616

good stars!1615

mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616

gramercy1617

goodness1623

what next?1662

mon Dieu1665

heugh1668

criminy1681

Lawd1696

the dickens1697

(God, etc.) bless my heart1704

alackaday1705

(for) mercy's sake!1707

my1707

deuce1710

gracious1712

goodly and gracious1713

my word1722

my stars and garters!1758

lawka1774

losha1779

Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784

great guns!1795

mein Gott1795

Dear me!1805

fancy1813

well, I'm sure!1815

massy1817

Dear, dear!1818

to get off1818

laws1824

Mamma mia1824

by crikey1826

wisha1826

alleleu1829

crackey1830

Madonna mia1830

indeed1834

to go on1835

snakes1839

Jerusalem1840

sapristi1840

oh my days1841

tear and ages1841

what (why, etc.) in time?1844

sakes alive!1846

gee willikers1847

to get away1847

well, to be sure!1847

gee1851

Great Scott1852

holy mackerel!1855

doggone1857

lawsy1868

my wig(s)!1871

gee whiz1872

crimes1874

yoicks1881

Christmas1882

hully gee1895

'ullo1895

my hat!1899

good (also great) grief!1900

strike me pink!1902

oo-er1909

what do you know?1909

cripes1910

coo1911

zowiec1913

can you tie that?1918

hot diggety1924

yeow1924

ziggety1924

stone (or stiffen) the crows1930

hullo1931

tiens1932

whammo1932

po po po1936

how about that?1939

hallo1942

brother1945

tie that!1948

surprise1953

wowee1963

yikes1971

never1974

to sod off1976

whee1978

mercy1986

yipes1989

1804 J. Kenney Matrimony ii. 38 Cla. Don't you believe me? See then my solicitude, my tears! O'Clog. (aside) Faith if I do, you'll see mine too.—aloud Get away with you.

1834 W. A. Caruthers Cavaliers of Virginia I. ix. 124 Oh! get away wid your blarney, says I, you're safe now as the Governor's old bull wid the short tail and the shambles on two of his legs.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxii. 190 ‘Don't trifle with her affections, you Don Juan!’ ‘Get away,’ said Jos Sedley, quite pleased.

1927 W. S. Maugham in Nash's & Pall Mall Mag. June 94/3 ‘Annie and I have decided to get married too.’ Annie received this announcement with a gurgled ‘Oh, get away with you!’

1960 H. Pinter Dumb Waiter 124 Ben. The lorry started and ran over him. Gus. Go on! Ben. That's what it says here. Gus. Get away.

1969 ‘D. Cory’ Night Hawk 16 ‘Do you speak Spanish?’ ‘Of course I do. I am Spanish.’ ‘Get away.’ ‘I am. I can prove it.’

1982 J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (1999) I. 2nd Ser. Episode 7. 121 Lady R. It's mostly Dresden. And that particular piece is worth several hundred pounds. Del. Is it really? Gawd, get away.

2003 C. Birch Turn again Home xx. 244 ‘I missed you,’ she said. ‘I cry for you every day.’‘Get away!’ he said softly.

c. to get away with.

(a) To do (something) with impunity or (in recent use) without encountering a possible setback. Frequently in to get away with it: to succeed in what one tries; to act without being detected or punished. to get away with murder: to get away with anything; to do whatever one wishes.

ΚΠ

1669 G. Hutcheson Expos. Job xxiv. 508 It is a friendly act to wish that men do not get away with their faults.

1864 Amer. War (Soc. promoting Cessation of Hostilities Amer.) 11/1 He and his brother will leave here (if they can get away with it) immensely rich in spoils of other people's property.

1874 J. Miller Unwritten Hist.: Life amongst Modocs (new ed.) vi. 95 Bet you the cigars, I don't! Whenever my man comes to the centre, I will call him, see if I don't, and get away with it, too.

1914 N.Y. Times 9 May 7/2 Jake, you're getting away with murder here.

1923 A. Huxley Antic Hay x. 145 He had no sense of time or of order. But he got away with it, as he liked to say.

1939 Chatelaine Sept. 19/2 Usually she's young enough and amusing enough to ‘get away with murder’.

1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 12 He would sometimes say of the ways of the Army in pay and supply and the use of ‘man-hours’: ‘They couldn't get away with that in business.’

1958 Times Oct. 3/3 A film set in Ireland and relying upon whimsical comedy can get away, if not with murder, at least with weaknesses.

1968 Listener 8 Aug. 164/3 Nobody can quite believe that Mr Dubcek is being allowed to get away with it.

1974 D. Goines Daddy Cool xii. 163 Seething with anger, the burly man gained control. ‘You punks will never get away with this shit. I guess you realize that, don't you?’

1981 Pop. Photogr. Feb. 114/2 Sometimes you can get away with moving an arm or leg.

2011 Independent 25 Oct. 27/4 Eating a fruitarian diet would allow him to get away with bathing just once a week.

(b) colloquial (originally U.S.). To carry off successfully; to succeed in winning or stealing.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > manage to secure (a result) > succeed in winning or stealing

to get away with1873

1873 B. Harte Mliss xxxviii. 111 At billiards he beat the sporting men whom miners always like to see beaten, and in sporting parlance ‘got away’ with large sums of their coin.

1886 Boston Jrnl. 18 Dec. 2/4 They got away with the pennant three successive seasons.

1892 Congress. Rec. 13 Dec. 122/2 [These gentlemen] will have to be content with the pitiful $240,000 that they have already ‘got away with’.

1928 Observer 25 Mar. 14 Some of the artists may be able, as the phrase goes, to ‘get away with the swag’.

1952 M. Huxley Let. in N. Murray Aldous Huxley (2003) ix. 114 An upstart little refugee getting away with the prize of the artistic English world.

1996 G. B. Tangwa I spit on their Graves (2010) 135 From the moment Cameroonians let him get away with the trophy of the October 11^th 1992 presidential elections, he knew he could get away with anything.

ΚΠ

1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds ii. 41 More'n once the robbers would tackle some gritty man that was handy with his ‘barkers’, an' he'd get away with two or three of 'em.

1887 A. A. Hayes Jesuit's Ring 227 The boys got away with the..road agents.

1908 Dial. Notes 3 314 You can't get away with me.

1931 T. Dreiser Dawn lxviii. 386 She's very cute and sweet all right, but she's got to do business or quit. If I don't get away with her, I'll let you know.

2005 M. Lauria & L. F. Mirón Urban Schools iv. 79 They'll make sure you don't get away with them like you got away with the next person.

d. Usually with a negative. To disregard or escape from (a fact, implication, etc.).Frequently in there is no getting away from.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > ignoring, disregard > ignore, disregard [verb (transitive)] > escape the attention of

overpass1535

overslip1574

overscape1581

fly?1611

slip1653

to get away1811

miss1880

1811 Adviser Dec. 358/1 The boy's question gave him great disturbance. He tried to fling it out of his mind, but was by no means able to get away from it.

1845 Southern Lit. Messenger Sept. 523/1 A labored effort to get away from the New Testament endorsement of the principle [of slavery], so far as permissibility is concerned.

1912 T. Dreiser Financier lvii. 601 A jail is a jail; and there is no getting away from that.

1930 A. Christie Murder at Vicarage xi. 84 It's his pistol—you can't get away from that.

1974 H. S. Thompson Let. 21–24 Feb. in Fear & Loathing in Amer. (2000) 586 There is no way to get away from names and personalities in any serious talk about the '76 election.

2000 S. McKay Northern Protestants 21 She said what we were was bred into us and there was no getting away from it.

e. Of a plant: to start growing vigorously or well.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by growth or development > grow or vegetate [verb (intransitive)] > grow or increase in size

waxc897

growa1000

to get away1813

to grow up1840

to grow away1933

1813 A. Murray Gen. View Agric. County Warwick 92 Another management of a wheat crop by other farmers, is to harrow and roll the ground, if battered and bound, and the plants appear not to get away.

1832 C. Don Gen. Hist. Dichlamydeous Plants II. 314/1 Instead of benefitting the ground, they [sc. beans] were of detriment to it, for weeds got away on the outset, and in dry seasons often ruined the crop.

1913 Bull. Misc. Information (Royal Bot. Gardens, Kew) 126 At Avondale the young plantations have to get away from a thick mat of grass.

1957 Jrnl. Royal Hort. Soc. 82 370 If the ground is broken into rubble the roots can get away and the plant will flourish.

1960 F. C. Stern Chalk Garden xv. 163 It is advisable to put them in as small plants as they get away much quicker than large plants.

2001 B. Law Woodland Way iv. 68 Wild cherry, alder and rowan get away particularly well.

f. Hunting and Horse Racing. To start, to set off (briskly).

ΚΠ

1823 Manch. Guardian 20 Sept. It appears there were three false starts, and that on the fourth 23 horses got away, leaving four behind.

1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. ii Exhaust, therefore, all your knowledge of woodcraft to get away on good terms with the hounds.

1889 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 11 Dec. 2/5 All the horses got away very prettily and Prince Beauclerk soon pulled away from the crowd.

1948 Life 21 June 32 (caption) Dewey, Taft and Stassen will get away fast, but watch out for Dark Horse Vandenberg on the backstretch.

1999 Dominion (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 27 Dec. 34 I didn't think she had much luck in that race as the first three got away while she was still finding her way out.

g. Originally U.S. Of fire: to spread quickly or uncontrolledly; (with from) to get out of the control of a person.

ΚΠ

1838 C. W. Dudley Rep. Court of Appeals S. Carolina 1837–8 265 He was in no way privy to the burning, and that the circumstance of the fire getting away, was unintentional and accidental.

1897 L. Lindley-Cowen West Austral. Settler's Guide ii. iv. 232 Every precaution should be taken to prevent the fire getting away, and it is better to burn a strip round the fences first in order to obviate this as far as possible.

1906 Rep. Royal N.-W. Mounted Police 1905 i. 22 A Mennonite farmer near Herbert..was burning the grass..when the fire got away from him.

1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 295/1 There would be danger of fires getting away on sunny faces when the vegetation was very dry.

1997 D. Backes Wilderness Within 335 He was burning a brush pile..when the fire got away from him.

2011 A. S. Mathews Instituting Nature v. 138 If people burned without giving notice, if they didn't open up firebreaks and if the fire got away they would be punished.

2. transitive.

†a. To get rid of; to shake off (a sickness). Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 2371 (MED) Oft to the lauenders he it sent..the weping spottes in no wise Thei coude with noo craft gete a-way.

1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health lxxxix.103 Let the burning be taken or gotten away with the whyte of an egge, or freshe butter.

1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 34 The season continues so seveere I cannot get away my ill cold nor goe out of the house.

1771 L. Carter Diary 11 Sept. (1965) II. 627 To some after their fevers abate and Puzerys change I give Mercury to get away the worms.

b. To take out of safe keeping or from someone's possession; to carry off, steal, appropriate, liberate; (also) to enable to depart. Also reflexive: to make one's escape, get away, depart. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > taking possession > take possession of [verb (transitive)] > appropriate

ownOE

rimec1275

takec1300

appropre1366

to keep, take to or for one's own storec1385

to get awayc1480

proper1496

apprehenda1522

impropry1526

impropriate1567

carve1578

forestall1581

appropriate1583

propriate1587

pocket1597

impatronize1611

propertya1616

asself1632

appropriatea1634

swallow1637

to swallow up1654

sink1699

poucha1774

spheterize1779

sack1807

fob1818

to look back to1822

mop1861

annex1865

c1480 (a1400) St. George 883 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 201 Men..gat away prywely of his relykis a party.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 479 Ther myght no man gete hym [sc. a greyhound] away.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 178 The kyng..hade hit goten Paladian the pure god pertly away.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xx. 25 b There was no remedy to get them [prisoners] away, but by great presents.

1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes iii. 27 Taking a little courage to her, she got her speedily away.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 She got away the best Things in the House, elle a soustrait..ce qu'il y avoit de meilleur dans le Logis... He has got away my Customers.

1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 71 Hegh, Hegh, Hegh, the Rogues..have got away my Bag!

1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 319 We could not..do any thing towards endeavouring to get the Vessel away.

1812 S. Randall Miser iii. iv. 38 He must be paid for't, yes yes—I understand—another plot to get away my money, yes yes.

1896 R. Hovey Along Trail (1899) 56 I will up and get me away where the hawk is wheeling, Lone and high.

1925 S. Lewis Arrowsmith (1998) 61 While she gaped with disappointment at his lukewarmness, he got himself away.

1972 R. Adams Watership Down xxxviii. 303 If a patrol finds us before Bigwig comes, it won't be just a matter of getting ourselves away.

2004 C. Feehan Mind Game (2005) 44 There would be more violence and more death before he managed to get her away safely.

c. Cricket. To hit (the ball) past the fieldsman, so as to make a run or runs. Also with the bowler as object.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > bat [verb (transitive)] > hit > hit with specific stroke

take1578

stop1744

nip1752

block1772

drive1773

cut1816

draw1816

tip1816

poke1836

spoon1836

mow1844

to put up1845

smother1845

sky1849

crump1850

to pick up1851

pull1851

skyrocket1851

swipe1851

to put down1860

to get away1868

smite1868

snick1871

lift1874

crack1882

smack1882

off-drive1888

snip1890

leg1892

push1893

hook1896

flick1897

on-drive1897

chop1898

glance1898

straight drive1898

cart1903

edge1904

tonk1910

sweep1920

mishook1934

middle1954

square-drive1954

tickle1963

square-cut1976

slash1977

splice1982

paddle1986

1868 Baily's Monthly Mag. July 128 The two first-named..exhibited splendid defence; but they could not get the ball away.

1903 C. F. Wood in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket xii. 379 Scoring is out of the question. You may stop the ball as long as your patience lasts, but you can't get it away.

1955 Times 12 May 4/4 Phillips was one of five freshmen to bowl. He is tall and an awkward man to get away by reason of his length.

2008 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 12 June (Sport section) 30 Bowlers pitched a bit shorter, and because he wasn't used to it, he couldn't get the ball away. He didn't last long.

to get back

a. transitive (reflexive). Originally with uncompounded reflexive pronouns (now archaic). To bring oneself back, bring about one's return; to come back.

ΚΠ

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. xxiii. f. cxcix^v They streight waie lefte Emaus.., & with greate spede they gotte them backe again to Hierusalem.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. xiii. 141 Get thee backe to Cæsar.

1835 Reformers' Gaz. 28 Feb. 385 To get himself back again to Parliament.

1862 Temple Bar 5 315 Get you back to your inn, good youth.

1886 G. T. Stokes Ireland & Celtic Church (1888) 128 He got himself back to his beloved Iona.

1974 V. D. Gunderson Island Prisoner 31 ‘I'm not keeping her,’ said Daniel. ‘She got herself here and she can get herself back again. I'll not stop her.’

2009 Hana Hou! (Hawaiian Airlines) Feb. 102/2 The Beverley Hills pooch has to enlist the help of a motley crew of streetwise animals to get herself back home.

b. intransitive. To succeed in returning; to come back.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > return > [verb (intransitive)]

to wend againeOE

i-cherrec1000

again-chareOE

again-comeOE

again-fareOE

again-goOE

eft-sithec1175

to turn againc1175

returna1325

attournec1386

turnc1390

recovera1393

repair?c1400

recourse?a1425

to go backc1425

resortc1425

revertc1475

renew1488

retour?1505

to make return1534

to turn back1538

retend1543

to come short home1548

regress1552

rejourna1556

revolt1567

revolve1587

repeal1596

recur1612

rewend1616

revene1656

to get back1664

to take back1674

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > backward movement > move backwards [verb (intransitive)] > return towards point of departure

repaira1325

returna1325

rebounda1382

redounda1382

recovera1393

to go backc1425

revertc1475

renew1488

reverse1542

retire1567

revolve1587

reciprocate1623

retrovert1639

to get back1664

recur1719

hoicks1762

boomerang1900

1664 S. Pepys Diary 22 Nov. (1971) V. 328 They have not victuals to keep them out, and it is likely they will be frozen before they can get back.

1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 22 If any Disgrace..drive any one away, he is never at rest till he get back again.

1771 Trial Atticus before Justice Beau 17 Chucke. Well, Curnal, I've got back again. Justice. So I see; pray where have you been all this time?

1829 M. M. Sherwood Lady of Manor (ed. 3) I. iv. 99 Perhaps you hoped I was got back to England.

1889 Universal Rev. Nov. 360 It was an attempt on the artist's part to get back to nature.

1921 R. Fry Let. 19 Dec. (1972) II. 519 I have just got back to London after my lecture tour in the north of England.

1953 Life 17 Aug. 84/3 ‘Been to Europe, hey?’ a taxi driver said... ‘Must be nice to get back to civilization!’

1987 B. MacLaverty Great Profundo (1989) 83 ‘I think we'd better be getting back,’ she said. They turned and began to walk towards the car.

2003 R. Herring Talking Cock 208 When we got back to the house, we fell on to the futon and started getting it on.

2. transitive. To succeed in bringing back to oneself or into one's possession; to recover. Cf. to get again at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > again or back

acovera1225

covera1300

gain-covera1300

to get againc1380

recovera1387

becoverc1400

recounsel?a1425

recurea1425

win1489

redeem1526

readept1537

rehave1541

recuperate1542

regain1548

reobtain1579

retire1584

reget1585

to get back1587

retrieve1589

reprise1590

reprocure1590

reattain1595

relieve1596

recompassc1604

reacquire1627

reacquist1635

recruit1656

1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. 66/2 King Henrie was about..to recouer and get backe [1577 bring home again] the portions of his kingdome made away and dismembred by his predecessors.

1698 J. Nisbet Some Doubts & Questions in Law 15 The Earl of Newburgh..did intent a pursuit against Sir William, That he might be free of the Residue and get back his Bond.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 512 For the maltster to get back eighteen shillings in the advanced price of his malt.

1808 E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 161 Another considerable estate..was rattled away in one night; but the good old lord contrived to get it back.

1872 E. A. Freeman Gen. Sketch European Hist. (1874) xiii. §7. 245 Venice got back nearly all that she had lost.

1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 189 Austria got back its hold on Italy.

1921 Amer. Woman Jan. 20/1 (advt.) If after trying the garment on you do not find it exactly as we represent it or you expected it to be, you can return it and get your money back at once.

1957 M. McCarthy C'est le Premier Pas Qui Coûte in Memories of Catholic Girlhood (1981) 122 I would have to get my faith back to put an end to this terrible uncertainty.

2000 M. Barrowcliffe Girlfriend 44 i. 39 How do you think you're going to get her back then?..You treated her like shit, why should she come back?

3. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). to get back at (also now less commonly on): to retort or retaliate upon.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > reciprocal treatment or return of an action > revenge > execute (vengeance) [verb (transitive)] > pay (a person) back

to quit or yield (one) his whilec1400

rewardc1400

pay?c1450

requite1534

to pay back1655

to pay off1699

to pay out1849

to get back at (also now less commonly on)1886

1886 J. A. Logan Great Conspiracy 556 Washburne..got back at this part of Mr. Voorhees's speech rather neatly.

1894 Washington Post 2 Mar. 4/6 (heading) Watterson gets back on a critic.

1906 Springfield Weekly Republican 14 June 11 If the President had not been vindictively anxious to ‘get back’ at the packers, he could have accomplished his end effectively.

1907 Daily Chron. 17 Oct. 3/3 You cannot afford to be rude to a journalist. Some day he will get back on you.

1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves ix. 90 A lesser man might easily have snatched at the chance of getting back at me a bit by loosing Cyril into by bedchamber.

1972 Guardian 11 Feb. 1/6 For most of question time..Mr Thorpe tried to get back at the..Prime Minister.

1990 A. Duff Once were Warriors (1995) viii. 95 Jake laughingly got back on Beth for earlier chiding him for his language.

2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 34 Let nobody try to best the guards or the doctors or teachers. They have their own ways of getting back at you.

4. intransitive. British. to get one's own back: to revenge oneself (on someone); to get even.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > reciprocal treatment or return of an action > revenge > take or execute revenge [verb (intransitive)] > be revenged

avengec1375

awreak1377

vengec1380

revenge?a1425

to get one's own back1887

1887 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 29 Oct. 2/4 Do you see this? That is [the wound caused by] the pewter pot. I have come to get my own back.

1902 J. Milne Epist. Atkins iv. 63 His one thought how to ‘get his own back’.

1914 G. B. Shaw Pygmalion iv Higgins... You have wounded me to the heart. Liza... I'm glad. I've got a little of my own back.

1920 ‘Ixion’ Motor Cycle Reminisc. 124 Whenever he met me I was able to get my own back.

1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Feb. 73/4 The clerks..get their own back by unmasking frauds and..having fun with the low standard of French commercial honesty.

1985 I. Murdoch Good Apprentice iii. 513 He had been..made a fool of by Thomas, Stuart, Edward, chance, fate, Midge herself. He would get his own back on them all.

2003 Radio Times 22 Nov. (Midlands ed.) 59/1 The actor took the opportunity to get his own back on his notoriously pernickety friend by making him repeat the scene many times.

5. intransitive. to get back to.

a. Of a statement or information: to come to the notice of (the person it concerns). Usually with it as subject and sometimes also with complementary that-clause.

ΚΠ

1932 C. Woolrich Manhattan Love Song v. 164 She's in thick with the big mucka-mucks; it'll get back to them in no time—!

1958 Life 27 Oct. 72/2 I am sorry this was said... It got back to Ike very quickly.

1970 L. Rainwater Behind Ghetto Walls x. 320 I don't know how it got back to Pat cause I didn't tell nobody.

1993 Etc Montréal No. 21. 56/2 I also knew it would get back to him and hurt him.

2010 S. Fry Fry Chrons. 317 If it ever got back to me that the designers of a camera or the authors of a new piece of software were weeping because of something cruel I had said.

b. To contact (a person) with a response after an interval.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > answer > answer [verb (transitive)]

andwurdec885

aqueathOE

answerOE

swarec1175

respoundc1300

replyc1425

replique1477

reanswer1523

replicate1535

undersay1579

rejoin1581

resolve1586

return1597

repone1614

resounda1617

repart1631

remoot1676

reason1841

to get back to1963

1963 G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover xvi. 237 I asked what he had in mind, and he said he'd get back to me very soon.

1964 Life 20 Nov. 19/2 The producer says, ‘All right, I'll get back to you in a few days.’

1975 New York Mag. 29 Dec. 64/3 Leave it with me and I'll get back to you at the end of the week.

1988 N. Bissoondath Casual Brutality viii. 174 I've spoken to the travel agent. ‘And?’ ‘And he'll get back to me.’

2004 A. Hollinghurst Line of Beauty iv. 101 Yeah, got your message... Sorry I didn't get back to you.

† to get before

Obsolete.

intransitive. To move or progress so as to be in advance of others.

ΚΠ

1555 J. Heywood Two Hundred Epigrammes with Thyrde sig. C.i The worst is behynde, but the way is not tough: The worst wyll get before ageyne, tyme ynough.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 7 The Boat-men..forbearing ever and anon to row, purposely to let the Ambassadors get before.

1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 52 A Race, In which, both do their uttermost, To get before, and win the Post.

1708 E. Arwaker Truth in Fiction xiii. 210 The young Spark, as nimblest, got before.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. vii. xi. 287 Then finally, pellmell, as rear-guard, Flandre, Swiss, Hundred Swiss, other Body-guards, Brigands, whosoever cannot get before.

1862 H. Goldie Dict. Efïk Lang. Abridged at Be To get before in station, wealth, &c.; to become superior; to surpass.

to get by

colloquial (originally U.S.).

1. intransitive. To pass muster, be acceptable. Also: to get away with.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > quality of being satisfactory > [verb (intransitive)]

sufficec1340

doa1450

servec1475

to go down1608

to pass (muster) in a crowd1711

to get by1897

1897 Reliable Poultry Jrnl. Jan. 823/1 These stay-white birds often show..a color that will get by with a cut of one-half point when the judge comes round.

1922 H. Crane Let. 2 Apr. (1965) 83 It has enough in it to ‘get by’ on the first reading with a rather pleasing effect.

1926 S.P.E. Tract (Soc. for Pure Eng.) No. XXIV. 122 That chap could get by with murder.

1930 F. A. Pottle Stretchers 38 We had to stand general inspection... Our frozen overcoats stood rigidly out like garments stolen from statues... But we got by somehow.

1939 P. G. Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime i. 12 Polly thinks I can get by all right.

1968 Listener 14 Nov. 663/3 The pseudo-metaphysical jargon that gets by as art criticism today.

2004 Congress. Rec. 30 Mar. 5573/3 One cannot get by with it at city government, county government, State government. Why do they think we can do it here in Washington?

2. intransitive. To manage with difficulty to survive or function; to cope.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > difficulty > present difficulties [verb (intransitive)] > have difficulty > act or live through difficulties

scamblec1571

scramble1670

shift1723

manage1762

scrub1831

to struggle on1837

scratch1838

widdle1844

to worry along1871

to scrape along1884

to get by1908

scuffle1939

1908 J. M. Sullivan Criminal Slang 12 Getting by, living without doing any hard work.

1918 in Wine, Women & War (1926) 24 Absorbing what's useful in foreign methods..just getting by, myself... Too damned technical.

1926 Amer. Oxonian July 101 The stipend is barely enough to get by on.

1928 Incomes & Living Costs of Univ. Faculty (Yale Univ.) 109 Barely getting by with no funds to meet an emergency.

1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After i. i. 20 Our old bus will get by with a new engine.

2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) i. 5 I glance at the wheelchair. I can probably get by without it, but it is there as a back-up.

to get down

1. transitive.

a. To succeed in bringing or conveying down; to succeed in causing to come or go down; to bring from a place conventionally regarded as high (such as a shelf, hook, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)]

besench971

avalec1314

sinka1325

lighta1400

to get downa1450

abasec1450

descenda1475

base1489

fall1595

slopea1616

dimit1628

demit1646

send1657

down1852

dip1879

a1450 Castle Perseverance (1969) l. 2319 (MED) For Mankynd getyst þou nowth doun To soloyen hym [read hym wyth] synful sede.

?1532–4 Mery Iest Mylner Abyngton (de Worde) sig. B.iv Stoute strokes was them bytweene The mylner was the more kene And gate the clerke downe.

1660 T. Allin Jrnl. 29 Oct. (1939) (modernized text) I. 3 We got down our main yard.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. i. 17 Shall we get down our Topmasts?

1712 J. Arbuthnot John Bull Still in Senses ii. 10 Ev'n when Master had got her down, she would scratch and bite like a Tyger.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §266 We returned to the buss about noon to get down our moorings.

1842 T. B. Macaulay Virginia in Lays Anc. Rome 2164 Small chance was his to rise again, if once they got him down.

1871 H. B. Stowe My Wife & I xlii. 410 ‘Well, then,’ said I, ‘get down the Prayer-book and teach me my proprieties. I will learn my lesson thoroughly.’

1906 J. Lumsden Skipper Parson 90 If the Canadians come down here to take our country I'll get down my ‘swiling gun’, and we'll go out and meet 'em.

1975 A. Deyell My Shetland 19 As time went on I learned to row and steer like a native, and, if we were sailing, to..help to get the sail down without it touching the sea.

2009 Ireland's Eye Jan. 39/1 Scores of youngsters would get down their hurleys and balls from the attics.

b. To swallow (food or drink), to consume (a meal).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > [verb (transitive)] > swallow

swallowc1000

overswallowa1400

engluta1492

slup1598

deglute1599

to take down1603

glut-glut1650

quilta1658

to get down1662

regurgitate1670

reswallow1792

to take on board1813

glutch1825

down1852

deglutate1867

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 142 If, through weaknesse..he be not able to get down the bread.

1751 F. Coventry Hist. Pompey the Little ii. xi. 226 I drank a little Chocolate yesterday Morning,..and got down a little Bason of Broth at Noon.

1821 Q. Rev. Jan. 360 Readers..prepare themselves as they do to swallow a dose of medicine, endeavouring to get it down in large gulps, without tasting it more than is necessary.

1915 ‘B. Ruck’ Miss Million's Maid ix. 66 ‘But if you don't want to have luncheon here the first day, perhaps—’ ‘I don't; oh, not me. I couldn't get anything down.’

2000 M. Branton in N. Blincoe & M. Thorne All Hail New Puritans 127 He liked to get his breakfast down before he started.

c. To put down on paper, to record or cause to be recorded in writing.

ΚΠ

1860 Dwight's Jrnl. Music 8 Sept. 187/3 It has come to me long ago, but I can't get it down on paper.

1896 20th Ann. Rep. Railroad & Warehouse Commissioners Missouri 1895 187 It will be better to have these people sworn..and get the evidence down so that it may be considered.

1943 E. H. W. Meyerstein Let. 7 June (1959) 269 I have made myself go into the front room to get this down after thinking about it since we met.

1987 M. Ignatieff Russ. Album i. 19 The more distant everything became, the more urgent it became to get the story down.

2004 Prediction Apr. 38/1 If there are contracts that have to be settled, get them down in black and white.

d. To bring (a person) into a state of depression or weariness; to depress, to weary. Cf. down adv. 17b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > make dejected [verb (transitive)]

drearya1300

discomfortc1325

batec1380

to cast downa1382

to throw downa1382

dullc1386

faintc1386

discomfita1425

discourage1436

sinkc1440

mischeera1450

discheerc1454

amatea1500

bedowa1522

damp1548

quail1548

dash1550

exanimate1552

afflict1561

dank1565

disanimate1565

sadden1565

languish1566

deject1581

dumpc1585

unheart1593

mope1596

chill1597

sour1600

disgallant1601

disheart1603

dishearten1606

fainten1620

depress1624

sullen1628

tristitiate1628

disliven1631

dampen1633

weigh1640

out-spirit1643

dispirit1647

flat1649

funeralize1654

hearta1658

disencourage1659

attrist1680

flatten1683

dismalizec1735

blue-devil1812

out-heart1845

downweigh1851

to get down1861

frigidize1868

languor1891

downcast1914

neg1987

1861 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 21 Dec. 269/2 ‘Then beat the drums.’ ‘There ain't no drums nother, General.’ ‘This gets me down a little,’ said Beauregard, somewhat embarrassed.

a1870 C. Dickens in J. Forster Life Dickens (1873) II. 376 Your mind..is too strong for you; it gets you down and treads upon you, Sairey.

1904 ‘G. B. Lancaster’ Sons o' Men 88 It fair gets me down to see the poor brutes dying like flies.

1930 C. V. Grimmett Getting Wickets v. 115 There is quite enough to worry about on the field without allowing the troubles of the game to ‘get you down’ when you leave it.

1953 ‘N. Shute’ In Wet v. 171 It's just being cooped up in the office gets you down a bit.

1992 Times 13 July (Life & Times section) 3/5 There are days when nothing much seems funny at all. Being a comic novelist can get a chap down, you know.

2. intransitive.

a. To succeed in coming or going down; to convey oneself to or reach a lower place (esp. downstairs, off a horse or vehicle, etc.) or to a place conventionally regarded as ‘down’. Also: (nursery) (of a child) to leave the table after finishing a meal. Also transitive (reflexive). Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > move downwards [verb (intransitive)]

styc825

astyc975

alightOE

to fall adownOE

hieldc1275

downcomea1300

sink?a1300

avalec1374

to go downa1375

to come downc1380

dipc1390

descenda1393

clinea1400

declinea1400

downc1400

inclinec1400

vailc1400

fallc1440

devall1477

condescendc1485

to get down1567

lower1575

dismount1579

to fall down1632

down?1701

demount1837

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > move downwards [verb (reflexive)]

to get down1567

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (intransitive)] > finish eating or leave table

to get down1567

to rise awaya1642

1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxxi. f. 385^v I haue done inough for thee, by making thee to mount so high. Lerne then now so wel how thou mayst get downe.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 28 b Then they tell the wall, and the waie, whereby her lover got downe.

1649 Certaine Observ. Tryall J. Lilburne 15 Before the second time I could get down into the Country, to take possession of it, old Sir Henry Vane..seized upon it all.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 43 The day being come..he gets down..leaving his dead Companion upon the Tree.

1757 S. Foote Author Prol. Sirrah? get down, and let your Father ride.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. iv. 93 Then one of the biggest [boys] gets down [from the coach], and begs his pardon.

1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. vi. 50 Bob..get ye down to your supper.

1887 Westm. Rev. June 361 We have now got down to the fifteenth century.

1893 E. F. Benson Dodo (U.S. ed.) xix. 393 Then eat the ham, and then say grace, and then you may get down.

1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 28/3 (advt.) Sani-Flush leaves the bowl clean and gleaming white. It gets down into the hidden, unhealthful trap and cleans that too.

1935 E. Bagnold National Velvet vii. 117 I'm not hungry any more. Can I get down, mother?

1947 N. Marsh Final Curtain x. 150 We all opened our letters yesterday morning, at breakfast. Can you imagine? I got down first and really—such a shock!

1982 P. Redmond Brookside (Mersey TV transmission script) (O.E.D. Archive) Episode 2. 15 You'd do yourself more good getting yourself down to mass every now and then.

1992 N. Bawden Humbug vi. 41 May I get down? I don't want any more breakfast.

2012 S. Townsend Woman who went to Bed for Year v. 35 She yelled, ‘Scott! Get down, you'll break your bleddy neck!’

b. To settle down to (an activity, a topic, etc.); to turn one's attention to. Frequently in to get down to it: to get started; to begin work seriously or energetically.to get down to brass tacks: see brass n. Phrases 2. to get down to business: see business n. Phrases 13. to get down to cases: see case n.² Phrases 2. to get down to work: see work n. Phrases 1f(b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)] > begin an action or fall to doing something > resolutely or vigorously

to sit in1736

strap1823

to get down1826

tackle1841

to buckle down (to)1865

to bite on1904

to wade into1904

to get stuck into1910

to get one's teeth into1935

to sink one's teeth into1935

to get stuck in1938

to get to grips with1947

1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans II. iv. 62 We must get down to it, Sagamore, beginning at the spring.

1889 Western Electrician 19 Jan. 36/1 Let us get down to the point and say exactly what we mean.

1892 ‘M. Twain’ Amer. Claimant xiv. 108 You've got to get right down to it and amuse your mind.

1924 Sunday Times 30 Mar. 6/2 The Bishop of Beauvais, the Earl of Warwick, and Chaplain de Stogumber assemble round a table and ‘get down to it’.

1938 D. Thomas Let. 24 Nov. (1987) 340 Then I could get down to the job of ‘cleaning’ them up.

1957 K. M. Kenyon Digging up Jericho 39 The first stages of a dig..start long before one actually gets down to excavating.

2000 A. Hussein Émigré Journeys i. 3 If a floorboard creaked or a knob fell off the door, I got down to it right there and then.

c. U.S. colloquial. to get down on (a person): to develop a dislike for or grudge against; to be hostile or oppressive to.

ΚΠ

1875 ‘M. Quad’ Quad's Odds 381 The adult male population of the village got down on John Anderson Tompkins.

1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xii. 105 Dave got down on him fer some little thing or other.

1926 Harper's Monthly Mag. June 324/2 Lots of fellows were giving $25 so I gave him that much... I thought that if I did not maybe the upperclass men would get down on me.

1997 Ice Hockey News Rev. 22 Feb. 12/3 If things are to go my way, I will just have to relax—I know I get down on myself and perhaps it's because I'm trying too hard.

3. intransitive. Golf. To get the ball into the hole.

ΚΠ

1890 Golf 21 Nov. 149/1 You can then heavy iron it on to the green and get down in four or five.

1894 Baily's Mag. Apr. 283 He placed his ball, in one, close to the hole, and got down with his second.

1963 Times 25 May 9/4 To ‘get down in one’ naturally needs an extremely well-directed stroke.

1970 D. Schaap Masters 30 From the bunker, Player got down in two shots.

2000 Guardian (Dar es Salaam) 27 Mar. 19/1 Sutton..barely kept his second attempt on the green before needing three to get down.

4. intransitive. U.S. slang (originally in African-American usage).

a. To take an (illegal) narcotic drug.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > take drugs [verb (intransitive)]

sleigh-ride1845

drug1893

dope1909

to hit the gong, gow, stuff1933

use1951

to get down1952

to turn on1954

goof1962

joy-pop1962

to drop acid1966

1952 H. Ellson Golden Spike xv. 92 ‘Where're you going?’..‘To get down again.’ ‘What with?’ ‘Whatever I can get.’

1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny i. 12/1 I mean, we have to fix; we have to get down. Not for the fun of getting loaded, but just to keep from getting sicker.

1981 H. Gould Fort Apache xxvi. 157 Maybe she got down every day, snorting sometimes, skin popping when she had a little more time.

b. To have sexual intercourse. Also with with.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > have sexual intercourse

playOE

to do (also work) one's kindc1225

bedc1315

couple1362

gendera1382

to go togetherc1390

to come togethera1398

meddlea1398

felterc1400

companya1425

swivec1440

japea1450

mellc1450

to have to do with (also mid, of, on)1474

engender1483

fuck?a1513

conversec1540

jostlec1540

confederate1557

coeate1576

jumble1582

mate1589

do1594

conjoin1597

grind1598

consortc1600

pair1603

to dance (a dance) between a pair of sheets1608

commix1610

cock1611

nibble1611

wap1611

bolstera1616

incorporate1622

truck1622

subagitate1623

occupya1626

minglec1630

copulate1632

fere1632

rut1637

joust1639

fanfreluche1653

carnalize1703

screw1725

pump1730

correspond1756

shag1770

hump1785

conjugate1790

diddle1879

to get some1889

fuckeec1890

jig-a-jig1896

perform1902

rabbit1919

jazz1920

sex1921

root1922

yentz1923

to make love1927

rock1931

mollock1932

to make (beautiful) music (together)1936

sleep1936

bang1937

lumber1938

to hop into bed (with)1951

to make out1951

ball1955

score1960

trick1965

to have it away1966

to roll in the hay1966

to get down1967

poontang1968

pork1968

shtup1969

shack1976

bonk1984

boink1985

1967 M. Braly On the Yard xiii. 193 It was one of those places..where you could get down.

1978 N.Y. Post 9 Dec. The girl who gets married in certain cliques has to get down with all the boys in the clique.

1984 R. N. Boyd Sex behind Bars 30 In prison, racism is still extremely prevalent. It is suicide for a white queen to get down with a black con.

1984 R. N. Boyd Sex behind Bars 111 He had even been tempted to try some black meat, but it had been made clear to him from day one that he would be killed if he got down with any blacks.

1997 People (Sydney) 30 July 6/1 When Dana Delany got down with legendary cocksman Willem Dafoe.

2002 N.Y. Mag. 29 Apr. 33/2 I told one guy that I'm gay, and he was upset, but then his mind changed and he was like, ‘You know, me, you, and your girlfriend could get down.’

c. To behave in a relaxed and uninhibited way; esp. to dance vigorously and uninhibitedly.

ΚΠ

1970 H. E. Roberts Third Ear 7/1 Get down, to do something in a bigger way; to put the intensity of ‘soul’ into dance movements; e.g. He got down last night at the party.

1974 J. Willwerth Jones: Portrait of Mugger i. 16 Jeff has some good smoke tonight—he calls it wacky weed—and..he and Jones get down with a little wine and some weed, and they rap.

1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) lii. 110/2 At seven o'clock, with the party getting down, Harvey came and took Kate aside.

1992 J. Stern & M. Stern Encycl. Pop Culture 543/2 With the twist, America learned how to get down.

1997 S. Grafton M is for Malice xx. 330 ‘You like to dance?’ ‘No, not really.’ ‘Don't worry about it. We'll get you in and you can cut loose. Forget your inhibitions and get down.’

2013 N.Y. Mag. 7 Oct. 80/1 These clubs are all about getting down... Here, a tour through thirteen new dance parties and clubs..and ten options for brushing up on your old moves.

d. With with: to associate oneself or become familiar with (a person). Also: to get to grips with, to cope with; to become familiar with, relate to (a thing).

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate together or with [verb (intransitive)]

mingc1275

company1387

joinc1390

meddlec1390

herd?a1400

fellowshipc1430

enfellowship1470

to step in1474

accompany?1490

yoke?a1513

to keep with ——c1515

conjoin1532

wag1550

frequent1577

encroach1579

consort1588

sort1595

commerce1596

troop1597

converse1598

to keep (also enter, come into, etc.) commons1598

to enter common1604

atone1611

to walk (also travel) in the way with1611

minglea1616

consociate1638

associate1644

corrive1647

co-unite1650

walk1650

cohere1651

engage1657

mix1667

accustom1670

to make one1711

coalite1735

commerciate1740

to have nothing to say to (also with)1780

gang?1791

companion1792

mess1795

matea1832

comrade1865

to go around1904

to throw in with1906

to get down1975

1975 High Times Dec. 131/1 It [sc. pure weed] enables me to get down with both men and women.

1992 Entertainm. Weekly 21 Aug. 14/2 He [Dan Quayle] has adopted Midwestern businessman casual..to show he can get down with the guys.

1998 K. Eshun More Brilliant than Sun vi. 73 Nobody else can get down with it 'cause it's too 5th-dimensional.

1999 D. Century Street Kingdom i. 15 But Tommy never got down with the gangs. Tommy was always his own show.

2010 New Yorker 4 Jan. 35/2 It should be mature and catchy enough so that old people can get down with it. And fresh enough so young kids can get down with it.

to get forth

Now rare and literary.

intransitive. To succeed in coming forth; to convey oneself out of a place.

ΚΠ

?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Ev^v Snares and great nettes,..From whiche at thy pleasour, thou shalt no meanes fynde The same to lyberte, for to get forth agayne.

1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 603 He saw the King was engreuit, and gat furth glaid.

1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman 30 This Musing is a Maze, where one easily looseth himselfe, and whence without great difficulty he gets not forth.

1652 N. Smith Wonderfull Prophecyes 4 They think they can easily get forth, but they that are withoutside shall keep them in.

1796 H. Macneill Waes o' War iii. 21 Will gat forth; On a cart, or in a waggon, Hirpling ay towards the North.

1845 C. Mathews Big Abel & Little Manhattan vii. 62 When they had got forth, Big Abel and Lankey.., the shower was deepening, and they made quickly for a house not far away.

1889 R. L. Stevenson Master of Ballantrae ii. 26 I was staggered besides at her sudden vehemence of word and manner, and got forth from the room, under this shower of curses.

a1930 D. H. Lawrence David in M. Halverson Relig. Drama (1957) I. xv. 257 I got forth [1926 go forth] into the fields, as a hare when the hound gives mouth!

2009 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 25 Sept. 16 We said: Get forth, some of you being the enemies of others.

to get forward

1. intransitive. To succeed in coming or going forward; to convey oneself forward; to advance or make progress spatially or in some process.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > forward movement > move forward or advance [verb (intransitive)]

wadeOE

agoOE

forthganga1000

forthgoOE

syeOE

kenc1275

to-stepc1275

vaunce1303

forthnima1325

passc1330

throc1330

forthpass1382

to pass forthc1384

to carry forthc1390

proceedc1392

to go alongc1400

to be forthwardc1430

get) groundc1436

to set onc1450

avauntc1460

pretend1481

to make way1490

advance?1507

to get forward1523

promove1570

to rid ground (also space)1572

to rid (the) way1581

progressa1586

to gather grounda1593

to make forth1594

to make on1597

to work up1603

perge1607

to work one's (also its) way1609

to pass on1611

to gain ground1625

to make its way1645

vadea1660

propagate1700

to gain one's way1777

further1789

to pull up1829

on1840

to make (up) ground1921

the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)]

wadec1374

passc1387

proceeda1393

followa1400

to pass ona1400

to get forward1523

pace1597

step1599

to get on1655

to get along1768

to tide one's way1827

to come along1844

press1870

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress

furtherc1200

profit1340

to go alongc1400

to get forward1523

advance1577

proceedc1592

to take or make strides1600

to get on1655

to get along1768

to get ahead1807

to be well away1821

to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923

ramp1980

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. clxii. f. lxxxi The frenchmen that were behynde and coude nat get forwarde reculed backe.

1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 281 Get forward, for I will come after you a foote.

1651 J. Saint-Amard tr. F. Micanzio Life Father Paul sig. B6 He was already gotten so forward in all the sciences, that [etc.].

1743 J. Seed Disc. Several Important Subj. II. 77 If all Men were to go the same Way,..it would cause a strange Embarrassment, the Road would be so much crouded, that none could get forward.

1796 S. T. Coleridge Watchman No. 2. ⁋5 They who act up to my precepts, will..be precluded from all the customary means of getting forward in the world.

1815 T. Chalmers Let. 20 July in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1851) II. 8 I..got forward in the coach with Mr. Paul.

1857 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 18 i. 19 The mares are indulged a little as they get forward with foal.

1888 R. H. Lyttelton in A. G. Steel & R. H. Lyttelton Cricket (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) ii. 51 He may, after he has got forward and perceived his error, effect a compromise.

1915 D. Haig Diary 5 Mar. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 107 Bombing parties must act offensively trying to get forward on to the flanks.

1940 K. Roberts Oliver Wiswell xliv. 437 I thought I'd better interrupt this conversation, as it didn't seem to be getting forward with anything.

2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 186 Walker and Fairclough not only nullified our strikers but also somehow managed to get forward into our six-yard box to score from open play.

2. transitive. To succeed in bringing or conveying forward; to bring to a forward position; to promote the progress of (something).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > forward movement > move or cause to move forward or advance [verb (transitive)]

to get forward1712

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 5 We lengthen'd our Mizen-Mast..got our Fore-Mast forward.

1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet I. v. 318 But tell me now, were I to give you a letter, what would you do to get it forward?

1884 Harper's Mag. May 961/1 And she was far from telling him that her proper place at this moment was within-doors, to see that the maids were getting things forward.

1918 D. Haig Diary 5 Nov. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 485 The roads were so congested..that it would be most difficult to get cavalry forward.

1965 Boys' Life Sept. 42/1 I got her forward to the stateroom where I could keep an eye on her.

2001 P. S. Jowett Ital. Army 1940–45 33 This form of transport was often the only feasible way to get the necessities forward in the mountainous regions where the Allies spent much of the campaign.

to get in

1. intransitive.

a. To succeed in entering, to convey oneself into something; (also) to obtain a place in a society, institution of education, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > go or come in [verb (intransitive)]

to go ineOE

ingoc900

to come inOE

incomec1000

infarec1000

enterc1325

enderc1330

ingressc1330

entera1382

to fall inc1384

usha1400

to get ina1425

to step in1534

to set (or put) (a) footing1567

invade1590

to take in1595

to hop in (also out)1914

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2972 The Roser was..Closed with an hegge withoute..And fast I bisiede..if I myght Haue geten ynne.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lix. 206 He..went toward the posterne the whiche, with muche payne, they gatte in there at.

1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 94 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 264 Our ȝettis ar closit that we may no^t in gett.

1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII v. iii. 17 Port. How got they in? Man. Alas I know not, how gets the Tide in .

a1691 R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) 84 Although the bar of Porta Nova proved more..dangerous than we were informed; yet our ship got safe in thither.

1782 W. Cowper John Gilpin 38 Three doors off the chaise was stayed, Where they did all get in.

1792 H. H. Brackenridge Mod. Chivalry I. ii. i. 47 There was one [candidate] who had got in by finding, accidentally, the tail of a rabbit.

1803 J. Porter Thaddeus of Warsaw (1831) xiv. 129 He was in hopes to have gotten in as he had stolen out.

1821 M. Edgeworth Let. 30 Oct. (1971) 248 The Colleges are now so full that a young mans name must be written down 3 or 4 years before he can hope to get in.

1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 722/2 The chaise having arrived..Trotter got in.

1893 Earl of Dunmore Pamirs I. 90 It was a..trying march to-day for men and horses, and both were pretty well done by the time we got in.

1906 L. Smyth True Stories Children of All Nations xiii. 163 The still more broken-down shed, where the cold, and the wind, and the rain get in at will.

1918 W. Faulkner Let. 24 Nov. in Thinking of Home (1992) 135 You pass exams to get in and you pass exams to get out.

2006 R. Everett Red Carpets & Other Banana Skins viii. 77 There was a tiny kitchen, an even tinier bathroom with a bath so small one had to perform Houdiniesque contortions to get in.

b. Of a candidate or political party: to be elected.Not current in U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > proceedings at election > [verb (intransitive)] > be elected

to get in1700

1700 J. Verney Let. 10 Nov. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. (1930) I. x. 159 The Coll. may carry it for the County, & Sir T. Lee get in at Aylesbury.

1755 E. F. Haywood Invisible Spy IV. iv. 690 We know him too well..;—but 'tis thought, however, that he will get in for some place or other.

1835 Reformers' Gaz. 31 Jan. 227 Godsake! give him Plumpers, said the Tories, otherwise this infernal Radical, Colin Dunlop, will get in!

1861 Temple Bar June 395 [He] is trying to get in for Wylminstre at the next election.

1908 G. K. Chesterton All Things Considered 39 When a canvasser says that if the opposition candidate gets in the country will be ruined, he is threatening the voters with certain consequences.

1953 T. A. G. Hungerford Riverslake 202 If his mob gets in next election they'll whip up a nice old depression, just like they did the last time, and we'll all be scratching for jobs again.

2004 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 31 May b2 Ho hum. It's a foregone conclusion. The Liberals will get in with a majority, though maybe not as big as it is now.

c. Of a person: to reach a destination, esp. to arrive home. Also: (of a train, bus, or passenger aircraft) to arrive at its destination.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > arrive [verb (intransitive)]

to come toOE

comeOE

yworthOE

lend11..

lightc1225

overtakec1225

redea1275

wina1300

'rivec1300

repaira1325

applyc1384

to come ina1399

arrivec1400

attainc1400

alightc1405

to come to handc1450

unto-comec1450

apport1578

to get through1589

reach1591

to be along1597

land1679

engage1686

to get in1863

to breeze in1930

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > reach a point or place [verb (intransitive)] > arrive

comeOE

to come to townOE

yworthOE

lend11..

lightc1225

to come anovenonc1275

wina1300

'rivec1300

repaira1325

applyc1384

to come ina1399

rede?a1400

arrivec1400

attainc1400

alightc1405

to come to handc1450

unto-comec1450

apport1578

to be along1597

to drop in1609

to come ona1635

to walk in1656

land1679

engage1686

to come along1734

to get in1863

to turn up1870

to fall in1900

to lob1916

to roll up1920

to breeze in1930

to rock up1975

1863 Message President & Accompanying Documents: Rep. Secretary of Interior 337 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (38th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Document 1, Pt. 3) III After the train gets in, which will be in about a week..he will furnish on my request any number I may think necessary.

1866 Punch 8 Sept. 107/2 While he's away, I think of the first sentence I'll write when we get in.

1877 Marlburian 7 June 80/1 The train gets in before daylight.

1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat xi. 168 George went home again... When he got in, he determined to undress and go to bed again.

1902 W. B. Yeats Let. ?25 Nov. (1994) III. 261 I shall set my alarm clock & be ready for you as soon as the train gets in.

1929 A. M. Lindbergh Let. 29 Sept. in Hour of Gold (1973) 94 It's rather hard to get air-mail stamps in all these countries, and envelopes, when we get in so late and leave so early.

1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn iv. i. 163 Shaking his hand and asking him..how come he came to be in New York, when'd he get in?

1978 P. Fitzgerald Bookshop ix. 100 The school bus gets in about five, doesn't it?

1996 I. Welsh Ecstasy 141 Come and see me straight away, son... Phone me as soon as you get in.

2006 S. Margolis Gucci Gucci Coo xvii. 279 The plane gets in at 6 a.m. Don't bother meeting me.

2. transitive.

a. To succeed in bringing, conveying, putting, or causing to come or go in; spec. to bring in or buy; to get a stock of.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > supply > provide or supply (something) [verb (transitive)] > lay in a supply of

to fet ina1556

to lay in1662

store1719

to get in1869

to turn down1891

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. iii. 39 Now ar we there As we shuld be. Do get in oure gere, Oure catall and fe.

1599 J. Thomas in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. ii. 8 We spent here very neere three moneths before we could get in our lading, which was Sugar.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) iv. viii. 25 When the Fox hath once got in his Nose, Hee'le soone finde meanes to make the Body follow.

1659 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. 464 To get in a good and round supply of Provision into the Citadel.

1755 Connoisseur No. 58. ⁋3 They might also be of great use in maroding, or getting in forage.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §158 In getting in the bridle cable by means of its buoys.

1869 Mrs. H. Wood Roland Yorke II. xx. 125 She [sc. the landlady] gets things in for us, and wants to be paid for them.

1893 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 July 414/2 I fetched water, got in sticks, cleaned boots.

1907 R. Brooke Let. July (1968) 92 The Mrs Chaffey, the lady who will land us, wanted to know what food to get in.

1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms ix. 72 Most shopkeepers are getting in their Christmas goods.

1962 Oxf. Mail 22 June 4/7 So long as I can earn enough to pay the rent and get in the odd bottle, I'm happy.

2004 C. Bateman Driving Big Davie xxi. 211 Davie got the beers in and we sat at the bar and talked about nothing interesting or deep, which was a relief.

b. To gather in or secure (harvest produce).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)]

gatherc950

getc1250

harvestc1400

in?1407

win1487

ingatherc1575

crop1602

enda1616

to get in1699

to get up1764

secure1842

1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxxxiiii. f.cxlix Euery man toke hede to kepe his owne, & the men of the countrey to gette in their cornes, for it was about the begynnynge of Auguste.

1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede Hist. Church Eng. iv. iv. 118 The Scottes in somer tyme when haruest was getting in, wold leaue the monasteries.

1614 T. Dale Let. 18 June in R. Hamor True Disc. Present Estate Virginia (1615) 57 I am resolved to stay till harvest be got in.

1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. xxx. sig. F6 For Death hee is neuer troubled..if hee get in but his Haruest before.

1699 Poor Man's Plea against Price of Corn 7 In all these Three Counties the Crop was good, and the Corn well got in.

1762 S. Foote Orators i. 13 It would be difficult..to get in even our harvests, without the aid of hands..from Ireland.

1772 Carroll Papers in Maryland Hist. Mag. 14 288 We shall get in all our Corn Fother by the middle of next week.

1855 D. Costello Stories from Screen 61 A summons to assist in getting in the vintage..wholly prevented him.

1889 A. V. Carr Margaret Maliphant II. xxi. 107 We had to get the hay in.

1931 E. Bowen Friends & Relations i. vi. 38 The present orchards are magnificent, though the apples are never got in in time; they rot in the grass.

1970 E. Welty Losing Battles 25 Everybody's busy getting in the last of their peas.

2002 T. DePree Can of Peas xxx. 311 Thought we'd see if you could use a few extra hands to get the harvest in.

c. To collect or gather (contributions of money, esp. sums owed).

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > charges > [verb (transitive)] > collect money

uptake1493

uplift1508

to get in1570

collect1643

1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. iv. 409/1 The pope of them maketh hys Tolners and bankers to get in hys money.

1677 G. Miege New Dict. French & Eng. i. sig. Kkk/2 Se faire paier de ses dettes, to get in his debts.

1754 J. Hill (title) The Young Secretary's Guide..with a true method every honest dealer should take to get in what is owing to him.

1766 G. G. Beekman Let. 7 May in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 501 Unless a Large Sum of money is Struck in this and the neighbouring Government we shall never get in Our Debts.

a1807 J. Skinner Amusem. Leisure Hours (1809) 119 Our vestry meets, and I get in my sums; The half year's stipend makes a pretty show, But twenty ways poor fifteen pounds must go.

1884 G. Allen Philistia I. viii. 217 The poor landlords can't get in their rents.

1886 Law Times 80 132/1 Some of the assets had been got in by the receiver, and had never come to her hands at all.

1912 Med. Council Dec. 479/1 Since the Government made its raid, Brown has..put on more pressure in a frenzied desire to get in as much money as possible before his trial.

1992 Lloyd's Rep. 2 418 The task of the liquidators of an insolvent company is first to get in assets and then, secondly, deal with claims against the insolvent company.

d. British. To bring (a person) to one's home or establishment for a particular purpose.

ΚΠ

1902 Brewers' Jrnl. 15 Feb. 90/1 He..asked if he should get a builder in to prop up the floor.

1938 D. Cooper Diary 12 Sept. (2005) 258 At 6.30 Winston came to see me and I got Backhouse in to meet him.

1962 P. Mortimer Pumpkin Eater xi. 77 We got men in to paint the rooms.

2007 Guardian 2 Jan. 25/5 Getting a man in to paint your walls, fit a lavatory seat or even assemble your Ikea flatpack.

3. to get in with.

(a) intransitive. To become familiar with, attain to intimacy or favour with.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb (intransitive)] > get on (well)

gree?a1513

to get in with1602

cotton1605

to hitch (also set, or stable) horses together1617

to hit it1634

gee1685

to set horses together1685

to be made for each other (also one another)1751

to hit it off1780

to get ona1805

to hitch horses together1835

niggle1837

to step together1866

to speak (also talk) someone's (also the same) language1893

to stall with1897

cog1926

groove1935

click1954

vibe1986

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb (intransitive)] > become friendly > become friendly or intimate

to get in with1602

familiarize1622

pal1848

chum1884

buddy1916

cop1940

1602 A. Copley Another Let. to Dis-iesuited Kinseman 63 He would gladly get in with some of them that be in authoritie.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 To get in with one, to scrue himself into his Friendship.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 215 He so contrived his Business as to get in with our Men.

1705 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1885) I. 34 He is got in with the Whigs.

1744 S. Fielding Adventures David Simple II. 284 I got in with a Set of Sharpers, and..was admitted to share some Part of the Booty.

1858 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. Sc. Life (ed. 2) 60 If we can't get in with the nobs,..we will never take up with any society that is decidedly snobby.

1887 A. Elliot Old Man's Favour II. iii. iii. 186 I couldn't get in with him at all;..he's tremendously reserved.

1938 J. Thurber Let. 22 Jan. (2002) 276 He's a fine reporter, the best mixer I know—he can get in with anyone anywhere.

1988 E. Lovelace Brief Conversat. 115 ‘How a nice girl like you could get in with such a vagabond fellar’?

2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) viii. 88 But Rafiq's got in with a bad crowd.

(b) transitive. To bring (a person) into favour with.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > favour > win favour with [verb (transitive)] > bring into favour with

favourish1490

to get in with1628

1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. ii. sig. B4^v His fashion and demure Habit gets him in with some Towne-precisian, & makes him a Guest on Friday nights.

1873 Melbourne Punch 19 June 193/2 This note will get you in with old Moltke.

1893 M. F. Egan Success of Patrick Desmond xxix. 386 ‘It was your being so thick with the Baroness that got me in with Bayard,’ observed Miles.

1914 Sat. Evening Post 12 Sept. 57/1 All the ten years I've been in the profesh it's been my looks that got me in with the managers and women, and my—my luck.

2005 A. Shearer Hunted 166 You have to grow up and face the world, kid. If I get you in with the Hartingers, you've got a head start.

†b. intransitive. Nautical. To come close up to. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > direct or manage ship [verb (transitive)] > set a ship's course > sail close to

pikea1522

to get in with1688

1688 tr. G. Tachard Relation Voy. Siam iii. 95 When we were got in with that Land, we advanced by little and little, dropping an Anchor so soon as the wind left us.

1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 181 At 6 at Night we got in with the Land.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. i. 302 We were extremely impatient to get in with the nearest Island.

1797 Sir J. Jervis 15 Feb. in Ld. Nelson Disp. & Lett. (1845) II. 333 I was fortunate in getting in with the Enemy's Fleet before it had time to connect.

1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 67 The wind falling, and veering to the westward, we tacked, to get in with the ice.

1848 J. F. Cooper Jack Tier I. vii. 207 The wind was now so light that he saw little prospect of getting in with the reef again.

1894 E. Coast S. Amer. (U.S. Hydrographic Office) (ed. 2) iii. 87 There are numerous rivers along the coast, and in getting in with the land attention should be paid to their streams.

†4. transitive and intransitive. Printing. To make or become narrower or more compact; spec. to set close, to fit more on to a line; (of a letter form) to allow closer setting of text. Frequently contrasted with to drive out 5 at drive v. Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1676 J. Moxon Regulæ Trium Ordinum 10 If..you are pinched for room, you may leave no Space between Letter and Letter; and then one or two Spaces between a Word will serve. This by Printers is called Getting in, or Setting close.

1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. i. 11 [The purchaser] ought to take notice..whether it [sc. the type] drives out, or gets in, either at the head, or the foot, and is, as Printers call it, Bottle-arsed.

1771 P. Luckombe Hist. & Art of Printing 218 (caption) A scheme, shewing how one Body of Letter Gets in, and Drives out, more than another, in Width.

1808 C. Stower Compositor's & Pressman's Guide 44 He should consider the best mode of rectifying the accident, either by driving out or getting in above the error or below it.

1824 J. Johnson Typographia II. iii. 62 The hyphen may generally be dispensed with, either by driving out or getting in the word.

1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 267 If copy makes less than it was calculated to do, they say, it gets in.

†5. intransitive. Hunting and Falconry. To go to the place of the kill immediately after it has happened. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hawking > hawk [verb (intransitive)] > hawking procedures

rebuke1486

whistlea1575

to cast a lure1683

to get in1686

1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation iii. vii. 86 He that first gets in, cries Hoo-up, to give Notice that he is down, and Blows a Death.

1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 7 To go up to a hawk when she has killed her quarry is to ‘get in’.

1891 J. E. Harting Bibliotheca Accipitraria 223 Get in, to reach the hawk as soon as she has killed.

6. transitive.

a. To yoke or harness (a horse).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [verb (transitive)] > harness or yoke

yokeOE

harness13..

cart-saddle1377

join1377

couple1393

enharness1490

benda1522

bind1535

span1550

team1552

spang1580

inyoke1595

trace1605

enclose?1615

gear1638

to get in1687

reharness1775

reyoke1813

to hook up1825

inspan1834

hitch1844

pole1846

stock1909

1687 J. Weichard in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 16 420 Having got in my Horse, we began our Voyage.

1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies xxii. 163 There was an indistinct cry from some rangers on the summit of the hill, of which we could only distinguish the words, ‘The horses! the horses! get in the horses!’

1887 H. R. Haggard Jess xxii I will tell the boy to get your horses in.

1963 R. Moody Dry Divide (1994) ii. 29 Whichever one of you can ride, help me get the horses in!

2013 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 6 May 7 ‘Charlie might go for a ride after school if we've got the horses in,’ Ms Casanova said.

b. To bring or drive (livestock) into a stockyard.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > herding, pasturing, or confining > [verb (transitive)] > drive or put into enclosure

parc1300

foldc1440

house1578

pinfold1605

pen1607

enfold?1611

impen?1623

to get in1698

weara1724

yard1758

to run in1837

corral1847

paddock1847

kraal1865

1698 Mem. E. Ludlow I. 73 After this Deliverance we got in some Cattle for our Provision, but the Enemy drawing into the Villages about us, soon prevented us from bringing in any more.

1859 H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn xxix The captain was getting in the ‘scrubbers’—cattle which had been left..to run wild in the mountains.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 217 A portion of the herd he thought he could get in.

1928 P. T. Kenway Pioneering in Poverty Bay viii. 56 It was said of the Highland shepherd in New Zealand, that he would..work his dogs, getting in stray sheep, every day for a month.

1963 M. Britt Pardon my Boots 142 A small mob of quiet cattle..were used to get in the wild cattle.

2010 Farmer's Weekly 17 Dec. 68/2 As we were getting the cows in, a few were staggering as if drunk. Thinking it was a bit early for festive merriment, I phoned the vet.

c. To sow (seed), plant (a crop, a bulb, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)]

sowc1000

besowc1175

inseminate1623

to put in1657

sprain1744

shed1770

to get in1771

seminate1796

broadcast1807

seed1814

1771 G. Culley Jrnl. 8 July in M. Culley & G. Culley Trav. Jrnls. & Lett. (2002) 74 In seed-time they go always at gee again..that the seed may be got in as fast as possibly.

1843 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 4 ii. 566 I find it [a roller]..useful in getting-in my spring corn, when the ground is dry and rough.

1853 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 14 i. 192 April is the usual time for getting in the seed.

1935 N. Mitchison We have been Warned iv. 426 A great flood of domesticities overwhelmed her..the bulbs to get in.

1959 Home Encycl. 20 The main crop need not be got in until March.

2009 B. Hambly Homeland 157 Papa..left me with instructions for getting in the corn, pumpkins, squashes, etc. next week.

7. transitive.

a. To succeed in introducing (a remark, point, question, etc.) into a conversation or discussion; to interpose, contribute. Chiefly in to get a word in: see word n. and int. Phrases 4a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > interruption > interrupt or interpose [verb (intransitive)]

chop in1550

to speak in a man's cast1580

to break through1659

interpose1667

interrupt1667

to break in1705

to catch up1764

to get ina1774

to strike in1791

to get a word, etc. in edgeways1824

a1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1779) 40 Had sae, and lat me get a word in.

1852 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 12 Oct. in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1884) I. v. 238 I enjoy talking to Mr Combe... I sometimes manage to get in more than a negative or affirmative.

1892 Nature Notes Oct. 214 When one of the children does get a remark in, it is always intensely to the point.

1919 W. S. Maugham Moon & Sixpence xi. 62 I flattered myself that I had got in that important question very naturally.

1976 Times 2 Feb. 16/4 Any flexibility in the system must therefore be a concession from his point of view. So he proceeded to get his pitch in early.

1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 101 Jeremiah was trying to get his tanners worth in as well.

2001 S. Brett Death on Downs xxxix. 260 ‘I got my question in first.’ Carole realized that she sounded impossibly girlish.

b. to get one's hand in: see hand n. Phrases 3f(a).

c. To succeed in delivering (a blow).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impact > striking > strike [verb (transitive)] > deal or give (a stroke or blow)

setc1300

smitec1300

layc1330

drivec1380

slentc1380

hit?a1400

to lay ona1400

reacha1400

fetchc1400

depart1477

warpc1480

throw1488

lenda1500

serve1561

wherret1599

senda1627

lunge1735

to lay in1809

wreak1817

to get in1834

1834 D. Walker Brit. Manly Exercises (ed. 2) 269 To get a blow in, make a step forward with the left foot, and throw the weight on it.

1842 Spirit of Times 3 Sept. 322/2 He went right to work, got in a sharp body blow and stopped a wicked return.

1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 21 Nov. 750/1 The youngster got in a nasty blow, drawing streams of blood from his opponent's face.

1918 D. Haig Diary 3 Aug. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 437 More than once he expressed the opinion that the ‘Germans are breaking up’, and was anxious lest they should fall back before I could get my blow in.

1977 Y. M. Boateng Return vi. 87 He got in a number of painful punches to the noses and ears of his antagonists.

1998 O. Tyaransen in S. Champion & D. Scannell Shenanigans (1999) ix. 156 A real nasty piece of work,..the kind of guy who'd get a sly kick in when there was a scrap in the playground.

d. To succeed in performing or achieving (something), esp. within a specified time; to fit (something) into one's schedule.

ΚΠ

1838 E. C. Gaskell Let. 17 July (1966) 19 I had engaged a girl..to help in all the extra work, & meant to get all sorts of things in.

1890 Jrnl. Educ. Sept. 479/1 We are not bound to get in a certain period [of history] by a certain date.

1894 Outing Sept. 432/2 Four clerks composed the staff, and they all made haste to get in some practice in the English language.

1944 M. Lowry Let. July in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 455 We were..able to get in many good hours work to-day, however, in spite of the bloody kids.

1975 S. Selvon Moses Ascending 34 This crowd was getting in a little practice for a Carnival or some such prank.

1998 G. Ritchie Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels 33 The only thing I care about is whether you get your rest in.

2003 Muscle & Fitness Jan. 26/1 Now it's the end of the day and you're beating yourself up because you didn't get your workout in.

e. to get one's eye in: see to get one's eye in at eye n.¹ Phrases 2j(d).

8. intransitive. Originally U.S.

a. To gain entrance into some sphere of activity (esp. a business) so as to secure a share or advantage. Esp. in to get in first: (a) to act in such a way as to pre-empt others; (b) to interpose a remark before another person can speak.to get in on the ground floor: see ground floor n. b.

ΚΠ

1901 E. T. Tomlinson Camping on St. Lawrence i. 8 The reason the railroads couldn't make any money was because the lawyers got in first, and the roads had to take what little they left.

1903 Rep. Governor New Mexico to Secretary of Interior 1902 (U.S. House of Representatives, 57th Congress, 2nd Sess.) 301 The buyer got in early and made his contracts before the demand became very heavy.

1933 E. Ferber They brought their Women 192 He got in early..and made his pile, but he isn't one of the big shots.

1940 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 27 Jan. 8/2 Railway administration..permitted private enterprise to get in first, thus pretermitting a magnificent opportunity.

1951 C. P. Snow Masters xv. 136 ‘Do you agree with me or don't you?’ Brown got in first: ‘I'm sure I should be speaking for the college in saying that [etc.]’.

1976 Daily Mirror 12 Mar. 7/6 Getting in quick is the first law of the jungle.

1988 Shoot! 10 Dec. 8/1 Fergie heard that his old club Aberdeen wanted Milne and decided to get in first.

1998 I. Rankin Hanging Garden (1999) xxxvi. 387 The solicitor was about to say something, but Colquhoun got in first.

2008 Victorian July 10/1 Their developers..were rewarded for getting in first and developing a new market.

b. to get in on: to involve oneself in (an advantageous venture or activity). to get in on the act: see act n. Phrases 10a.

ΚΠ

1905 H. A. Mitchell Keays Work of our Hands v. 71 I hadn't had time yet to do that—I was too busy getting in on things.

1913 Advertising & Selling Aug. 50/2 If you want to get in on these special low prices.

1939 Fortune Nov. 15/3 A barely repressible yen to go whooping off to get in on the excitement.

1963 R. Kaiser in N.Y. Herald Tribune 17 Nov. (N.Y. Suppl.) 17/1 Yale people fancy that when tailgating began..after the last war, they had got in on something new.

1990 J. Cummings & E. Volkman Goombata iii. 66 The guys who sought to get in on the racket.

2007 V. Jewiss tr. R. Saviano Gomorrah (2008) 269 He realized that La Torre's strategy was more than simply about getting in on a huge deal.

c. In imperative in get in there: get busy, get to work (sometimes with sexual overtones); get down to it, pitch in. Cf. to get stuck in at stick v.¹ Phrasal verbs 1.

ΚΠ

1927 Amer. Speech 3 132 Freshmen are encouraged to study in such terms as:..‘get in there and fight 'em’.

1934 D. Hammett Brother's Keeper in Collier's 17 Feb. 42/4 What the hell are you boxing for? You're a fighter. Get in there and fight.

1955 B. Schulberg Waterfront x. 130 Then knock off the chin music. Git in there. Number two hatch starboard gang. Puh-ronto.

1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect ii. 135 Wherrr! Git in there, Nobby!

1985 B. Zephaniah Dread Affair 19 Come natty dread youths get in there Give away what you have spare.

2006 Whitelines Feb. 26/2 The 9th person goes free—so cobble together 8 of your mates and get in there!

9. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.).

a. to get in bad (or wrong): to incur dislike; to get into trouble. Also: (transitive) to bring (someone) into disfavour; to get (someone) into trouble; cf. bad n.² 1c. Frequently const. with.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disfavour > [verb (transitive)] > bring into disfavour

disgrace1597

deingrate1624

queer1818

to get in bad1902

the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > be or become displeased [verb (intransitive)] > displease

loathec893

overthinkc1175

displeasec1400

to stick in the throat (also craw, gizzard, stomach, etc.)c1536

unsavoura1547

distastea1618

disrelish1631

to give (also cause, etc.) offence to1712

spoil sport1869

to get in bad1902

1902 W. S. Stafford Safe Methods of Stock Speculation 47 Most traders are continually figuring on getting out even, in case they get in wrong.

1906 Washington Post 24 Dec. 6/7 I've got in bad with him, fer true.

1910 O. Johnson Varmint xi. 152 Dink, you're getting in wrong again.

1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise i. iv. 144 People are beginning to think he's odd... He certainly is getting in wrong.

1921 S. Ford Inez & Trilby May iii. 56 So much prattle about a rich uncle who couldn't be produced was bound to get us in wrong sooner or later.

1928 Observer 19 Feb. 16/2 Young Woodley..prefers poetry to cricket. That, of course, ‘gets him in bad’ with his house-master.

1966 Listener 27 Oct. 622/2 The speech he made in Chicago which got him in bad with the organizers of Negro protest marches.

1994 H. Burton Leonard Bernstein ii. xiii. 123 It is best to have a thousand friends rather than one enemy so don't get in wrong with the newspapers.

2003 J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude i. xvi. 253 Senior'd done something to get himself in bad with the pimps and dealers running the Times Plaza Hotel.

b. to get in good: to get into favour (with a person).

ΚΠ

1910 Amer. Architect 13 Apr. 32/2 (advt.) Get in good with yourself now and recommend the best boiler built.

1931 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 7 Nov. The husband, jumping at a chance to ‘get in good’ came home from work the next day with a bundle of books.

1985 N. Shange in T. McMillan Breaking Ice (1990) 587 Bernice pursed her lips, thinking now would be the time to get in good with Mrs. Brown.

2007 Wall St. Jrnl. 20 Apr. a12/3 ‘You figure if you want to make it with the Big Guy,’ he says, ‘you better get in good’ with Brother Nichols.

to get off

1. transitive.

a. To remove from a surface or place; (also) to rescue (a stranded or trapped person).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > rescue or deliverance > rescue or deliver (from) [verb (transitive)] > rescue or reclaim one from a place or state

recover1485

retrieve1568

to get off1577

the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > remove or take away > from the position of being on

latcha1225

off-wevec1300

to take offa1400

to get off1577

to lay offa1593

daff1609

off1826

1577 Hill's Gardeners Labyrinth ii. i. 7 A crust or parget, so fast cleaueth or is baked to the sides within, that the same with no scouring can be gotten off.

1647 R. Stapleton in tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 154 The Italians to this day have the fashion of pumicing their skin to get off the haire.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 314 This colour will not be got off in fifteen dayes, though they wash their hands several times a day.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 To get his Coat off, tirer son Justaucorps.

1702 Act 1 Anne Stat. ii. c. 19 [22.] §2 If any Person or Persons..shall..fraudulently cut, tear, or get off any Mark or Stamp from any Piece of Vellum [etc.].

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 42 Two men waiting..by the Shore, for a Portuguese Canoe to get 'em off.

1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) ii. 50 It was such an opperation..to get off some of my clothes, and to get on my night-clothes.

1855 Harper's Mag. June 74/2 They put a strait-waistcoat upon her, but she would contrive to get it off.

1872 W. Besant & J. Rice Ready-money Mortiboy II. vi. 83 Smearing his coarse hands with spirits, to get off the dirt.

1914 V. Bell Lett. (1993) 158 Clive came to her bedroom and she got off her clothes down to her drawers and skipped about with a great deal of coyness.

1954 J. Slaughter Horsemanship for Young Riders 25 Leaf and grass stains are hard to get off.

2009 I. Jack Country formerly known as Great Brit. (2011) 109 While the women and children were got off in the boats, the troops were held in ranks at attention on deck.

b. Nautical. To refloat (a grounded vessel). Now historical.

ΚΠ

1622 J. Rawlins Famous Recoverie Ship of Bristoll sig. C^v They got her off, being laden with Hides, and Logwood for dying, and presently sent her to Argier.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 35 To get off our Ship from among those Rocks.

1731 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 32/2 The Samuel..ran a-shore..but 'twas thought might be got off.

1774 J. Johnson Let. 18 July in Joshua Johnson's Letterbk. (1979) 149 The Hope..had run ashore on Dungeness Pier. If the weather keeps moderate, I am in hopes she may be got off by unloading.

1840 N. P. Willis Amer. Scenery I. 125 Hudson ran his little craft ashore at Weehawken; but the ground was a soft ooze, and she was got off without damage.

1896 Daily News 5 Dec. 5/7 The pilot-sloop, with half a dozen Exmouth pilots, put off to assist the vessel and get her off.

1904 L. W. Coutlée Digest Cases Supreme Court of Canada 717/1 The master did not give notice of Abandonment nor endeavour to get the vessel off. The purchasers immediately got the vessel off.

1912 Mariner′s Mirror 2 95/2 She..was only got off after 20 guns had been thrown over board.

2006 A. Dalton Baychimo iv. 70 Unable to get her off under engine power alone, he had the crew pump out the aft ballast tanks and run a kedge anchor out forward.

a. intransitive. To succeed in coming or going off, to bring oneself away from a place; spec. to leave one's work or other commitment. to get off from: = to get off —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)]

wendeOE

i-wite971

ashakec975

shakeOE

to go awayOE

witea1000

afareOE

agoOE

atwendOE

awayOE

to wend awayOE

awendOE

gangOE

rimeOE

flitc1175

to fare forthc1200

depart?c1225

part?c1225

partc1230

to-partc1275

biwitec1300

atwitea1325

withdrawa1325

to draw awayc1330

passc1330

to turn one's (also the) backc1330

lenda1350

begonec1370

remuea1375

voidc1374

removec1380

to long awaya1382

twinc1386

to pass one's wayc1390

trussc1390

waive1390

to pass out ofa1398

avoida1400

to pass awaya1400

to turn awaya1400

slakec1400

wagc1400

returnc1405

to be gonea1425

muck1429

packc1450

recede1450

roomc1450

to show (a person) the feetc1450

to come offc1475

to take one's licence1475

issue1484

devoidc1485

rebatea1500

walka1500

to go adieua1522

pikea1529

to go one's ways1530

retire?1543

avaunt1549

to make out1558

trudge1562

vade?1570

fly1581

leave1593

wag1594

to get off1595

to go off1600

to put off1600

shog1600

troop1600

to forsake patch1602

exit1607

hence1614

to give offa1616

to take off1657

to move off1692

to cut (also slip) the painter1699

sheera1704

to go about one's business1749

mizzle1772

to move out1792

transit1797–1803

stump it1803

to run away1809

quit1811

to clear off1816

to clear out1816

nash1819

fuff1822

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

mosey1829

slope1830

to tail out1830

to walk one's chalks1835

to take away1838

shove1844

trot1847

fade1848

evacuate1849

shag1851

to get up and get1854

to pull out1855

to cut (the) cable(s)1859

to light out1859

to pick up1872

to sling one's Daniel or hook1873

to sling (also take) one's hook1874

smoke1893

screw1896

shoot1897

voetsak1897

to tootle off1902

to ship out1908

to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909

to push off1918

to bugger off1922

biff1923

to fuck off1929

to hit, split or take the breeze1931

to jack off1931

to piss offa1935

to do a mick1937

to take a walk1937

to head off1941

to take a hike1944

moulder1945

to chuff off1947

to get lost1947

to shoot through1947

skidoo1949

to sod off1950

peel1951

bug1952

split1954

poop1961

mugger1962

frig1965

1595 R. Hasleton Strange & Wonderfull Things sig. C I..crept as fast as I could to get off the pipe to land: where before I could get downe, they shot some of their Muskets after me.

1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies iii. lvii. 424 If you chance to be so neere the lande, that you can find no meanes to get off from it.

1642 N. Bernard Whole Proc. Siege Drogheda 43 That night by the help of a fresh, and lightening her Ballace, with the change of a fit winde, she got off, and lanced into the Poole.

1651 Mercurius Politicus No. 74. 1180 But she..cannot get off till a High-Spring-tide fetch her.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iii. 146 The crazy condition of the ship..prevented her from getting off to sea.

1799 Scots Mag. Mar. 205/1 She touched ground; but after a short time had the good fortune to get off.

1813 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) III. 446 I am like a Boat getting off from the shoaly Shore—every ten yards I am grounded & detained.

1847 R. Anderson Let. 7 Apr. in Artillery Officer in Mexican War (1911) 121 He is very desirous of getting off, and has gone to the City to ascertain if a vessel will sail today.

1861 Amer. Agriculturist July 202/3 Every man is anxious to get off to the war.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 2/1 When they get off at mid-day to eat their ‘piece’, there is talking and laughing among the field workers.

1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. vi. 128 It was almost like a log-rolling or a barbecue... The men didn't get off from work every day like this.

1955 ‘Miss Read’ Village School x. 88 You git off home to your poor wife!

2005 J. McGahern Memoir 19 ‘Daddy wrote that he'd love to be here but wasn't able to get off,’ our mother said.

b. intransitive. To start on a journey; to begin a race.to get off on the right foot, to get off on the wrong foot: see foot n. and int. Phrases 3.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > departure, leaving, or going away > depart, leave, or go away [verb (intransitive)] > set out

forthfarec888

foundOE

seta1000

to go forthOE

to fare forthc1200

partc1230

to pass forthc1325

to take (the) gatec1330

to take the wayc1330

to take one's waya1375

puta1382

treunt?a1400

movec1400

depart1490

prepare?1518

to set forth1530

to set forward(s)1530

busklea1535

to make out1558

to take forth1568

to set out1583

sally1590

start1591

to go off1600

to put forth1604

to start outa1626

intend1646

to take the road1720

to take one's foot in one's hand1755

to set off1774

to get off1778

to set away1817

to take out1855

to haul out1866

to hit the trail (less commonly the grit, pike, road, etc.)1873

to hit, split or take the breeze1910

hop1922

1778 M. Flinders Diary June in Gratefull to Providence (2007) I. 71 We got off early in the Morn, viz. 5 o'clock, and reached Peterborough by 8.

1839 Spirit of Times 11 May 115/2 In the second heat Coloradian did not get off very well, and the bay horse got the start some hundred yards or more.

1847 B. Disraeli Tancred I. ii. ix. 228 ‘You promised to recommend me a servant who had travelled in the East.’ ‘Well, are you in a hurry?’ said Lord Eskdale... ‘I should like to get off as soon as practicable.’

1878 Sat. Rev. 26 Oct. 527/1 When a crowd of horses get off for a comparatively short race there is generally a tremendous scramble at starting.

1897 A. Morrison Dorrington Deed-box i We..got off comfortably by the ten o'clock train from Euston.

1922 Harper's Mag. Feb. 339/1 Come, we must be getting off, or we sha'n't be home till it's too late to explain.

1964 H. S. Thompson Let. 25 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 474 And when you tell me to get off to Berkeley for the sit-ins I say no thanks.

2012 Times & Transcript (New Brunswick) (Nexis) 31 July a4 He took it [sc. a boat's starter] all apart, cleaned it up and it was good to go. ‘He allowed us to get off at seven o'clock in the morning.’

c. intransitive. In imperative. colloquial. Used as an exclamation expressing impatience or incredulity; = to get away 1b(b) at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressions of disbelief [interjection]

to go toc1275

in good timea1470

Walker1811

to get off1818

this beats my grandmother1819

to go on1835

your granny!1837

to get away1847

I ask you1855

great guns!1875

sure1907

oh yeah1927

Aunt Fanny1928

go 'long1974

to sod off1976

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection]

whatOE

well, wellOE

avoyc1300

ouc1300

ay1340

lorda1393

ahaa1400

hillaa1400

whannowc1450

wow1513

why?1520

heydaya1529

ah1538

ah me!a1547

fore me!a1547

o me!a1547

what the (also a) goodyear1570

precious coals1576

Lord have mercy (on us)1581

good heavens1588

whau1589

coads1590

ay me!1591

my stars!a1593

Gods me1595

law1598

Godso1600

to go out1600

coads-nigs1608

for mercy!a1616

good stars!1615

mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616

gramercy1617

goodness1623

what next?1662

mon Dieu1665

heugh1668

criminy1681

Lawd1696

the dickens1697

(God, etc.) bless my heart1704

alackaday1705

(for) mercy's sake!1707

my1707

deuce1710

gracious1712

goodly and gracious1713

my word1722

my stars and garters!1758

lawka1774

losha1779

Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784

great guns!1795

mein Gott1795

Dear me!1805

fancy1813

well, I'm sure!1815

massy1817

Dear, dear!1818

to get off1818

laws1824

Mamma mia1824

by crikey1826

wisha1826

alleleu1829

crackey1830

Madonna mia1830

indeed1834

to go on1835

snakes1839

Jerusalem1840

sapristi1840

oh my days1841

tear and ages1841

what (why, etc.) in time?1844

sakes alive!1846

gee willikers1847

to get away1847

well, to be sure!1847

gee1851

Great Scott1852

holy mackerel!1855

doggone1857

lawsy1868

my wig(s)!1871

gee whiz1872

crimes1874

yoicks1881

Christmas1882

hully gee1895

'ullo1895

my hat!1899

good (also great) grief!1900

strike me pink!1902

oo-er1909

what do you know?1909

cripes1910

coo1911

zowiec1913

can you tie that?1918

hot diggety1924

yeow1924

ziggety1924

stone (or stiffen) the crows1930

hullo1931

tiens1932

whammo1932

po po po1936

how about that?1939

hallo1942

brother1945

tie that!1948

surprise1953

wowee1963

yikes1971

never1974

to sod off1976

whee1978

mercy1986

yipes1989

1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck II. 27 Get aff wi' your Hieland impudence.

1958 J. Wain Contenders 29 ‘Get off,’ I said. I should explain that ‘Get off’ is an expression much used in North Staffordshire as an ironic rejoinder to obvious remarks.

1977 B. Bainbridge Injury Time (1978) xiii. 115 Get off... You don't know what you're talking about.

2000 Independent 13 Aug. 38 I was like, ‘Get off!’ I honestly didn't believe him.

d. transitive. To send (a letter, message, etc.) away from where one is. Also: to send (a person) away for some purpose.

ΚΠ

1821 E. H. MacLeod Tales of Ton 2nd Ser. II. 197 I can get a letter off to Emma before that time.

1887 W. D. Howells Minister's Charge xxviii. 402 I've been trying to get off a letter to you..but I've been round so much, and upside down so much..that I've not been able to fetch it.

1918 E. Wharton Let. 7 July (1988) 406 I meant my very darndest to get off a letter last Friday.

1952 J. Thompson Killer inside Me xviii. 113 And she fixed her folks an early dinner, and got them off to a picture show about seven.

1961 I. Fleming Thunderball xxiii. 240 I'm going to..get a signal off to Navy Department.

1992 R. Condon Venerable Bead x. 56 It was essential that he get a signal off to Beijing.

3. intransitive. To escape, get away. to get off of: to get out of (now nonstandard).

ΚΠ

1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love Praeludium sig. A4^v I would I knew how to get off with any indifferent Grace: Here take your Cloake, and promise some satisfaction in your Prologue.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. i. 126 They fought together, but Auffidius got off .

1693 tr. J. Le Clerc Mem. Count Teckely iv. 61 The Right Wing of the Christian Army, having..abandoned its attack..gave opportunity to the Janizaries..to get off on this side.

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 13 Apr. (1948) I. 242 I sent my excuses, adorned with about thirty compliments, and got off as fast as I could.

1749 W. Dodwell Free Answer 109 I was wondering..how he would get off of this difficulty.

1837 W. T. Moncrieff Sam Weller ii. iv. 23 I have strange misgivings—this letter that I've received from my landlady, calling upon me to fulfil my promise of marrying her..troubles me—I must get off of it somehow.

a1854 E. Grant Mem. Highland Lady (1988) I. xi. 232 An alarm was given that the soldiers were in pursuit; they..got off to a different part of the forest, before the little pursuing detachment came.

1871 J. E. Cooke Out of Foam i. vii. 49 ‘Now is the time to get off,’ whispered the gypsy. ‘No: now is the time to discover more,’ returned Earle, coolly.

1913 W. New Eng. Mag. Oct. 420/1 They'll slip out of sight, and even if you foller their tracks for days they'll get off.

1983 Irish Times 18 June (Weekend section) 7/3 Will they get off to safety in time?

1991 W. Reynolds in V. LoBrutto Sel. Takes ii. 25 At that point I called Warren and said, ‘As this is the procedure she is going to follow, you don't need three editors anymore, can I go?’ That's how I got off of it.

a. transitive. To deliver (a person) from punishment, or procure a modified penalty for.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > be exempt from (a liability or obligation) [verb (transitive)] > free from obligation

freeeOE

unbind1297

quitclaima1325

acquit1340

excuse1340

loose1340

releasec1350

assoil1366

soilc1384

dischargea1387

quita1387

relieve1416

absoil1440

deliver1440

acquittance1448

quiet1450

acquiet1453

absolve?a1475

defease1475

skill1481

relax1511

redeema1513

exoner1533

exonerate1548

solvec1550

distask1592

disgage1594

upsolve1601

disoblige1603

disengage1611

to get off1623

exclude1632

supersedea1644

to let off1814

to let out1869

1623 P. Massinger Duke of Millaine iv. ii. sig. M3 I am got off, Sir Iew, a bribe hath done it.

1646 Earle of Carberyes Pedegree 1 The said Earle is about London, making all the friends he can to get him off of these ills.

1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 46 I'll see and get you off if I can.

1790 E. Butler Jrnl. 24 Apr. in E. M. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) 250 She threatened to ‘wand him’ but we got him off.

1862 Temple Bar 5 452 He promised to get my master off on payment of a fine.

1885 Times 18 May 5 Riel's friends were powerful enough to get him off with five years' banishment.

1937 W. M. Raine Bucky follows Cold Trail ii. 12 He'll hire some slick lawyer to get him off. Let the folks he has ruined cook his goose for him, I say.

1983 R. Rendell Speaker of Mandarin xviii. 205 He got Henry off, of course he did, considering Henry never done it.

2003 Independent 2 Dec. i. 15/5 His solicitor bottled out on the day before the Old Bailey trial and the replacement was unable to get him off, despite an alibi provided by workmates.

b. intransitive. To evade or avoid punishment, defeat, injury, loss, etc., entirely, or to a specified degree; to escape with or for a specified (comparatively lenient) loss or penalty; to be acquitted in a criminal trial.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [verb (intransitive)] > escape unscathed

escapec1330

to get off1640

to come out smelling of roses1960

1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes i. 81 The Christians got off with the losse of two thousand men.

1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes i. 146 The Christians having got off for seventy two thousand horse, and two and twenty thousand of their infantry.

1664 R. Hooke Let. 10 Nov. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 400 It was Mr. Rich: Reves that has kild his wife, but he now hopes, that he shall be able to gett off.

1691 W. Nicholls Answer Naked Gospel Answer to Pref. sig. B4^v But perhaps the Trinitarians will not so easily get off here.

1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 288 He got off for 4000l.

1759 W. H. Dilworth Life of Pope 98 By this artful compliment Mr. Pope got off.

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge lxxiii. 367 He had got off very well with a reprimand.

1881 E. Lynn Linton My Love! III. iv. 79 The Pennefathers got off with fewer rebukes than usual.

1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke xxxvi. 408 The leaders of the insurrection got off much more lightly than their followers.

1928 E. Waugh Decline & Fall i. xiii. 145 He'll get off on a plea of insanity. Loopy, you know.

1943 Signalman's Jrnl. Jan. 27 The United States got off lightly in the first World War.

1954 A. White Beyond Glass i. ii. 25 But that's barbarous! He gets off scot free and she has to be dragged through the mud.

1989 T. M. Albert Tales Ulster Detective 34 The burglary at the Rectory was never solved, and the lads who had been the catalyst in the whole thing got off with a caution.

1997 V. Suvorov & A. Sabelnikov Fist Manned Spaceflight xvi. 109 Fortunately he got off lightly: only minor injuries and a pair of bruises.

2008 Independent 8 May 33/1 Against the odds the celebrity gets off, usually because a dozy policeman or prosecutor has failed to follow the correct procedure.

a. transitive. To get off one's hands; to find a market for (goods); colloquial to get (one's daughter) married (now rare). Also intransitive: to get married or engaged to be married.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (transitive)] > get (someone) married

to put off1631

to get off1677

1677 R. Ferguson East-India-trade 24 They fall the price, and under-sell one another, to get off their Goods.

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 248. ⁋8 The common Design of Parents is to get their Girls off as well as they can.

1724 J. Swift Let. to Shop-keepers of Ireland (new ed.) 6 Woods..to get them [his Half-Pence] off offered an Hundred Pounds in his Coin for Seventy or Eighty in Silver.

1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. ii. 41 There's no less than six of her nieces, whom she has got off within these four winters—Not one of 'em now, that has not made a catch-match.

1848 Punch 15 153 We are not aware that ‘high moral attainments’ were required to get off ‘fifty thousand straw bonnets’.

1868 F. C. Burnand Hit & ‘Miss’ i. 14 You should have got her off as she's a daughter—Why, noblemen in numbers must have sought her.

1915 B. Ruck Courtship of Rosamond Fayre iii ‘Miss Urquhart's got off herself.’ ‘She has and she hasn't. Her chap's always away.’

1923 E. Bowen Encounters 116 It had been difficult to get poor Cicely off.

1989 Financial Post (Canada) (Nexis) 31 May (sport section) 52 A rights offering would have got the stock off at a touch under $50.

†b. intransitive. to get off with: to get rid of, have done with. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > get or be rid of

refusea1387

to be rid of (also on)c1450

beskyfte1470

to be, get shut of, (dialect) shut on?a1500

to claw off1514

get1558

to put away1577

to get rid of1591

quit1606

to get off with1719

ding1753

shoot1805

to stay shet of1837

shuck1848

shunt1858

shake1872

to dust off1938

1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 148 I thought to have gotten off with my young Priest, by telling him [etc.].

c. transitive. To succeed in uttering (something, esp. a joke).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > succeed in uttering

to get off1843

1843 Trumpet & Universalist Mag. 21 Jan. 121 Mr. H. chuckled into his sleeves when he got off his joke on the Millerites.

1849 Yale Literary Mag. 14 187 There is the writing of one who tried to ‘get off’, as the boys say, something comic on every occasion.

1858 J. G. Holland Titcomb's Lett. (1873) vii. 58 Have you a good set of teeth, which you are willing to show whenever the wit of the company gets off a good thing?

1886 K. S. Macquoid Sir J. Appleby II. vi. 83 If [he] had to speak at any public occasion, he could never get a sentence off without hesitation.

1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 618/1 They would..get off their jokes on him and insult him.

1939 Business Week 25 Feb. 36/2 You've heard some radio comedian crack, after getting off a poor gag, ‘There goes my Crossley’.

1978 D. Norden in F. Muir & D. Norden Take my Word for It 87 Descartes was able to get off quite a few zingers relating to..rationality.

2008 Washington Post (Nexis) 25 Feb. c1 Carell got off a joke when he introduced the nominees for Best Animated Feature by calling ‘Ratatouille’ a scathing indictment of health code violations, when it is actually about a cute rodent in the kitchen.

6. intransitive.

a. Originally: to dismount from a horse. Subsequently also: to alight from a railway carriage, tram, bus, etc. Also (esp. in early use) with from or (now nonstandard) of. Cf. to get off —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride a horse (or other animal) [verb (intransitive)] > dismount

lighteOE

alightOE

falla1300

avoid1485

demountc1540

elight1542

descend1548

avale1590

dismount1594

alighten1600

unlight1623

unhorse1633

unmount1655

to get off1688

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 To get off from his Horse, descendre de Cheval.

1722 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack 113 Ha, Brother Jack, says I, get off of the Horse this Moment.

1774 J. Woodforde Diary 16 Mar. (1924) I. 125 When I came to Shepton I got of at Mr. White's.

1834 Jamestown (N.Y.) Jrnl. 29 Jan. 1/5 The Massachusetts Masons,..like the rummy deacon, who fell from his horse—have merely ‘got off to get on better’.

1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table viii. 204 Many people can ride on horseback who find it hard to get on and to get off without assistance.

1885 Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe 24 Apr. This persistent practice of the dear public in getting off of moving cars.

1896 G. Ade Artie i. 5 If he gets on a street-car where I am, I get off and walk.

1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms ix. 73 He entered the train at Oxford Circus and got off at Piccadilly.

1935 E. Bagnold National Velvet viii. 137 Velvet flung herself off... ‘What have you got off for?’ said Mrs. Brown.

1969 J. Singer tr. I. B. Singer Estate ii. xii. 187 A stout woman in a fur coat and a velvet hat got off. Someone carried her basket and a small valise.

1986 D. Arkell Alain-Fournier ii. 35 They were getting off at the same stop near the Luxembourg Gardens.

1994 S. E. Ambrose D-Day xix. 370 The GIs were trying to get off, but when the first two got shot as they jumped off the ramp, the others refused to leave.

b. colloquial (originally U.S.). to tell (someone) where he or she gets off (also to tell (someone) where to get off) and variants: to rebuke for presumption or interference; to tell off.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)]

threac897

threapc897

begripea1000

threata1000

castea1200

chaste?c1225

takec1275

blame1297

chastya1300

sniba1300

withnima1315

undernima1325

rebukec1330

snuba1340

withtakea1340

reprovec1350

chastisea1375

arate1377

challenge1377

undertake1377

reprehenda1382

repreync1390

runta1398

snapea1400

underfoc1400

to call to account1434

to put downc1440

snebc1440

uptakec1440

correptc1449

reformc1450

reprise?c1450

to tell (a person) his (also her, etc.) own1450

control1451

redarguec1475

berisp1481

to hit (cross) one over (of, on) the thumbs1522

checkc1530

admonish1541

nip1548

twig?1550

impreve1552

lesson1555

to take down1562

to haul (a person) over the coals1565

increpate1570

touch1570

school1573

to gather up1577

task1580

redarguate?1590

expostulate1592

tutor1599

sauce1601

snip1601

sneap1611

to take in tax1635

to sharp up1647

round1653

threapen1671

reprimand1681

to take to task1682

document1690

chapter1693

repulse1746

twink1747

to speak to ——1753

haul1795

to pull up1799

carpet1840

rig1841

to talk to1860

to take (a person) to the woodshed1882

rawhide1895

to tell off1897

to tell (someone) where he or she gets off1900

to get on ——1904

to put (a person) in (also into) his, her place1908

strafe1915

tick1915

woodshed1935

to slap (a person) down1938

sort1941

bind1942

bottle1946

mat1948

ream1950

zap1961

elder1967

1900 G. Ade More Fables 163 He said he was a Gentleman, and that no Cheap Skate in a Plug Hat could tell him where to Get Off.

1922 S. Lewis Babbitt vii. 93 Once in a while I got to assert my authority, and..I told him just exactly where he got off.

1953 J. Trench Docken Dead vi. 90 I'm sure you knew how to deal with the police. Told them where they got off, I expect.

1963 D. Lessing Man & Two Women 128 If just for once she told us where to get off.

1998 P. Jooste Dance with Poor Man's Daughter (1999) xi. 156 He could have told her any time he liked exactly where she could get off.

2001 C. Petit Hard Shoulder (2002) 25 Ach, tell her where to get off, that's what I would do. You're the one that fucking came back to lend a hand, so she can bloody well respect that once in a while.

c. U.S. colloquial. where does —— get off doing (also to do)?: what right has —— (to do something)?, how dare —— (do something)? Also: (without gerund or infinitive as complement) where does —— get off?

ΚΠ

1922 McClure's Mag. Apr. 62/1 Where does he get off challenging the champion?

1948 Life 1 Mar. 13/2 Where does John G. Nichols get off calling Wyoming's capitol building a sprawling mess…?

1954 V. Delmar & E. Delmar Mid-summer iii. 69 Where does he get off to make a proposition like that—.

1959 G. Paley Little Disturbances of Man 114 Where does he get off? That fat slob... What does he think I am?

1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities (1988) iii. 70 Where did she get off, giving him such a hard time?

2006 C. Messud Emperor's Children (2007) 410 Where the fuck do you get off, you little nullity, you common little piece of shit, snooping around in my papers and crapping all over them?

7. transitive. To learn, commit to memory. Also to get off by heart (cf. sense 20).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > memorization > memorize, learn by heart [verb (transitive)]

record?c1225

renderc1380

to can by rotec1405

con?a1425

to con by heartc1449

can1496

to bear away1530

get1540

commend to memory1550

commit?1551

to con over1605

rotea1616

lodge1622

to get off by heart1709

memorize1834

rehearse1902

memorate1983

1709 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 308 He would always make them set about his own [Grammar], and spend time in getting it off intirely.

?1786 J. Nares Conc. & Easy Treat. on Singing 3 The Scholar ought..to get this Table off by Heart.

1856 Children's Mag. 211 We..hope every one of you will get them [sc. religious verses] off perfectly; and never forget them as long as you live.

1861 Temple Bar 3 141 Read the Times..and get off by heart that portion..devoted to the news of the money-market.

1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xvii. 201 Our religious system has no set form of liturgy to be got off by heart and repeated.

1927 W. Katzin tr. J.-J. Bernard Glamour ii. ii. in Eight European Plays 43 Gérard. Then will you hear my fable now? Olivier. [Far off.] If you like. Gérard. I've got it off pat, you'll see.

1942 Scotsman 29 Oct. 4/2 The young lecturer had got it off by heart, but at sight of the dignified assembly he found to his horror that he had forgotten every word.

2012 Express (Nexis) 31 May 15 I made an effort in my 20s to get off by heart Coleridge's gorgeous poem Frost At Midnight.

a. transitive. To succeed in getting (a child) to go to sleep. colloquial.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [verb (transitive)] > put to or cause to sleep

swevec725

to fall, lull, lay (bring obs.) asleepa1500

slumber?1533

soporate1623

insomniatea1657

to get off1836

sleepa1843

1836 Mag. Domest. Econ. 1 210 On no account should it be considered indispensable that a child should be ‘got off to sleep’.

1951 N. Mitford Blessing i. iii. 25 Well, I only hope he won't overexcite the poor little fellow. You know what it's like getting him off, evenings.

1968 A. Laski Keeper ii. 23 Gavin's been playing up; teeth; I think she may have just about got him off.

2006 N. Monaghan Killing Jar (2007) ii. 11 Mommar used to take me for drives when I was little, to get me off to sleep.

b. intransitive. To succeed in falling asleep; to fall asleep. Frequently in to get off to sleep.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [verb (intransitive)] > go to sleep or fall asleep

to fall, lull, lay (bring obs.) asleepOE

to fall overa1752

to go off1813

to drop off1820

to fall off1822

to get off to sleep1837

to fall off1862

tope1863

sleepy-baw1907

to go out1928

to zizz off1962

1837 United Service Jrnl. Sept. 50 I..at last found a snug berth on the booms under the bow of the launch, and got off to sleep.

1855 Ladies' Repository Oct. 596/1 When I went to bed I found it very difficult to sleep; and when I did get off at last, my thoughts shaped themselves into a singular dream.

1891 Cassell's Family Mag. Mar. 212/1 I find I can get off to sleep by trying to count up to 100.

1922 V. Woolf Jacob's Room i. 17 I thought he'd never get off—such a hurricane.

1934 L. A. G. Strong Corporal Tune iii. iv. 267 If you find you can't get off tonight..don't lie awake. Ring your bell, and ask sister to give you my ‘A’ drink.

1969 A. Laski Dominant Fifth v. 182 The doctor gave me some very good sleeping-pills and said I must take one every evening, and so I did, though not until I'm sure Tess has got off.

1998 A. Hollinghurst Spell (1999) i. 11 Actually I was asleep. I'd just got off, I'm extremely tired.

2011 T. Slater No More Time-outs 102 After one of her funny cigarette things, a couple of Valiums and a pint of Remy Martin VSOP, she got off to sleep.

9. intransitive. slang (originally U.S.). Frequently with on.

a. To achieve sexual satisfaction; to experience an orgasm; cf. to get one's rocks off at rock n.¹ Phrases 9.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > effects of drugs > be under influence of drugs [verb (intransitive)] > become intoxicated by drugs

to get off1867

the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > [verb (intransitive)] > experience pleasurable excitement

to get off1867

buzz1927

the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > [verb (intransitive)] > experience sexual ecstasy or climax

to get off1867

to feel the earth move1940

climax1971

orgasm1973

1867 A. Doten Jrnls. (1973) II. 959 She didn't get off at all—too much in a hurry [printed in cipher Shz tltn'd gzd jvv xd xii-- Djj mcuh ln x hcrrw].

1973 D. Lang Freaks 30 Another time..Annie got off on her own fingers while describing exactly what it felt like to her ex-husband on the telephone.

1976 N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone ii. 55 And the shrink getting off on it all, sitting there with one hand stuck in his fly.

2006 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 136/3 What a strange little game, orgasmic cat-n-mouse—he wants me to come; I don't want him to know for sure that I did, but I never leave his hotel room without getting off.

b. Of a jazz musician: to improvise skilfully.

ΚΠ

1933 Fortune Aug. 47/1 Returning to Trombonist Brown, he can get off, swing it, sock it, smear it, or go to town (all of which mean syncopate to beat the band).

1937 Amer. Speech 12 182/1 Lick, what a soloist plays when he gets off, if it is hot.

1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang 579/9 Play ‘hot jazz’; ‘swing’, get off on it.

1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues 4 When I get off on my horn the joint still jumps.

1955 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (ed. 3) xii. 289 The present-day solo is esteemed modern and full of ideas in direct proportion to the more unrecognizable it makes the melody. Such ‘getting off’ conceals lack of true invention.

1966 Downbeat 5 May 23 You can bet a man that they can get off on them horns.

1997 Spectator (Hamilton, Ont.) 24 July c7 Trombonist Keith Bilinsky and trumpeter Even Champion got off some ripping solos.

c. To experience an emotional high; to enjoy or be turned on by something.

ΚΠ

1952 C. Himes Cast First Stone xxi. 239 It was just..a substitute for sex. Just getting off, I thought.

1973 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 May 43/3 Yeah, there are hockey chicks, girls who get off on jocks.

1973 Rolling Stone 8 Nov. 20/3 I remember buying their album and getting off.

1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) ii. 10/2 She really got off on weddings.

1984 N. Mailer Tough Guys don't Dance ii. 29 I could get off on my plans for the day if only the dream that I was in Prison would not persist.

2009 M. A. Taylor-Hall At Breakers iii. 172 She seemed..to be getting off on this largely female, elderly atmosphere of comfort and routine.

d. To be under the influence of or stimulated by an illicit drug; to get high.

ΚΠ

1952 H. Ellson Golden Spike xxv. 138 I'm dying to get off.

1969 R. R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z 82 Get off, to inject heroin.

1980 A. Kukla in L. Michaels & C. B. Ricks State of Lang. 521 Did you get off on that acid you took last night?

2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 77 His pupils were pinpricks: Could you have a tea high? As Adam said, if you take enough of anything you'll get off on it.

10. intransitive. colloquial (chiefly British). To become acquainted or friendly with (a potential sexual partner); (also) to have a sexual relationship with.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > flirt with [verb (transitive)] > become amorously acquainted with

to get off1913

cop1940

1913 in P. Farrer Confid. Corr. on Cross Dressing (1997) 54 He was walking past as if he did not know me, but I gave him the glad eye in the approved fashion, and actually got off with him!

1914 W. L. George Making of Englishman III. 300 She had come into the restaurant on the chance of ‘getting off’ with ‘one of the boys’.

1925 ‘F. Lonsdale’ Spring Cleaning i. 13 What fun it would be if one of us could get off with him.

1936 W. H. Auden Look, Stranger! 35 The lady who admires us, you Have thought you're getting off with too.

1967 J. G. Davis Hold my Hand I'm Dying xx. 176 ‘It's the same every party’, I said, ‘everybody getting off with everybody else's spouse.’ She nodded... ‘Is she attractive?’.. ‘Listen, Suzie. I wasn't messing around with her. She just makes a bit of a fuss of me’.

a1971 S. Smith Coll. Poems (1975) 316 Mother said if I wore this hat I should be certain to get off with the right sort of chap.

2000 M. Beaumont e 153 What happened to you Friday night? Did you get off with that Bosnian barmaid?

to get on

1. transitive.

a. To put on (an article of dress).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] > put on

to do oneOE

graitha1375

puta1382

to take on1389

to let falla1400

takea1400

to put on?a1425

endow1484

addressa1522

to get on1549

to draw on1565

don1567

to pull on1578

dight1590

sumpterc1595

to get into ——1600

on with1600

array1611

mount1785

to cast on1801

endoss1805

endue1814

ship1829

1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Eph. vi. f. xiv^v Get on all your harnesse.

1565 J. Fisher Copy of Let. describing Woorke of God sig. A. viii^v Vntill the women had gotten on her hosen.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. iii. 130 Get on thy boots, weel ride al night.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. ii. 68 Get on your Night-Gowne.

1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xli. 14) 318 And should not we get on our best [raiment], when we are to come before God?

1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) ii. 50 It was such an opperation..to get off some of my clothes, and to get on my night-clothes.

1891 ‘L. Malet’ Wages of Sin III. vi. i. 63 As the vulgar little boys say, Carr has ‘got 'em all on’ to-night, hasn't he?

1985 J. Winterson Oranges are not Only Fruit 77 Get that mac on.

2002 J. Thompson Wide Blue Yonder i. 13 He hopped around the room one-legged to get his pants on, then fell back, oof, on the bed.

b. In the perfect (compare sense 33). to have got on: to be wearing; = have v. 6a(b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [verb (transitive)]

wearc893

weighc897

beareOE

haveOE

usea1382

to get on1679

sport1778

to stand up in1823

take1868

1679 Tryall R. Langhorn 53 He is no Quaker, for he hath got a Perriwig on.

1752 S. Foote Taste ii. 29 He has got a black Wig on, and speaks outlandish.

1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy I. xxi. 141 A new pair of black-plush-breeches which he had got on.

1865 C. Dickens Lett. (1999) XI. 89 I have got a boot on to-day,—made on an Otranto scale, but not very discernible from its ordinary sized companion.

1882 Ballou's Monthly Mag. Sept. 240/2 I wanted Fred to ride just now, but he would not. He has got on his ball toggery.

1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers vi. 122 She had got a new cotton blouse on.

1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock iii. i. 76 He hadn't got a vest on, or a tie.

2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy vi. 141 Her and Delilah had got the work gear on, and stiletto-tripped down to their usual patch.

c. To place on the fire or (in recent use) switch on (a kettle, etc.).

ΚΠ

1710 D. Hilman Tusser Redivivus June 14 Before the Maid hath got her Kettle on.

1839 Thirty-six Yrs. Seafaring Life 332 We soon lit a good fire not far from the tent, got the kettle on, had supper.

1888 R. Dowling Miracle Gold II. xvi. 56 I've got the kettle on and must run down.

1921 ‘E. Mordaunt’ Laura Creichton (1922) xxiv. 224 I'll get the kettle on and make you some tea.

1990 J. McGill That Rubens Guy (1991) 29 Phil shouted at them to get the kettle on for his shaving water.

2014 L. Bardugo Ruin & Rising 274 ‘You can start by getting water boiling for breakfast.’ Misha nodded once, then jogged back through the gravel to get the water on.

a. intransitive. To move or go forward physically, to advance (also figurative). Also: to make haste, get moving.

ΚΠ

1602 A. Munday tr. 3rd Pt. Palmerin of Eng. xxii. f. 55 Blandidon, Pompides, Dirdan, and Francian, had much adoe to get on toward the Cittie, because one of Ristoranos brethren.., had so narrowly beset them in euery place.

1647 O. Sedgwick Nature & Danger of Heresies 23 Though truth gets on very slowly,..yet erroneous and false opinions do break out with ease and spread swiftly.

1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xix. 64 You do get on at a tearing rate.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 131 Then, prithee, get on—get on, my good lad, said I.

1777 M. Hunter Jrnl. (1894) 25 The guns got on so slowly that we did not arrive at Brunswick before ten the next morning.

1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 28 Apr. (1939) 162 In walking I am like a spavined horse, and heat as I get on.

1891 Leisure Hour Jan. 151/2 Let us get on and lose no time.

1977 B. Bainbridge Injury Time (1978) ii. 23 ‘I must get on,’ said Binny, worriedly, rising from her seat.

2000 K. Atkinson Emotionally Weird (2001) 114 ‘Yes, well, must be getting on,’ she said..; ‘things to do, people to see—you know how it is.’

b. transitive. To put on, succeed in acquiring (speed, etc.). Frequently in to get a move on: see move n. 3f.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > rate of motion > move at specific rate [verb (transitive)] > put on (speed)

to get on1836

1836 Spirit of Times 30 July 187/1 By a quick horse, I mean one that is quick in getting on his speed again after having been stopped at his fences.

1891 Field 21 Nov. 770/1 Their forwards often got on a good deal of pace, but were never really dangerous.

?1973 R. Galton & A. Simpson Best of Steptoe & Son (1989) 131 I've got my horse on a meter outside. Could you get a wiggle on, please?

2005 T. Hafer Split Decision ii. 31 ‘Have a good one, Chop,’ he said. ‘Get your speed on.’

3. intransitive. Originally: to mount a horse; (also, in sexual context) to get on to a person. Subsequently also: to go on board a railway carriage, tram, bus, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride a horse (or other animal) [verb (intransitive)] > mount

worthOE

mountc1330

lighta1450

horse1535

to get up1553

to get on1613

to take horse1617

saddle1834

to saddle up1849

1599 W. Perneby Direction to Death 251 The euill committed in getting wil creepe also vpon those that shall after haue the same in keeping, and being gotten on, it will cleaue so fast to, as neither the receiuers shall prosper with their gifts receiued, nor the things receiued with the receiuers.]

1613 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (rev. ed.) i. lxviii. 156 Alexanders horse..suffered no man to get-on and sit-him, but his master.

1624 W. Browne His Fiftie Yeares Pract. iv. Then come to him [sc. a colt] and offer to get on, and if hee will stand gently, then goe on as before.

1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 365 You ride so near the Rumple, you'll let none get on behind.

1742 Select Trials Old-Bailey (new ed.) II. 297 He threw me down again, and committed a Rape upon me; and, as soon as he got off, the Prisoner got on, and ravished me again.

1856 Country Gentleman 2 Oct. 220/2 If he is not inclined to stand for you to get on—make him stand while you get off and on.

1886 Cases Courts of Appeals Missouri 18 610 Plaintiff called a gentleman to witness that he did get on at Harlem.

1932 Prairie Schooner 6 2 On his thin face was written a fear that the train might start before he had got on.

1986 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 15 July 30 The bus girl had the final say as to who got on if the bus was too crowded.

2003 E. Gregg & R. Trillo Rough Guide to Gambia 30/1 They don't normally run to a timetable, and passengers can get on or off anywhere along the fixed route.

4. intransitive.

a. Of a person: to advance, make progress, or continue in an activity. Also with with (work, a business, etc.). Also: (of a process, a piece of work, etc.) to proceed, progress, develop.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)]

wadec1374

passc1387

proceeda1393

followa1400

to pass ona1400

to get forward1523

pace1597

step1599

to get on1655

to get along1768

to tide one's way1827

to come along1844

press1870

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress

furtherc1200

profit1340

to go alongc1400

to get forward1523

advance1577

proceedc1592

to take or make strides1600

to get on1655

to get along1768

to get ahead1807

to be well away1821

to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923

ramp1980

1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (xi. 178) iii. 152 This should put us on cheerfully to get on in the work and way of the Lord.

1789 Proc. Old Bailey 14 Jan. 102/2 The putrefaction was getting on so fast at that time, Mr. Read and I had agreed that Mr. North, another surgeon, should be called in.

1798 R. Southey in C. C. Southey Life & Corr. R. Southey (1849) I. 347 The more the work gets on, the better does it please me.

1803 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) I. 328 Don Manuel cannot get on for want of such knowledge and of a book of the roads.

1813 T. Moore in Mem. (1853) I. 350 I am more anxious than I can tell you to get on with it [sc. my poem].

1819 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) III. 353 I am getting on with the ‘Book of the Church’.

1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 446 We began to flench; but..we only got slowly on.

1891 G. Gissing New Grub St. I. iv. 84 ‘What is the matter?’ she began. ‘Why can't you get on with the story?’

1954 G. Durrell Bafut Beagles (1956) 225 A bag of twenty specimens, which I thought was quite enough to be getting on with.

1983 H. Evans Good Times, Bad Times xii. 249 They had grown used to getting on with the job with little guidance.

2002 C. Newland Snakeskin ix. 108 All right, mate. Lemme go and get on wiv my job then.

b. colloquial. to get on with it: to continue with one's affairs, to pursue one's course without help or interference; (frequently in imperative) to hurry, get a move on.

ΚΠ

1895 ‘A. Hope’ Heart of Princess Osra in McClure's Mag. Aug. 222/2 The Bishop..asked if he were now to perform his sacred duties. ‘Aye, get on with it,’ growled the Lion.

1905 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 450/1 ‘If you will, you will,’ I said. ‘Get on with it then; I'll reach down.’

1932 R. Fraser Marriage in Heaven ii. vi. 161 I've always just let people get on with it, especially men, if they didn't like what I said or did.

1955 J. Bingham Paton Street Case v. 91 I started out with some idea of serving the community and bunk like that, and now the community can get on with it as far as I'm concerned.

1983 R. Curtis & R. Atkinson Black Adder in R. Curtis et al. Blackadder: Whole Damn Dynasty (1998) 15/2 King. He shall be struck down. Richard III. Then get on with it, you stupid oaf: there he is!

2000 G. Marinovich & J. Silva Bang-Bang Club (2001) xvii. 245 Joao listened for a while, eventually losing his temper, and told Kevin to ‘Get on with it’.

2003 C. Birch Turn again Home iii. 48 ‘Well, we all feel like that sometimes,’ said Bessie briskly, ‘but we just have to get on with it, don't we?’

a. intransitive. To prosper, succeed. Frequently in to get on in the world: see world n. Phrases 16c. Also: to fare (in some specified way, or with a suggestion of some success or progress).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed or be a success [verb (intransitive)] > achieve success (of persons)

speed993

achievec1300

escheve?a1400

succeed1509

to turn up trumps1595

fadge1611

to nick ita1637

to hit the mark (also nail, needle, pin)1655

to get on1768

to reap, win one's laurels1819

to go a long way1859

win out1861

score1882

to make it1885

to make a ten-strike1887

to make the grade1912

to make good1914

to bring home the bacon1924

to go places1931

the world > action or operation > doing > a proceeding > proceed or carry on an action [verb (intransitive)] > be carried on or proceed > in specific way

goeOE

farec1230

speeda1250

to get on1813

the world > action or operation > doing > a proceeding > proceed or carry on an action [verb (intransitive)] > get on well or badly

farec1000

speeda1122

wendc1325

hapc1350

wieldc1384

frame1509

shift?1533

to make out1776

to get on1861

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 192 This poor blighted part of my species, who have neither size or strength to get on in the world.

1785 J. Trusler Mod. Times I. 115 So it is in society, we labour to get on and become conspicuous.

1797 in Rep. Comm. Secrecy House of Commons Ireland (1798) 21 Aug. App. xxix. 47 He asked the prisoner Matthews, how he was getting on in the company? He said, ‘Very well.’

1813 T. Moore in Mem. (1853) I. 342 She had to come down and see how her crocuses and primroses before the window were getting on.

1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xii. 420 Not the way to get on in life, you'll tell me?

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. i. 11 According to promise, I write to tell you how I get on up here.

1885 Manch. Examiner 13 Apr. 5/2 Mr. Courtney seemed to get on swimmingly till he got to Bodmin.

1911 G. B. Shaw Getting Married Pref. in Doctor's Dilemma 124 It used to be said that members of large families get on in the world.

1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier vii. 145 It is still dimly felt that a Northerner will ‘get on’, i.e. make money, where a Southerner will fail.

1965 G. Jones Island of Apples ii. vii. 135 Boys he knew who had called in to see how she was getting on lately.

1971 C. Bell & H. Newby Community Stud. v. 158 Social mobility in Franza proceeds by a kind of spiralism. Individuals must ‘get out’ in order to ‘get on’.

2000 L. McTaggart Being Catholic Today xxii. 194 Nobody gets on in life by blubbering after a bad meeting or refusing to take decisions.

b. transitive. To advance a person's interests. Usually reflexive.

ΚΠ

1793 C. Smith Old Manor House IV. x. 277 Before your youngest son goes the way of your eldest, think a little of making him do something to get himself on in the world.

1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park II. i. 12 It is very uncertain when my interest might have got William on.

1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 18 Using men as his tools to get himself on.

1914 McClure's Mag. May 194/1 And you learned, somehow, that the thing to do was to get yourself on, get up out of it, make a success of your life?

2003 in R. Bryant-Jefferies Counselling Recovering Drug User viii. 113 Doing things without getting bored by them, studying, getting myself on in life and in work.

6. intransitive. Esp. in the progressive.

a. to be getting on for (to, towards): to be advancing towards, coming close to (a certain age, time, number, etc.). getting on for: (followed by a quantity) nearly, not quite (British colloquial).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > approximate quantity or amount > approximate to (an amount) [verb (transitive)]

to want little (also naught)a1500

to be getting on for (to, towards)1784

touch1851

approach1871

1784 Proc. Old Bailey 15 Sept. 1062/1 It was getting on towards the evening.

1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 183/1 I was about getting on for twelve when father first bought me a concertina.

1861 Temple Bar 3 145 It's getting on for eleven.

1874 G. W. Dasent Tales from Fjeld 64 When it was getting on towards gray dawn in the morning, down fell snow.

1892 St. Nicholas Mag. 14 502/2 Lott was taller than ever. ‘He's getting on for six feet’, said Tom.

1892 Rev. of Reviews 15 Mar. 301/1 We have an overcrowded population getting on to 40,000,000.

1908 C. B. Larymore Resident's Wife in Nigeria ix. 149 Our new three-guinea mackintoshes had vanished! This was getting on towards ‘the last straw’.

1931 W. S. Maugham Six Stories 130 ‘You talk as though you were going to live here all your life,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I am,’ she smiled. ‘What nonsense! At your age.’ ‘I'm getting on for forty, old boy.’

1951 C. P. Snow Masters xv. 132 I've been coming to these feasts now for getting on for sixty years.

1961 Bulletin (Sydney) 17 May 32/1 Towards the end of a cane season, getting on to Christmas, it was so hot that you used to wish you could work at night instead of in the day.

1985 Listener 6 June 21 (advt.) Gas provides getting on for sixty per cent of all the heat used in British homes.

2003 I. Banks Raw Spirit (2004) vi. 114 There were getting on for ten thousand people swarming over the place.

b. Of time: to be getting late.

ΚΠ

1809 ‘Miss Byron’ Celia I. iii. 33 Time is getting on—you are now five years older than I was when I married.

1855 J. H. Newman Callista (1856) vi. 47 Here the rushing of the water-clock which measured time in the neighbouring square ceased, signifying thereby that the night was getting on.

1882 W. Besant Revolt of Man (1883) ii. 52 He took out his watch and remarked that the time was getting on.

1905 H. B. M. Watson Twisted Eglantine iii. 58 Sir Piers, I hope you are come to stay to dinner. The hour is getting on, and we shall be ready soon.

1934 Punch 31 Oct. 500/2 As a matter of fact I'm on my way to buy some lump sugar, and it's getting on.

2003 H. Holt Death in Practice (2004) xiv. 177 Time was getting on and the best charity cards always seem to get snapped up by the middle of November nowadays.

c. Of a person: to become old.

(a) to get on in years or life.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > source or principle of life > age > old age > be or seem old [verb (intransitive)] > grow old

oldeOE

eldc1175

to fall in (also to) agea1398

forlive1398

hoara1420

runa1425

age1440

veterate1623

senesce1656

olden1700

wane1821

to get on in years1822

senilize1841

1822 W. Irving Bracebridge Hall II. 47 As I get on in life, I find it more difficult to deceive myself in this delightful manner.

1826 Remarks on Exodus Mar. 14 These, with some other vanities and grosser sins, are the pleasures of youth:—as you get on In years, the nature of them changes.

1885 ‘L. Malet’ Col. Enderby's Wife (ed. 3) I. ii. i. 102 As one gets on in years.

1891 Temple Bar Oct. 149 He was getting on in life, whereas his fiancée was not yet twenty.

1957 M. Goudeket Close to Colette xv. 111 As she got on in life, she needed more instruments of control, as if navigation were becoming more difficult.

2003 M. A. Doody in C. Fox Cambr. Compan. Jonathan Swift v. 96 To be getting on in years, plain, respectable, and poor—these are not splendid qualities.

(b) Without prepositional phrase as complement.

ΚΠ

1862 L. M. Alcott Jrnl. Dec. in E. D. Cheney L. M. Alcott (1889) vii. 141 I felt as if I was getting on... My thirty years made me feel old.

1902 Ainslee's Mag. May 317/2 I'm getting on, Dorothy... I'm forty-one... I've quite a lot of gray hairs.

1921 J. Galsworthy To Let i. v. 60 It's a great comfort to have you back, my dear boy, now that I'm getting on.

1972 J. Johnston Captains & Kings 36 One's eyes start playing up as one gets on.

1992 B. Gill Death of Love xx. 271 The old fella's getting on now, and he doesn't fancy splashing out for every new drug that comes on the market.

7. intransitive. To manage with (something regarded as inadequate) or without (something regarded as useful or necessary).

ΚΠ

1786 J. Jay Let. 29 Mar. in Corr. & Public Papers (1891) III. 188 It is hard to tell whether your government gets on with one leg, or runs on those of the Executive Council.

1788 European Mag. Oct. 289/2 Even in the Blue-stocking Society, formed solely for the purpose of conversation, it was found, after repeated trials, impossible to get on without one card-table.

1835 J. F. Cooper Monikins II. vi. 104 As for the principles and forms of the monikin law,..I do not pretend that they are faultless;..—but we get on with them as well as we can.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vii. 359 Be a good fellow, and let's try if we can't get on without the crib.

1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues II. 39 A State may get on without cobblers.

1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship I. xiii. 173 The universe could get on very well without them.

1915 Irish Times 18 Mar. 4/5 Now that these things cannot be imported, we are discovering that we can get on perfectly well without them.

1942 R. H. Blyth Zen in Eng. Lit. & Oriental Classics xxi. 323 You are only a Jonah, not a captain, and you had better chuck yourself off the ship and see how it gets on without you.

1964 New Scientist 2 Apr. 27/1 The addicts will not be able to get on with just the controlled dosages they receive at the State hospital.

1986 P. Barker Century's Daughter xiv. 248 Not a lisp, exactly, more the result of his missing front teeth. He had some, but he coundn't get on with them.

2007 M. Long Ma, He sold Me for Few Cigarettes (2008) 272 We were happy on our own, but ye took him back. Ye can't get on without him, Ma.

8. intransitive. Of a person: to enjoy or maintain friendly relations or intimacy with (another); (of more than one person) to agree, harmonize, fraternize, or enjoy friendly relations (together).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb (intransitive)] > get on (well)

gree?a1513

to get in with1602

cotton1605

to hitch (also set, or stable) horses together1617

to hit it1634

gee1685

to set horses together1685

to be made for each other (also one another)1751

to hit it off1780

to get ona1805

to hitch horses together1835

niggle1837

to step together1866

to speak (also talk) someone's (also the same) language1893

to stall with1897

cog1926

groove1935

click1954

vibe1986

a1805 J. Hodgkinson Man of Fortitude (1807) i. i. 3 They seem determined never to get on with us.

1816 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 101 His manner is brusque and short, and I got on but little with him.

1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton (1854) I. 177 We entered into conversation, and got on (as the phrase is) very well.

1853 C. Dickens Bleak House vii. 380 They get on together delightfully.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 36 You can see for yourself that we shouldn't be likely to get on together.

1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge II. xxviii, 283 [She] had none of the usual misgivings about getting on with her mother-in-law.

1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship II. xv. 163 I am an easy sort of fellow to get on with.

1950 K. Ferrier Let. 28 Sept. (2003) iv. 128 He has a nice silly sense of humour and we got on like a house on fire.

1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day v. 324 They got on well together without one vibration of sympathy.

2002 C. Malone in L. Purcell Black Chicks Talking 149 A lot of people say that we're just so much alike, I'm so much like her. Maybe that's why we don't get on?

9. transitive. slang. To lay (a bet) on (a horse, etc.). Also intransitive. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1836 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 5 Mar. 20/1 Other parties were anxious to ‘get on’ at this price, but could not succeed.

1863 E. Farmer Scrap Bk. (ed. 3) 53 When a ‘sov’ or ‘fiver’ can be got on, We're game to risk it.

1865 Austral. Jrnl. 7 Oct. 82/2 He will go and try to get a bet on with somebody, for he wants to back the filly.

1906 Minutes of Evid. Royal Comm. Worcester Election 41/1 Yes. I am not a betting man at all, but I could not get a bet on.

1978 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 4 May (Racing) 2/2 Years have passed since I could get a bet on with any of the big bookies without seeing the price assassinated.

2002 Northern Echo (Electronic ed.) 1 June 3 [He] phoned me from Sweden as soon as the draw was made and said we had no chance, so I've got a bet on with him for 100 kroner.

2013 Racing Post (Nexis) 22 Feb. 98 The Windies are just 4-7 to win the series 3-0 although punters who lumped on them to win December's series in Bangladesh may not be rushing to get on at that price.

10. intransitive. slang.

a. To become progressively more drunk; to get drunk. Now U.S.

ΚΠ

1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack l. 366 They are getting on pretty fast, for Frenchmen haven't the heads for drinking that Englishmen have.

1855 G. A. Sala in Househ. Words 10 Mar. 137/1 He sang a song, which showed that he was getting further on; then he essayed to dance, which showed that he was getting drunk.

1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxxii. 283 I don't think there was much water drunk... And the blacks were here too, and, of course, they got pretty well on.

1921 Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang May 40 And while I sat there drinking, getting on a mighty stew, A dead swell dame came in the place and sat beside me, too.

1972 D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White Amer. 66 Gettin' on, reaching inebriation due to excessive drinking.

b. U.S. To be under the influence of or stimulated by an illicit drug; to get high.

ΚΠ

1952 G. Mandel Flee Angry Strangers 171 You got a couple of joints to take along?.. I know I'll want to get on. Take some pod, Dinch.

1963 M. Braly Shake him till he Rattles (1964) 61 I can't get on with this, not even if I shot the whole piece at once.

1972 D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White Amer. 66 Gettin' on, becoming dazed and intoxicated by using drugs.

1980 H. Huncke in Evening Sun turned Crimson 81 He was anxious by now to get some stuff and get on.

11. transitive. slang (originally U.S.). to get it on.

a. To embark on an activity, to get going; to get into full swing; esp. to act or perform music with enthusiasm.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > undertake or set oneself to do [verb (intransitive)] > resolutely or vigorously

buckle1627

yokea1630

to buckle to1712

square1849

to get it on1954

the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > resolutely or energetically

to go to it1490

busklea1535

settle1576

to lay on1587

to put in (also get into) one's gearsa1658

to put (occasionally lay, set) one's shoulder to the wheel1678

yark1721

to get going1822

to pitch in1835

to roll up one's sleeves1838

square1849

to clap on1850

to wire in (also away)1864

to dig in1884

hunker1903

tie into1904

to get cracking1937

to get stuck in1938

to get weaving1942

to get it on1954

1954 Chicago Defender 29 May 2/6 There's no need to wait. Let's get it on!

1956 S. Ross Hustlers 63 Let's get going. Get it on!

1970 J. Grissim White Man's Blues 51 He doesn't give the audience two seconds to comprehend before he gets it on with some great Cajun fiddling and a magnificent gap-toothed smile.

1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 65 Ah feel sortay dynamic, ken, likesay, ah'm really lookin forward tae this interview. Rents sais: Sell yirsell, Spud, n tell the truth. Let's go for it cats, let's get it on.

1994 Vox July 126/1 As soon as the first track starts, it's very easy to imagine a scene in any Colombian village when the local musos are getting it on.

b. Originally in African-American usage. To start, or take part in, a fight or argument.

ΚΠ

1959 A. Anderson Lover Man 101 I got you on two counts, so..let's git it on!

1963 Amer. Speech 38 276 In a potential fight situation, one boy can indicate his willingness to have a fight by saying ‘Get it on.’

1973 H. S. Thompson in Great Shark Hunt (1979) 75 At least 10,000 of them were out there..to get involved in serious violence... Anybody who couldn't get it on anywhere else could always..try to get into..[the] ‘Men's Room’ through the ‘Out’ door; there were always a few mean drunks lurking around to punch anybody who tried that.

1996 C. Bateman Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men xxx. 233 Like Tyson, he had no neck. He had a thick body, a thick head, and all of it looked dangerous. He slapped his gloves together. Let's get it on.

c. To have a sexual encounter, esp. to have sexual intercourse (with).

ΚΠ

1970 ‘S. Forest’ On my Throbbing Engine v. 57 He hefted her weight, turning her over, his weight forcing itself upon her back, eager to get it on.

1971 B. B. Johnson Blues for Sister 31 She gripped him with her legs and they got it on.

1973 M. Gaye & E. Townsend Let's get it On (song, perf. M. Gaye) in Let's get it On (1994) (CD booklet) 8/1 If you feel like I feel, baby Then come on—oh, come on Let's get it on Let's love, baby.

1988 Star (Tarrytown, N.Y.) 12 Apr. 38/1 This one should have been arrested for public obscenity, she was so eager to get it on.

1995 FHM Sept. 59/1 He pretended not to know a damn thing, but a week later I heard through the grapevine that he'd been getting it on with a girl about a foot away from me.

2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 101 Me and Dean are set rigid in the same position, my feet up on his shoulders, our love-bits touching, not that there's any chance of getting it on now.

to get out

1. intransitive.

a. To succeed in going or coming out; to convey oneself out of something; to leave a place of confinement.to get out from under: see under adv. 4c.

ΚΠ

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 17350 (MED) Þai..did to sper þe dors fast..þat he suld noþer-quar get vte.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xvi. 199 Gett out of thise wonys, Ye trattys, all at onys.

a1556 T. Cranmer in J. Strype Memorials T. Cranmer (1694) App. 105 Because the Devil could not get out at his mouth, the man blew him, or cacked him out behind.

1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 121 I found them [vegetable growths] just gotten out, with very little or no stalk.

1683 E. Leedes in More Eng. Examples (ed. 7) Ep. Ded. sig. A2 The loytering Book could not get out till now.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 19 Seven more got out after me, and 35 before, so that 43 of us only escaped.

1791 J. Ingraham Jrnl. 6 July (1971) v. 95 The wind was unfair to get out, and the passage was narrow to beat.

1831 R. Sharp Diary 30 Mar. (1997) 303 I got out pretty well but rather hurt my Ancle Bone of which I dare not complain.

1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 1 Aug. 231/3 A syringe, in many cases, will be preferable to the water-pot, as the oil and water will have a better chance of getting out.

1885 A. S. Hill From Home to Home 66 We got out—into the mud and into the dark.

1898 E. F. Benson Money Market (1899) iv. 43 She saw..a hansom drive up and a young man get out.

1917 Sphere 31 Mar. 286/3 At Oxford Circus they got out.

1957 Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Indiana) 13 Sept. 5 Heat gets out through these leaks in a steady stream all winter long.

1973 A. Storr Jung iv. 70 Within the ascetic is a sentimentalist trying to get out.

2010 B. Agbaje Off Endz xiii. 74 The best thing is for you to get out—get far away—a new place where you can get your head around things.

b. In imperative. colloquial.

(a) Commanding a person or animal to leave a room, house, etc.: ‘go away’, ‘be off’.

ΚΠ

1711 R. Molesworth tr. F. Hotman Franco-Gallia xix. 133 You have nothing to do here (said She) get out.

1771 J. Ryland Serious Ess. on Truths of Gospel xxxvii. 86 Get out, get out, you stink of the whore of Rome.

1835 J. P. Kennedy Horse Shoe Robinson (1852) v. 60 ‘Get out, you varmints,’ he shouted, with a sudden vivacity of utterance, at three or four dogs that were barking around him.

1887 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 763/2 ‘I shan't, then’, said the boy sulkily..‘He belongs to my father—you get out’.

1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song 19 He would throw a bottle at Ellison and shout ‘Get out, you bloody dish-clout!’ so loud it was heard across at the Manse and fair affronted the minister's wife.

1972 A. Draper Death Penalty v. 36 ‘Get out, you fucker,’ screamed a youth.

2007 Nylon Feb. 46/2 I'm so disoriented that I start screaming—‘Who are you? Get out!’ Then, after a long staredown, we both burst out laughing.

(b) Expressing disbelief, dissent, or refusal to hear more.

ΚΠ

1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. x. 143 Kit only replied by bashfully bidding his mother ‘get out’.

1851 ‘G. Seaworthy’ Bertie vii. 78 Thrue as the tin commandhers! Git aout!

1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Grey Granite iii. 208 Christ, that his mother? I could sleep with her the morn and think her his sister... Sulky-looking bitch... Get out, she's fine.

1998 P. Mehlman Apartment in L. David et al. Seinfeld Scripts 288 Jerry. And the rent's only four hundred dollars a month. Elaine. Get out. Four hundred a month? Only four hundred a month?

2002 Washington Post 14 Mar. (Home ed.) c3/4 (cartoon caption) ‘And to think I started as just a flight attendant.’ ‘Get out. What an unusual story.’

c. To leave one's home or lodgings for some purpose, esp. habitually. Hence figurative: to mix with other people frequently (chiefly in the negative, esp. in to not get out much, with the implication that a person is out of touch).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > go or come out [verb (intransitive)]

outgoeOE

to come outOE

forthcomeOE

to go outOE

ishc1330

to take forth one's way (also journey, road, etc.)a1375

proceedc1380

getc1390

exorta1400

issue?a1400

precedec1425

purgea1430

to come forthc1449

suea1450

ushc1475

to call one's way (also course)1488

to turn outa1500

void1558

redound1565

egress1578

outpacea1596

result1598

pursue1651

out1653

pop1770

to get out1835

progress1851

society > society and the community > social relations > have social communication [verb (intransitive)] > mix in society

show1631

to go out1735

to see life1763

mix1816

to get out1835

1835 M. R. Mitford Belford Regis I. 270 I have been building a pretty cottage there for him and his wife..; and now that I see you do get out sometimes, if you would but come and see it—.

1864 Lady Duff-Gordon in F. Galton Vacation Tourists & Trav. 1862–3 151 I..hope to go again when the south-easter season is over and I can get out a little. I could not leave the house at all; and even Lady Walker and the girls..got out but little.

1884 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 14 Feb. 154/1 During the last year he had been obliged to keep his bed much of the time, yet he always got out a little whenever possible.

1909 M. Reed Old Rose & Silver xii. 134 She needs to get out more. If someone would take her for a walk or a drive every day, it would do her good.

1931 A. Christie Sittaford Myst. xvii. 134 She was an invalid and quite unable to get out.

1994 N.Y. Mag. 21 Feb. 48/1 Maybe I don't get out enough, but I seem to have missed the public outcry for a remake of The Getaway.

2002 R. Williams Sing yer Heart out for Lads i. 22 Lawrie Oh yes, nuttin more sexier than a landlady pouring a smooth top. Gina Don't get out much, do yer, Lawrie?

d. To leave or abandon a course of action, business enterprise, job, etc.; esp. in to get on or get out, expressing the importance of being dynamic in one's business or employment.

ΚΠ

1906 P. Keary Get on or get Out 3 Get on or get out. Don't be afraid of that phrase. It's the whole of the ten Commandments of Business rolled into five small words.

1911 Punch 1 Nov. 319 Get on or get out!

1923 Daily Mail 13 Feb. 9 Railwaymen to ‘get on or get out!’

2003 BusinessWeek 5 May 82 He has established a Darwinian code that encourages managers to take risks and gives them six months..to show they can succeed—or get out.

2013 Independent on Sunday 27 Jan. 46 The most sinister thing about the ‘get on or get out mentality’..is its newfound technological underpinning, so that every mid-evening train in England is filled with nervous men in suits, anxiously awaiting their boss's final call.

2. transitive.

a. To bring out, to take from a place of confinement, storage, etc.; to remove; to obtain, esp. by extraction (also figurative in proverbial phrase to get out what one puts in).

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > place > removal or displacement > extraction > extract [verb (transitive)]

unteeOE

to take out of ——c1175

forthdraw?a1300

out-takea1350

to take outa1382

excludec1400

dischargec1405

to get outc1432

tryc1440

extraya1450

out-have1458

to take fortha1550

extract1570

reave1640

eliciate1651

roust1658

uncork1740

to put out of ——1779

to break out1840

c1432 in PMLA (1934) 49 456 If he come nat geteþ out a warant fro my mayster.

c1440 (?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) l. 2064 Perceuell the gode, He [read Hys] swerde owt he get.

c1450 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (BL Add. 36983) p. 1666 (MED) A! þat wrech Frende withoute, þat non frende gete may hym oute.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xlix^v The bolles of flaxe..made drie with the sonne, to get out the sedes.

1569 J. Hawkins True Declar. Troublesome Voy. sig. B.iii^v So leesinge hyr hedfastes, and haylinge awaye by the stearne fastes she was gotten out.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 123 Much after the manner that Fell-mongers beat their Furs, to get out the Worms.

1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 53 If by mischance Wine should be shed upon their cloaths, the greatest Drunkard that is, endeavours to get out the stain.

1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 46 Some of them were gotten out by the Caulkers with their Spike-Irons.

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 105 It falling calm, we both got out our Oars.

1764 S. Foote Lyar i. ii. 10 My dear Miss Godfrey, what trouble I have had to get you out!

1801 R. Cecil Wks. (1811) I. 138 He was led to invent an instrument for transferring the form of the model to the marble (technically called getting out the points).

1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. v. 42 That rascal Blackland got the bones out, and we played hazard on the dining-table.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. iii. 275 You've been making all these foolish marks on yourself, which you can never get out.

1884 Instr. Mil. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 67 The excavation in which the shaft is placed is got out.

1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 49/2 To get the jail taste out of my mouth and the jail smell out of my clothes and hair!

1919 Wire & Pipe Feb. 28/1 I remember the words of Branch Rickey, the baseball leader, in a lecture I heard some time ago: ‘You put in what you get out, and you get out what you put in.’

1947 H. Eustis Horizontal Man 85 I had dreams of getting out my pipe and slippers and pulling up to a big open bar with you tonight.

2001 Church Times 16 Feb. 23/4 Exegetes try to get out what the original authors put in.

2013 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 10 Mar. 5 They were not happily married... I am surprised she didn't get the champagne out and say, ‘Thank God I have got rid of you after all these years’.

b. To draw out (information), elicit, find out by inquiry.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)] > by asking or enquiring

askOE

speer1390

to get out1530

hark1561

hearken1590

outlearn1596

elicitate1642

elicita1676

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/1 I get out the truthe of a mater that is in doute, je saiche and je espluche.

1611 Bible (King James) Ecclus. xiii. 11 Smiling vpon thee [he] will get out thy secrets.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 230 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors They endeavour to get out the truth by fair means.

1718 J. Breval Play is Plot iv. 39 Ply him with Liquor, get out his whole Story.

1861 Temple Bar 2 139 In cross~examination I had ‘got out’ some facts.

1905 S. E. Baldwin Amer. Judiciary xiv. 207 A large discretionary power..in limiting or extending the examination of a witness so as..to get out the truth and nothing but the truth.

1988 Mother Jones May 4/1 It surely will not advance the uphill battle to get out the truth about who has controlled our government in the last three decades.

c. To succeed in bringing out (a sound or utterance).

ΚΠ

1628 Z. Boyd Last Battell Soule 390 If once they can get out but these few wordes, God bee mercifull to mee, they thinke that they shall be in heauen.

1718 E. Settle Lady's Triumph iv. 41 I can't get out one Word for Sobbing.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 269 I could not find it in my heart to get out a negative.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Gardener's Daughter in Poems (new ed.) II. 23 The lark could scarce get out his notes for joy.

1919 Current Opinion June 369/1 If the high notes of the series are faint and the low notes loud, composers will naturally make their bass move slower than their treble, since loud notes take a longer time to get their sound out.

1976 M. Apple Oranging of Amer. 116 ‘Your grandpa,’ he got out, ‘was a dumbass son of a bitch.’

2000 I. Edward-Jones My Canapé Hell (2001) iii. 66 Occasionally he stutters as his gurning teeth are moving too quickly for him to get the words out.

d. To publish (a book, news, etc.).Occasionally (as in quot. 1786) intransitive in the progressive with passive meaning or with implied object.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > printing > publishing > publish [verb (transitive)]

to put forth1482

to put out1529

to set forth1535

promulge1539

to set abroada1555

present1559

to set out1559

utter1561

divulge1566

publish1573

print?1594

emit1650

edition1715

edit1727

to give to the world1757

to get out1786

to send forth1849

to bring out1878

run1879

release1896

pub1932

1786 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 6 A bad French translation which is getting out here.

1846 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. Mar. in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1885) I. ii. 141 I wish we could get the book out in May.

1870 D. G. Rossetti Let. 3 Feb. (1965) II. 787 I suppose I cannot get out till April.

1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road xiv. 99 But if I do succeed in getting out the news, I shall expect to have my expenses refunded and to be paid adequately for my work.

1981 K. Vonnegut Palm Sunday (1982) v. 89 The Viking Press, which gets out collections of Paris Review interviews.

2011 D. Gibson Stories about Storytellers xx. 341 We refused to let our grief delay the book, and moved fast to get it out in June.

e. Originally U.S.

(a) To induce (voters) to go to the ballot at an election.

ΚΠ

1838 Proc. & Deb. Convent. Pennsylvania Amendments Constit. XI. 331 You cannot get out the voters of this state to any special election, or to any election for the President of the United States, as generally as they will attend at the election in October.

1882 Papers New Haven Colony Hist. Soc. 3 305 At that period there was no drumming and bannered or mousing politicians to get out the voters.

1949 L. R. Taylor Party Politics in Age of Caesar iii. 59 An attraction that doubtless aided in getting out the voters.

1985 J. Mortimer Paradise Postponed xvi. 194 They were both there ‘to get out’ Labour voters.

(b) to get out the vote: to encourage and facilitate voting, esp. by supporters of a particular political party. Frequently attributive, designating efforts to do this. Abbreviated GOTV.

ΚΠ

1861 Daily Commerc. Reg. (Sandusky, Ohio) 28 May (heading) Get out the vote. We especially urge it upon the friends of Judge Worcester to be active to-day in securing a full vote for him in the city.

1906 U. Sinclair Jungle xxv. 314 On election morning he was out at four o'clock, ‘getting out the vote’: he had a two-horse carriage to ride in, and he went from house to house for his friends.

1940 P. Sturges Down went McGinty (release dialogue script) reel 1-B 1 That ain't no reason why Mayor Tillinghast should get cheated outta their support! All we're doin' is gettin' out the vote.

1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 Oct. 20/1 The law allowed unlimited individual and corporate contributions to political parties of money that can be used to elect candidates for state office and for so-called ‘party-building’ activities, including..voter-registration campaigns and ‘get out the vote’ drives.

2015 Observer (Nexis) 17 May Our ‘get out the vote’ operation had been a huge success.

3. intransitive. Stock Market. To get rid of one's shares in an enterprise.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (intransitive)] > specific operations

soften1565

to get out1728

bear1837

to rig the (stock) market1841

stag1845

cornera1860

to straddle the market1870

raid1889

to make a market1899

to job backwards1907

to mark to (the) market1925

short1959

daisy-chain1979

to pitch for ——1983

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (intransitive)] > pay to delay transfer

to get out1728

contango1922

1728 Advantages South-sea Scheme (rev. ed.) 29 Far from taking the Opportunity of the exorbitant Rise of the Stock to get out,..they rather bought more.

1736 Dialogue between Gentleman & Broker 18 You may venture now with a seeming very good Prospect, and get out again with Profit.

1887 Daily News 21 July 6/1 Until they shall have retailed their wares, and, to use the expressive slang of the Stock Exchange, ‘got out’.

1958 Life 15 Sept. 96/2 They bought stocks on the narrow margin (down payment) of 10% or 20% and hoped to make a quick killing and get out fast.

1992 Daily Tel. 24 July 23/3 Against a closing level on Wednesday of 34p, the mid-price collapsed to 18p, with one holder of 50,000 shares getting out at 17p.

4. intransitive. Of information, news, etc.: to leak out, become generally known. Also with it as subject and that-clause.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or make revelations [verb (intransitive)] > be disclosed or revealed > inadvertently

to get out1792

to leak out1832

slip1848

1792 H. H. Brackenridge Mod. Chivalry I. 33 The report, so unfavourable to the clergyman, had..got out.

1877 W. H. Russell Prince of Wales' Tour (1878) xiv. 478 For, says he, if it gets out that we say we seed the sea-serpent, there's not a man will ever be employed again!

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn 368 It ain't right and it ain't moral, and I wouldn't like it to get out.

1891 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 28 Nov. 2/3 The fact that this step was to be taken did not get out till the charges were safe in the hands of the Governor.

1948 C. Rice Big Midget Murders xiii. 112 It would raise absolute hell with him if the news got out he'd married a chorus girl while on a bender.

1995 M. Kesavan Looking through Glass 249 He didn't want it getting out that the hero of his film, the most bankable star in the industry.., had disappeared.

5. transitive. Cricket. To cause (a batter or side) to be out (out adv. 3c), to put out, dismiss. Also intransitive: to be put out. to get oneself out: to be dismissed, to be got out, frequently with the implication that one is oneself largely to blame.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > dismissal of batsman > put out [verb (transitive)]

to put out1735

take1828

to get out1833

remove1843

to send back1870

dismiss1875

out1899

get1901

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > dismissal of batsman > put out [verb (intransitive)] > dismissal (of player)

fall1829

to get out1833

1833 J. Nyren Young Cricketer's Tutor 89 They were devilish troublesome customers to get out.

1837 Globe 22 Sept. Wenman..took it very quietly, and for a length of time defied all their efforts to get him out.

1897 K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iv. 198 People get themselves out off slow bowling more often than the bowler gets them out.

1908 E. P. Oppenheim Missioner i. vi. 62 Stephen is in now... If he gets out, the match is over.

1912 A. A. Lilley Twenty-four Years Cricket x. 137 He [sc. Victor Trumper]..never gave one the remotest suggestion that he would ever get out.

1926 J. B. Hobbs My Cricket Mem. xvi. 214 We did well to get them out for this total.

1999 Cricketer Mar. 9/3 Hick was left stranded as a procession of batsmen got themselves out to lose the match by 16 runs.

6. intransitive. Horse Racing slang. To back a horse against which one has previously betted.

ΚΠ

1845 Spirit of Times 28 July 208/2 Persons who had backed him, who were anxious to ‘get out’, were reluctantly forced to stand to be ‘shot at’, with the agreeable consolation of finding that they were unexpected winners to a very large amount.

1884 H. Smart From Post to Finish xlii Johnson..had taken more than one opportunity of what is termed ‘getting out’, that is, backing the horse against which he had previously laid.

1971 N.Y. Times 26 Dec. For the average $2 bettor, the superfecta represents a chance..to ‘get out’ for all those losing bets on horses who got blocked along the rail, went too wide or broke into an illegal gallop at a crucial point.

†7. intransitive. Of the weather: to turn out, become (fine, etc.). Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > [verb (intransitive)]

fall1633

to get out1852

1852 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 13 ii. 336 The afternoon got out very fine.

8. transitive. colloquial. To succeed in solving or finishing (a puzzle, game, etc.); (also) to untangle (something knotted). Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > patience or solitaire > [verb (transitive)] > solve

to get out1852

the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > find solution, solve [verb (transitive)]

findOE

assoilc1374

soil1382

contrive1393

to find outc1405

resolvea1438

absolvea1525

solute?1531

solve?1541

dissolve1549

get1559

salvec1571

to beat out1577

sort1581

explicate1582

untiea1586

loose1596

unsolve1631

cracka1640

unscruple1647

metagrobolize1653

to puzzle out1717

to work out1719

to get around ——1803

to dope out1906

lick1946

to get out1951

1852 ‘A. Lothrop’ Dollars & Cents II. xxxi. 300 Both boys come rushing in with a fishing line in a puzzle. ‘You never can get it out Miss Grace, but we thought maybe you'd try.’

1924 B. Dalton Games of Patience 34 Lady Betty..The game..is not easy to get out.

1928 R. A. Knox Footsteps at Lock xvi. 158 He had ‘got it out’. ‘The cipher?’ ‘No, the patience.’

1931 N. Coward Post Mortem ii. 16 Lady Cavan is seated at a bridge table playing Canfield Patience... Lady C. I got it out yesterday.

1951 C. P. Snow Masters iii. xli. 328 I've got it out!.. I've got the answer to the slow neutron business.

1999 C. R. Swindoll Moses vii. 112 The knot was so tiny and tight it would take an act of God to untie it. I had told him time and again, ‘Son, when you pull the strings and it won't open like it's supposed to, don't jerk harder... ’ He would usually reply, ‘Well, I keep thinking I can get it out. That's why I pull harder.’

2010 G. J. Derbyshire Stand up for Autism i. 32 I had very long hair... I had to cut it because he twisted part of it into a knot and I couldn't get it out again.

to get over

1. intransitive. To succeed in coming or going over an elevation, barrier, or expanse; to bring oneself over.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)]

to come overeOE

passc1300

to pass byc1390

overwend?a1400

to go over1415

to pass througha1425

overdrawa1450

to make over1488

to get overa1500

transita1500

transire1592

to make through1606

transpass1626

to get through1694

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin x. 155 (MED) Kay..payned that his company gate ouer.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 (1623) i. i. 170 You knew he walk'd o're perils, on an edge More likely to fall in, then to get o're.

1677 W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) i. 89 Capt. Henchman..as soon as he could get over with six Files of Men..followed after the Enemy.

1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xiv. 259 They [sc. Camelions] have also several times been sent to Europe, and got over alive.

1709 Tatler No. 86. ⁋4 Sir Giles got over; but a Run of the Coaches kept the rest of us on this Side the Street.

1802 W. Forsyth Treat. Fruit-trees xxiii. 219 An oak paling..with a cheval-de-frise at top, to prevent people's getting over.

1881 G. A. Henty Cornet of Horse (1888) xiii. 134 Fascines had to be laid down, and the rivulets filled up, before guns could get over.

1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms 73 He was standing in the way, so I told him to get over.

1965 E. Bradford tr. F. Balbi Siege of Malta, 1565 viii. 106 Aware that our reinforcements had got over by way of Salvador, the Turks now took possession of the hill.

2003 Irish Times (Nexis) 18 June 63 None of my family could go to America; there was no way of getting over, probably too expensive.

2. transitive. To succeed in bringing, conveying, putting, or causing to come or go to the other side of an intervening elevation, barrier, or expanse; to take or bring over.to get one's leg over: see leg n. Phrases 3e.

ΚΠ

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccclxxii. f. ccxlvii^v Bycause the bridge was broken, they had moche trouble to make it agayne, to gette ouer their cariages.

1624 R. Eburne Plaine Path-way to Plantations i. 33 They that goe ouer to such a businesse, haue many things to doe; as..to get ouer good and profitable cattell, to plant and sow their grounds, and the like.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 197 So I told him, I would get him over, and bid him stay there.

1856 G. W. Curtis Prue & I 159 The Shah of Persia has just sent me word that he has presented me with two thousand pearl-of-Oman necklaces, and I don't know how to get them over, the duties are so heavy.

1880 J. Nixon Among Boers vi. 135 He had some other waggons on the opposite side, but before he could get a second one over, the water came ‘down’ and cut him off from them.

1900 G. Patten Rockspur Nine xvii. 154 He did not succeed in getting it over, but he lined one down against the fence, and it bounded glancingly past Highland's right fielder.

1960 L. Masters Back-country Tales 59 Next morning the creek in front of the hut was going a roarer, making it useless my attempting getting the horses over.

2000 S. Williams & R. Petersen Serious Tennis ix. 173 In the defensive phase of play, you want to get the ball over one more time, hoping that you can improve your situation.

3. transitive. To finish with, have done with (esp. something troublesome or disagreeable).

a. Without adverb.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] > something disagreeable

to get over1629

1629 T. Taylor Man in Christ (ed. 2) 57 Hee slubbers it over, and contenteth himselfe to doe it in any fashion, to get it over.

1775 H. L. Thrale Jrnl. 9 Nov. in French Jrnls. Mrs. Thrale & Dr. Johnson (1932) 163 They said their Mattins of an Evening the last thing they did to get them over.

1813 J. Austen Let. 16 Sept. (1995) 220 At 9 we are to set off for Grafton House & get that over before breakfast.

1861 G. D. Ruffini Dr. Antonio (new ed.) xi Yes, let us get it over at once.

1889 J. Masterman Scotts of Bestminster III. xx. 248 The sooner you get the interview over the better.

1890 I. D. Hardy New Othello II. ix. 207 He had made these three engagements for the one day so as to get them all over together.

1933 T. O. Beachcroft in M. Roberts New Country 78 Would he never get it over? Surely the tension of nerves must rack the strength from his limbs?

1962 J. L. McClellan Crime without Punishment xii. 199 Well, let us get this thing over and we will get a suit of clothes out of the deal and forget it.

2010 E. Watters Crazy like Us i. 55 In hopes of getting the ordeal over as quickly as possible, she would sometimes bolt her food, willfully scalding the inside of her mouth.

b. With with (adverb). Esp. in to get it over with: to complete an unpleasant or tedious but necessary task promptly.

ΚΠ

1860 E. Prentiss Stepping Heavenward i. 16 I do not love to pray. I am always eager to get it over with..so as to have leisure to enjoy myself.

1899 Vassar Misc. (Vassar Coll., N.Y.) Feb. 211 The thing had to be done, and the sooner he got it over with the better.

1910 E. Johnson & A. Johnson Game of Golden Ball xxii. 289 This business has to be got over with, and got over with quickly.

1922 W. L. Fletcher How to get Job you Want x. 222 Let's go over to your office and get it over with as soon as possible.

1947 R. Allen Home Made Banners iii. 18 Figure I might as well sign up tomorrow and get it over with.

1970 W. H. Auden in New Yorker 21 Feb. 118/1 I have one slight criticism..which I will get over with at once.

1992 S. Fry Paperweight (1993) 283 As with removing old sticking plasters, these things are best got over with quickly.

2004 S. Mehta Maximum City 332 I sense that he is dog-tired and just wants to get the meeting over with.

4. transitive. To win over, gain to one's side.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > school of thought > acknowledge belief [verb (transitive)] > win over

infecta1387

reduce1546

disciple1645

discipulize1652

to get over1656

convert1814

1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. vii. 148 If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again.

1704 D. Defoe Hymn to Victory (new ed.) 2 How often have we seen thee try'd? And Rebels get thee over to their Side?

1799 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1800) 3 395 John has got over most of her servants..and he has made large promises to others.

1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist I. xix. 317 Do you mean to tell me, Bill,..that neither of the two men in the house can be got over?

1913 Spectator 9 Aug. 201/2 But does any sane person imagine that at a heated general election..we should get any voters over from the Liberal side to the Unionist?

2001 Bombay Times 8 Aug. 1/1 Why should we offer money to anybody to get them over to our side.

5. transitive. Originally U.S. colloquial. to get one over on: to have an advantage over; to trick, cheat, swindle, or defraud. Cf. to put over 7b(b) at put v. Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)] > outwit, get the better of

undergoa1325

circumvene1526

crossbitec1555

circumvent1564

gleek1577

outreach1579

fob1583

overreach1594

fub1600

encompassa1616

out-craftya1616

out-knave1648

mump1649

jockey1708

come1721

nail1735

slew1813

Jew1825

to sew up1837

to play (it) low down (on)1864

outfox1872

beat1873

outcraft1879

to get a beat on1889

old soldier1892

to put one over1905

to get one over on1912

to get one over1921

outsmart1926

shaft1959

1912 Machinists' Monthly Jrnl. Sept. 876 (advt.) No one can ever ‘get one over on you’ if you buy Brotherhoods.

1958 M. Sandoz Cattlemen (1978) i. iii. 51 We can't let them damnyankees get one over on us.

1990 J. Foster Villains iii. 73 Episodes where individuals had ‘got one over on the Old Bill’ were repeated with fervour.

2008 Independent 17 June 8/2 Keeping up with the Jones—the old-fashioned habit of not letting your neighbours get one over on you.

6. Originally Theatre.

a. transitive. To convey (words, a message, etc.) so that they are understood or appreciated; = to get across 2a at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΚΠ

1914 N.Y. Times 2 Aug. It lacks that mysterious something that gets a play ‘over’.

1916 Picture-play 3 122 If he works from characters and uses..bits of effective business to ‘get his plays over’, he [sc. the scenario writer] should keep such material in handy files.

1936 M. Mitchell Let. 8 July in Gone with the Wind Lett. (1986) 23 And I felt..that I had utterly failed in getting my ideas over.

1995 J. Miller & M. Stacey Driving Instructor's Handbk. (ed. 8) viii. 231 Flip pads containing pictures of road signs and photographs can be used to get your points over quickly and simply.

b. intransitive. (Of a message) to be conveyed so as to be understood or appreciated; (of a person) to convey a message so as to be understood or appreciated; = to get across 2b at Phrasal verbs 1. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > [verb (intransitive)] > successfully

to get across1913

to get over1918

connect1942

to come over1946

communicate1959

1918 Everybody's Mag. Jan. 35/1 We'll try yuh out in the Bronx house Friday night and if yuh get over big—and I think you're gonna, we'll have yuh inside the Palace inside three weeks.

1920 P. G. Wodehouse Jill the Reckless xviii. 321 Dramatic critics..were telling each other that ‘The Rose of America’ was just another of those things but it had apparently got over.

1921 H. A. Vachell Blinkers viii. §3 Mrs. Merrytree, delighted to perceive that she had, in stage parlance, ‘got over’, held the situation firmly.

1928 Sunday Express 29 Apr. 5/6 Her friendliness ‘gets over’.

1946 P. G. Wodehouse Let. 4 June in Yours, Plum (1990) vii. 169 If this book gets over with the public, I am going to suggest to the Jenkinses that in the future we deal direct with ye pub and ignore the critics.

7. intransitive. U.S. slang (originally in African-American usage).

a. To achieve an object; to be successful; to gain acceptance or approval. Also with with.

ΚΠ

1865 W. T. Brande & G. W. Cox Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art I. 55 Get over, to cross barriers; to make it; to get a job; to be functioning in the White World. To do well... Watts.

1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 88 To get ‘over’ is to accomplish an objective.

1983 T. Logan Hey Cabbie 152 As a cab driver, I hear all kinds of shit coming from ladies mouths relative to how they get over with men.

1984 A. F. Loewenstein This Place 8 You could get over with almost anyone if you listened good enough.

1986 Women's Rev. Sept. 31/1 I can..buy all the black records I wanna buy and learn their thing and get over.

2009 Wire Jan. 45/1 Hiphop got over purely on the strength of its exuberance and esprit de corps.

b. With on. To take advantage of; to defraud, rob, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > exploit or take advantage of

to take (the) advantagea1393

milk?1531

presume1580

to play upon ——1603

milch1614

to grow on or upona1616

play1656

impose1670

exploit1838

manipulate1862

over-exploit1899

slug1946

to get over1979

1979 Washington Post 29 May b3/5 ‘Get over’, meaning to succeed or persuade, usually with illicit overtones, as in ‘Look at that dude trying to get over on that sweet lady’.

1985 N. Pileggi Wiseguy 25 The best part of the night for Paulie came from the fact that he was getting over on somebody... He was robbing someone and getting away with it.

1994 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 12/3 Disregard of the law in order to ‘get over’ on the system.

2004 E. Conlon Blue Blood v. 167 Because Alicia was petite and female, perps sometimes thought they could get over on her, which was a mistake. On the street, Alicia was as tough as anyone.

to get round

1. intransitive. To succeed in passing from one place to another by a roundabout or circuitous route; to pass through a number of places on a circuit; (also) (of a rumour, etc.) to circulate. Also: to move by rotation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > move in a certain direction [verb (intransitive)] > from place to place

to get round1653

circulate1691

1653 T. Taylor Moses & Aaron xxiv. 294 Even in Countries, above a hundred yeares reformed, it [sc. Popery] gets round?

1677 E. Coles Eng. Dict. (new ed.) at Shingles A heat arising in the body, if it get round, it kills.

1679 Earl of Castlemaine Eng. Globe i. v. 31 Never having the Sun but on one side of them (as still setting before he gets round).

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iv. 160 Pizarro's squadron..had got round into these seas.

1756 J. Ferguson Astron. Explained iv. 55 When the planet has got round to B, it's projectile force is as much diminished..as it was augmented.

1842 J. F. Cooper Two Admirals II. x. 151 They got round, and headed north-north-east.

1858 R. T. S. Lowell New Priest in Conception Bay xx. 182 The vane of suspicion having, within twenty-four hours,..got round, and pointed straight to Mr. Urston's house.

1887 W. B. Allen Northern Cross xi. 139 Somehow the word got round that mischief was brewing between the Second Class and the Third.

1930 Oxf. Ann. Girls 26/2 The street beyond..grew steadily narrower... Some of the corners were so sharp that it was only by repeated tackings of an inch or so at a time that we were able to get round.

1968 A. S. C. Ross in Proc. Leeds Philos. & Lit. Soc. (Lit. & Hist. Section) 13 ii. 59 The player who had got round most times..might be the winner.

1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline x. 116 How long do you think I'd last if word got round that I'd been snouting?

2008 F. Ashbee Child in Jerusalem xviii. 109 After that, September and the other months with long names filled up the year till you got round to Christmas and January again.

†2. intransitive. To recover from illness, get well. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > recover or be healed [verb (intransitive)]

wholeeOE

botenc1225

cover1297

amendc1325

recovera1375

warisha1386

recovera1387

healc1390

recurec1400

soundc1402

mendc1440

convalesce1483

guarish1489

restore1494

refete?a1505

revert1531

to gather (or pick) up one's crumbs1589

cure1597

recruit1644

to perk upa1656

retrieve1675

to pick up1740

to leave one's bed1742

to sit up and take nourishment1796

to get round1798

to come round1818

to pull through1830

rally1831

to fetch round1870

to mend up1877

to pull round1889

recoup1896

recuperate1897

1798 D. Crawford Poems 88 It's dung me fairly down, Nor ken I, gin I'll e'er get roun!

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vi. 349 Did they tell you..that poor Thompson died last week? The other three boys are getting quite round, like you.

1885 C. L. Pirkis Lady Lovelace III. xli. 64 She would get round fifty times as quickly in the lighter, brighter room.

3. intransitive. With to: to succeed in finding the time, energy, or inclination for (doing something); to come to the point of dealing with.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > do [verb (transitive)] > come to the point of doing

to get around1852

to get round1873

1873 Rep. Vt. Central Railroad Managem. 202 Then when I got round to it I would make out a voucher and take up my receipts.

1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xiv. 221 Everything in Lost Haven was put off until someone should have enough time to ‘get round to it’.

1961 J. Seymour Fat of Land viii. 106 Our neighbour Richard cans hares, but we never got round to that.

1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds viii. 145 He must take Elizabeth there for a weekend, he resolved, with a slight undertone of sadness at the thought he would probably never get round to it.

2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 117 There was so much cooking, cleaning, doling out pocket money, rowing over TV programmes that we never got round to doing any proper work.

to get through

a. intransitive. To succeed in passing through a passage, barrier, obstacle, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)]

to come overeOE

passc1300

to pass byc1390

overwend?a1400

to go over1415

to pass througha1425

overdrawa1450

to make over1488

to get overa1500

transita1500

transire1592

to make through1606

transpass1626

to get through1694

1577 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. Ephesians i. f. 36 God..will haue vs too passe by this world through the midds of thornes and breers, so as wee shall haue much a doo to get through.

1664 tr. F. Plater et al. Golden Pract. Physick (new ed.) ii. v. 253 To Cure an Ulcer in the Ear, a Fume is excellent, because it gets through and drieth.

1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 13 The Ice was already-fixed to the Land, so that we could but just get through.

1720 J. Quincy Medico-Physical Ess. iv. 61 in tr. S. Santorio Medicina Statica (ed. 2) What..cannot get through this way..must be either re-absorbed, or taken back by the refluent Blood.

1798 A. L. Barnard Jrnl. 23 May in Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 464 A milk-basket..which they weave so close with certain rushes that, after once using, the milk cannot get through.

1807 New Encycl. II. v. 437/2 Fill up the hollow between the two rows with rushes and mud, ramming them together so hard, that no water can possibly get through.

1853 E. Bennett Clara Moreland xxvi. 314 We had several other narrow escapes, but got through in safety.

a1927 D. Hammett Man who killed Dan Odams in Nightmare Town (1999) 76 A horse couldn't get through, let alone a car.

1999 J. Elliot Unexpected Light (2000) xi. 404 He guided my fingers to his sternum, where I felt muscles as hard as stone, ‘not even a sword can get through.’

b. transitive. To cause to pass through a passage, barrier, obstacle, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (transitive)] > through > cause to pass through

pass1530

to pass through ——1530

to get through1813

thread1851

1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia at Midwifery It will be possible to get hold of a part of the fetus, and so get it through and relieve the woman from danger.

1847 Lloyd's Entertaining Jrnl. 10 Apr. 28/1 Cannot you..give him your shoulder to push against, and that may help him out... You may thus get him through quicker.

1900 A. R. Dugmore Bird Homes v. 26 So that the bird may not be able to get his beak through.

1986 R. Alvarez in Sun Mag. (Baltimore) 12 Oct. 20/4 Inspired by the fashion of his Mexican friends, the look included pants so pegged at the ankles that one could hardly get his foot through.

1990 M. Harris Hemingway's Suitcase xl. 278 The door was half ajar and she kicked it..open..so she could get the wheelchair through.

a. intransitive. To reach a destination; to complete an activity; to endure an experience.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)]

enda1340

finisha1400

conclude1526

to get through1589

get1594

dispatcha1616

to shut up1626

to wind up1631

finale1797

to top off1836

to top up1837

through1894

to roll up1963

society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > arrive [verb (intransitive)]

to come toOE

comeOE

yworthOE

lend11..

lightc1225

overtakec1225

redea1275

wina1300

'rivec1300

repaira1325

applyc1384

to come ina1399

arrivec1400

attainc1400

alightc1405

to come to handc1450

unto-comec1450

apport1578

to get through1589

reach1591

to be along1597

land1679

engage1686

to get in1863

to breeze in1930

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > reach a point or place [verb (intransitive)]

overtakec1225

covera1375

accede1465

penetrate1530

to get through1589

pervene1589

reach1591

1589 P. Ive tr. R. Beccarie de Pavie Instr. Warres 132 But what one way and other, they did so get through, that they assembled at the townes that were appointed them by their principall Chiefe.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World ix. 273 Others have spent the Summer, in first searching on this more known side nearer home, and so before they got through, the time of the year obliged them to give over their search.

1744 W. Horsley Treat. on Maritime Affairs 93 The superficial Reader would have dosed before he had got half through.

1787 J. Q. Adams Diary 19 Feb. (1981) II. 163 He was rather tedious, and before he got through, the Sophimores and Freshmen, shew their impatience, by shuffling.

1848 E. Bennett Renegade xii. 92 You must get through alive, or else not at all; for we can't spare you quite so soon.

1885 U. S. Grant Pers. Mem. I. 411 Troops after a forced march of twenty miles are not in a good condition for fighting the moment they get through.

1943 Ld. Alanbrooke Diary 4 Feb. in War Diaries (2001) 378 They had just succeeded in bringing in a 2,900 ton ship, the first to get through.

2004 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 2 May a12 As with rapids farther upstream, pilots had to be taken on board to get through.

b. intransitive. to get through with: to succeed in accomplishing, completing, or enduring.

ΚΠ

a1632 A. Hildersam CLII Lect. Psalme LI (1635) cxl. 735 As their tryals shall increase, so shall their strength increase to beare and get through with them.

1666 S. Pepys Diary 2 Apr. (1895) X. 245 So home, and to my accounts which I cannot get through with.

a1739 C. Jarvis tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote (1742) II. i. xv. 72 It is easy to design and begin an enterprize, but very often difficult to get through with it.

1839 A. Constable Let. 4 Feb. in J. Constable Corr. (1962) 306 Your Uncle Golding's affairs I have not got through with yet.

1870 B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp & Other Sketches 2 Bets were freely offered and taken..that ‘Sal would get through with it’.

1878 Scribner's Monthly 15 866/1 You would be surprised to know the number of books young girls manage to get through with.

1888 J. McCarthy & R. C. Praed Ladies' Gallery II. xii. 234 I must have had pretty well all the heart-throbs a sinful man could get through with.

1893 Punch 29 Apr. 199 Don't know how I should get through with my work, if I were tied down to eight hours a day.

1941 D. F. Swenson tr. S. Kierkegaard Concluding Unscientific Postscript ii. ii. 146 It is not the zealous individual but only the restless one who manages to get through with life before life gets through with him.

1961 F. O'Connor Let. 21 Jan. in Habit of Being (1980) 427 When the psychiatrist got through with her, her emotions flowed magnificently and she believes nothing and herself is her God.

2010 J. Wendt Nice Work vii. 178 If you didn't get through with the sculpture that was one thing; if you didn't get through with building your character that was another.

c. transitive. To cause to reach a destination; to bring to completion; to enable to endure an experience. Also: †to bring about the acquittal of (obsolete).

ΚΠ

1833 J. J. Abert Let. 24 Nov. in Corr. Emigration of Indians (1835) IV. 734 This will be rather a worrying job, but patience and perseverance will get it through.

1860 J. Funnell Poet. Dialogues 52 He told him, too, he could not get him through, But sent him to a lawyer whom he knew Could plead in such a case whene'er desired.

1865 Rep. Trade with Rebellious States (U.S. House of Representatives, 38th Congr., 2nd Sess.) 103 They represented to me that Tucker could get to Richmond if he could procure a permit to take some cotton through. They wanted a permit to get him through.

1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Mar. 84/3 Having no corn..will it do to feed fresh cows rye chop and oats unground, to get them safe through to pasture?

1908 Mod. Business Sept. 165/1 If a merchant can, by bulking several parcels, get them through at a much lower rate.

1937 Boys' Life Dec. 46/2 I paid good money for my ticket..and it's up to the bus company to get me through.

1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road xiv. 99 But if you get the news through you'll find the [New York]World very generous.

1989 K. Smith Inside Time xxvii. 153 And me with not a fucking brass farthing to get me through to fucking Christmas.

2011 N.Y. Times Mag. 24 July 34/1 What really got them through was cocaine.

a. intransitive. Of a bill: to pass in a legislative assembly.

ΚΠ

1722 R. Wodrow Hist. Sufferings Church of Scotl. II. x. 597 A Declaration..from the English Judges,..much more useful for the inbringing of Popery and arbitrary Power, than our Scots Act of Parliament would have been, though it had got through.

1828 Niles' Weekly Reg. 29 Mar. 78/1 The prospect is a gloomy one; even if a favorable law gets through, the manufacturers will have to wade through most discouraging difficulties.

1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 175 The Irish Tithe Bill..got through at last, though much cut about by the Opposition.

1950 Kiplinger Mag. May 3/1 The bills that can't be postponed and the politically ‘safe’ bills are getting through, but little else.

2001 B. Ames Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil 236 The Congress may ultimately approve a proposal, but almost nothing gets through quickly.

b. transitive. To secure the implementation of (a bill or other political measure).

ΚΠ

1757 Parl. Hist. Eng. XX. 189 The House..revived the Consideration of the Bill, never got through in the last Parliament.

1786 T. Jefferson Let. 14 Dec. in Papers (1954) X. 595 I am glad to hear my bill of scantling is nearly got through.

1859 S. Smith My Thirty Years out of Senate lxii. 320 If we could get that bill through, it would be of immense importance to us and our friends for a good many years to come.

1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age xx. 190 The Senator..favored the appropriation and he gave the Colonel..to understand that he would endeavor to get it through.

1900 Congress. Rec. 6 Feb. 1556/2 No such disfranchising scheme as this could ever be gotten through a Democratic caucus.

1970 H. Fish in S. Terkel Hard Times (2000) 288 I wrote and got through a bill creating the Un-American Activities Committee, which came a few years later, chairmaned by Mr. Dies of Texas.

2010 I. Kabashima & G. Steel Changing Politics in Japan vi. 116 To get his proposals through, Koizumi had to battle stiff resistance from toll-road corporations.

4. intransitive. To succeed in an examination.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > educational administration > examination > examine [verb (intransitive)] > pass examination

to get through1805

through1830

pass1843

to shave through1860

scratch1890

1805 Port Folio 25 May 153/3 I was admitted to an examination. How I got through I know not; for, worthy sir, I have not..sufficient ‘science in the law’ to enable me to discriminate when I answered right or when wrong.

1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) xi. 100 So you see, Gig lamps, I'm safe to get through!—it's impossible for them to plough me, with all these contrivances.

1895 A. F. Warr in Law Times 99 547/1 An articled clerk of average sharpness may rely upon getting through with three month's coaching.

1978 Times of India 9 Jan. 12/3 You will be able to accomplish whatever you attempt. Students can hope to get through with distinction.

2012 Irish Times (Nexis) 14 Feb. (Health section) 6 A young person who felt diminished by a poor exam result knuckles down and gets through on the repeat.

a. transitive. To send or receive (a message) by telegraph, radio, or telephone.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)] > transmit or relay

to get through1819

relay1872

transmit1877

uplink1975

downlink1978

1819 J. Macdonald Circumstantial Acct. Exper. 247 They get over the ground, as will a powerless Telegraph get through a communication, by tediously hammering out..the figures or letters one by one.

1860 W. S. Russell Remarks in Reply to Statement Messrs. Hewitt, Field, Raymond & Others 58 But they could not get their messages through to New York; the old American Telegraph Company refused to send them.

1912 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 61/2 When several ships are ‘talking’ to the shore-station, some delay may arise in getting a message through.

1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 189 They haven't had time since they got my message through.

1938 Life 6 June 38/1 Then the search was for means of getting radio messages through in spite of ‘atmospherics’.

1994 J. Birmingham He died with Felafel in his Hand (1997) iii. 61 He got a phone call through to a friend in Canberra, also called Tim, who worked for Defence Intelligence.

b. intransitive. To establish communication by radio or telephone.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (intransitive)]

to get through1886

1886 Manch. Guardian 21 Apr. 4/6 Everybody knows that the only advantage of a telephone consists in quickly getting ‘through’.

1895 A. R. Bennett Telephone Syst. Europe 11 The delay and uncertainty in getting through would probably deter him from using the telephone at all.

1902 M. Beerbohm in Sat. Rev. 27 Dec. 805/1 We feel..that he has rung up a messenger-boy after failing to ‘get through’ on the telephone.

1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 188 The signallers leaped to their instruments, buzzed off the call, and getting through, rattled their messages off.

1929 L. Rea Six Mrs. Greenes 257 ‘Lavinia dear,’ she began as soon as she got through, ‘I want you to help me a little to-night.’

1954 G. Durrell Three Singles to Adventure iv. 85 I tried to contact McTurk to let him know that we were coming, but I could not get through.

2010 S. Thirsk Not quite White (2011) 118 She may be trying to phone in. The mobile networks are solid. You were fluky to be getting through.

6. intransitive. colloquial. With to: to reach the attention or understanding of (someone); to communicate with.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > [verb (transitive)] > communicate with

to get to ——1853

to get on to ——1879

reach1886

to get through1917

contact1927

1917 Spectator 26 May 584/2 Then the doctor would emit a curious whistle, the only sound which could get through to her, and nod and smile.

1962 J. Braine Life at Top iii. 54 He had defeated me; I couldn't think up any way to get through to him.

1969 A. Hunter Gently Coloured ii. 14 You don't have to answer them, but you can do. Am I getting through to you, Osgood?

2003 S. Brett Murder in Museum vi. 53 He remained hypersensitive and twitchy, but Jude liked to think that she had begun to get through to him.

† to get to

Obsolete. rare.

intransitive. To begin eating. Cf. to get to —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (intransitive)] > begin to eat

to fall aboard1498

to fall to1577

to stand toa1616

win to1816

to get to1827

to dig in1912

1827 T. Carlyle tr. J. A. Musæus in German Romance I. 57 The traveller's appetite was gone. The host endeavoured to encourage him. ‘Why do you not get to? Come, take somewhat for the raw foggy morning.’

to get together

1. transitive. To collect, gather together (persons or things).

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (transitive)]

somnec825

heapc900

gathera975

samc1000

to set togetherc1275

fang1340

assemblec1374

recueilc1380

drawa1393

to draw togethera1398

semblea1400

congatherc1400

congregatec1400

to take together1490

recollect1513

to gather togetherc1515

to get together1523

congesta1552

confer1552

collect1573

ingatherc1575

ramass1586

upgather1590

to muster upa1593

accrue1594

musterc1595

compone1613

herd1615

contract1620

recoil1632

comporta1641

rally1643

rendezvous1670

purse1809

adduct1824

to round up1873

reeve1876

to pull together1925

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. xcviii. f. xlvii^v They gotte togyder a company of knyghtes and soudyours.

1534 G. Joye tr. Jeremy Prophete iv. f. vii^v Blow forth trompettis into the lande, fil it al with your noise sayng: Get ye togither and go into your stronge defensed cytes.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 178 The Golde was all gotyn & the grete sommes Of qwhete & of qwhite syluer qwemly to gedur.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxij He gat together a great nauy of shippes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) i. iii. 133 Let's away And get our Iewels and our wealth together.

1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 50 Betooke himselfe to spend foolishly, what he had so unjustly gotten together.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 184 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors They get together fourscore of the handsomest young Women.

1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 364 The Governour's Deputy..had the Fatigue to get our Provisions together.

1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 52 There never was so small a number of persons got together oppressed with so many misfortunes.

1848 A. Jameson Sacred & Legendary Art (1850) 278 Seven of the wisest masters that could be gotten together.

1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 42 Argyll had got together a fair-sized army.

1942 Pop. Sci. May 142/1 ‘Tell him I'm on my way,’ he instructed Joe briefly. Then he got together a few tools..and was out of the shop.

1967 A. Christie Endless Night ii. 21 He'd got such a yen for a picture that he managed to get the money together.

2000 M. Keyes Sushi for Beginners (2001) xviii. 152 Get a group of married women together and they compete to see who can diss their husband the most.

2. intransitive.

a. To meet, assemble; esp. to meet for the purpose of conferring. Also: (occasionally) to come to agreement.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (intransitive)] > specifically of people or animals

gathera975

ensemblea1300

drawc1300

semble1389

herd1393

assemblea1400

routa1400

sanka1400

trume?a1400

musterc1425

convene1429

resemblea1450

to draw together1455

forgather1513

accompany1534

troop1565

congregate1570

to get together1575

parliament?1589

accoil1590

join1706

to roll up1817

congressa1850

to round up1879

the mind > language > speech > conversation > converse [verb (intransitive)] > confer, consult, or deliberate

roundc1275

to speak togetherc1275

to take counselc1290

counsel1297

treat1297

advisea1393

communea1393

to take deliberationc1405

common1416

to put (also bring, lay, set, etc.) their (also our, your) heads togetherc1425

janglec1440

bespeak1489

parliamenta1492

intercommonc1540

confer1545

parle1558

consult1565

imparl1572

break parle1594

handle1596

emparley1600

to confer notes1650

to compare notes1709

powwow1780

to get together1816

palaver1877

1575 W. Patten Cal. Script. f. 49^v Congregans..: Getting toogyther.

1631 T. Brewer Life & Death Merry Deuill Edmonton sig. D3^v (heading) How Smug being drunke, lost his fellowes in the Parke, and how when they got together by whooping & hollowing, he tooke them for theeues.

1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 118 They got together in great numbers..so that we were forced to flee.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 25 They use commonly to get together near to the Sea-shore in the morning.

1760 O. Goldsmith in Brit. Mag. Oct. 580/2 I learned my part... We got together in order to rehearse.

1816 J. Austen Emma II. iii. 47 It is such a happiness when good people get together .

1889 Judge (U.S.) 10 Aug. 282/1 Five Men..are to be hanged on the same day. In other words, they will follow Mr. Dana's advice and get together.

1889 Puck (N.Y.) 14 Aug. 418/2 ‘I saw you conferring with Congressman Shouter this morning.’.. ‘Why, yes; he said that we ought to get together.’

1904 Chicago Tribune 9 Aug. 4 The representatives of the unions and of the employers should get together and talk it over.

1904 N.Y. Times 23 Dec. 1 The jury was unable to get together, and the Presiding Justice had ordered them locked up for the night.

1923 Illustr. London News 1 Sept. 418/3 So widely divergent are the standpoints that I wonder the police authorities do not get together..and formulate a standard practice.

1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 102/2 I see them irritating people now—a bunch of people who agree and get together and go blah, blah, blah, with nobody listening to them.

2005 J. Canseco Juiced 44 So they got together, talked it over, and cooked up what they thought was a really clever scheme.

b. Of a couple: to become romantically attached; to have a sexual relationship.

ΚΠ

1981 Weekly World News 10 Mar. 12/1 The steamy couple got together after an intro from Tatum's kid brother.

2005 Daily Tel. 11 Mar. 19/1 Those boring preambles that focused on how the couple got together in the first place.

2012 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 8 July (Herald-Times ed.) (Parade section) 14/1 With shows like Bones and The Mentalist, there's a group of fans who want the leads to get together.

3. transitive. slang (originally U.S.). To organize, harmonize, put in order. to get it together: to bring some order or purpose into one's life, to start performing well.to get one's act together: see act n. Phrases 12. to get one's head together: see head n.¹ Phrases 4d(d). to get one's shit together: shit n. and adj. Phrases 23a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > put in (proper) order [verb (transitive)]

rightlOE

attire1330

ettlea1350

to set (also put) in rulea1387

redress1389

dress?a1400

fettlea1400

governc1405

yraylle1426

direct1509

settlec1530

tune1530

instruct1534

rede1545

commodate1595

square1596

concinnate1601

concinnea1620

rectify1655

fix1663

to put (also bring) into repair1673

arrange1802

pipeclay1806

to get together1810

to do up1886

to jack up1939

1810 R. Parkinson Treat. Breeding & Managem. Live Stock II. ii. 99 In galloping on soft ground, she did not sink so deep,..and therefore could more quickly get herself together again.

1878 G. Macpherson Mem. of Life of A. Jameson 141 I am now settled with my sister Louisa in Mortimer Street, and am trying to busy myself about my book; but I find it difficult to get my mind together for a continuous effort.

1911 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 5 Sept. 1/1 I am possessed with an evil spirit... If I could only get my head together I could get out of this and be alright.

1962 Down Beat 12 Apr. 22 I guess I was on my way in '57, when I started to get myself together musically.

1969 It 4 July 10/3 The promoters just hadn't got things together at all and would have made an immense loss.

1975 New Society 20 Nov. 412/3 Tez thinks he'll be a rock star..tomorrow. Meanwhile he's having trouble getting it together and lives off the SS.

1985 D. Lucie Progress ii. i, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business (1991) 130 Love, try to get it together, will you? Please?

2001 M. Azerrad Our Band could be your Life xi. 382 Once you get your own shit together, once you get your own mind together, it makes life for you and the people around you so much more agreeable.

2012 Independent 31 Aug. 15/4 If Russians cannot get it together to run an honest state.

4. Rowing.

a. transitive. To cause (a crew) to work together.

ΚΠ

1843 in W. F. MacMichael Oxf. & Cambr. Boat Races (1870) 110 Their boat was a bad one, and the crew not properly got together.

1888 W. B. Woodgate Boating (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) xii. 170 The other days are long-course days of long grinds, to get men together, and to reduce weight.

1898 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport II. 280/2 As the day of the race..draws near, the attention of the coach must be given entirely towards getting the crew absolutely together.

1937 Manch. Guardian 24 Feb. 4/2 Mileage is certainly excellent for getting a crew together, but it also has the other effect of making men not exactly stale, but weary.

2011 Cambr. Evening News (Nexis) 21 July Their job is..to motivate the crew with calls to push harder, increase the stroke rate, or using a variety of colourful and often sarcastic comments to get the crew together.

b. intransitive. Of a crew: to work together.

ΚΠ

1866 Manch. Guardian 21 Aug. 8/2 After a little delay (consequent on some barges coming down stream being in the way) the two crews got together, and very shortly were off to a very good start.

1876 E. D. Brickwood Boat Racing i. viii. 97 If the progress made by the crew is satisfactory, and they have got well together, a regular racing outrigger may be substituted for the tub.

2013 Barking & Dagenham Post (Nexis) 10 July It's a brilliant event to be a part of,..and we all got together as a team which was great.

to get under

transitive. To subdue, overcome (esp. a fire).

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > crush, stifle, or overwhelm (feelings, etc.)

shendOE

whelvec1000

allayOE

ofdrunkenc1175

quenchc1175

quashc1275

stanchc1315

quella1325

slockena1340

drenchc1374

vanquishc1380

stuffa1387

daunt?a1400

adauntc1400

to put downa1425

overwhelmc1425

overwhelvec1450

quatc1450

slockc1485

suppressa1500

suffocate1526

quealc1530

to trample under foot1530

repress1532

quail1533

suppress1537

infringe1543

revocate1547

whelm1553

queasom1561

knetcha1564

squench1577

restinguish1579

to keep down1581

trample1583

repel1592

accable1602

crush1610

to wrestle down?1611

chokea1616

stranglea1616

stifle1621

smother1632

overpower1646

resuppress1654

strangulate1665

instranglea1670

to choke back, down, in, out1690

to nip or crush in the bud1746

spiflicate1749

squasha1777

to get under1799

burke1835

to stamp out1851

to trample down1853

quelch1864

to sit upon ——1864

squelch1864

smash1865

garrotte1878

scotch1888

douse1916

to drive under1920

stomp1936

stultify1958

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jer. xxxviii. D Y^e men in whom thou didest put thy trust, haue gotten the vnder.

1607 G. Markham tr. P. Desportes Rodomonths Infernall lii. sig. C^v Rodomonth..Spake not a word, but stroue himselfe to sunder From him; or if he could, to get him vnder.

1667 T. Vincent God's Terrible Voice vi. 67 When once the fire was got under, it was kept under.

1752 Convent-Garden Jrnl. 23 June 3/2 Yesterday Morning..a Fire happened at the Swan Alehouse..but three Engines coming immediately, it was soon got under.

1795 Ann. Reg. 1791 (Rivington ed.) ii. 4*/1 The fire was got under.

1799 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1800) 3 387 Advices from Limehouse mention that a violent quarrel broke out between Mr. and Mrs. Tarpaulin, which was not got under when the post came away.

1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. ii. 32 The assault is continued..till every meadow is completely got under.

1884 Manch. Examiner 8 Apr. 4/7 The fires fortunately were got under before much damage had been done.

1900 Gardeners' Chron. 23 June 401/1 I have known the slug-worm to attack Cherry-trees in the open, but this pest is got under by dusting the trees with powdered lime.

1930 F. J. Foakes-Jackson Josephus & Jews xii. 212 He rushed to the scene and tried to get the flames under.

2012 West Briton (Nexis) 6 Sept. 48 Happily the fishermen of Newlyn were on shore, and exerted themselves with great spirit; they got an engine from Penzance, and soon got the fire under.

to get up

a. intransitive. To rise, raise oneself to a sitting or (more commonly) a standing posture; esp. rise to one's feet. to get up and go: to start moving quickly or acting energetically; (also) to make haste.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > posture > action of standing up or rising > rise or be standing [verb (intransitive)] > rise

arisec1000

astandOE

standOE

to stand upOE

risec1175

runge?c1225

uprisea1300

upstanda1300

buskc1390

to fare upa1400

to get upa1400

to win upona1400

dress1490

upget1582

up1635

raise1884

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 3721 Fader he saide gete vp in bedde wiþ þis mete þou sal be fedde.

1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 537 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 276 In ane myr he fell..ȝeit gat he vp.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 22 He could not possibly cause him [sc. a horse] to get up on his feet.

1735 S.-Carolina Gaz. 2 Aug. 3/1 On Monday night last Capt. Robert Robinson..got up, and was seen by one of the Passengers going forward to the head of the Vessel,..but in the morning was miss'd, supposed to be fallen over board.

1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 98 If you fall by the Way, don't stay to get up again.

1838 E. W. Lane tr. Thousand & One Nights (1839) I. ii. 107 I got up immediately, and followed her until she had quitted the palace.

1885 Manch. Weekly Times 6 June 5/5 As soon as a long-winded orator gets up the members wisely retire.

1940 F. L. Allen Since Yesterday iv. 79 They were exhibiting the same emotional willingness to get up and go, they knew not where, that was being exhibited in Germany by multitudes of men and women.

1951 H. Wouk Caine Mutiny (1952) ii. vi. 60 People who had the gumption to get up and go and make themselves better lives in a new world.

1967 J. Wain Smaller Sky 83 Just get up from your seat and go to another part of the train.

1992 M. Bracewell Conclave iv. 164 ‘Oh, go to hell.’ The girl got up, threw her embroidered shawl across her shoulder and walked quickly away from the bar.

2006 She Caribbean Nov. 100 She has to be able to get up and go without worrying too much about messing up her nails or her hair.

b. transitive (reflexive). To rise up (in preparation for action).

ΚΠ

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Chron. xiii. 6 But Ieroboam..gat him vp [1611 is risen vp] & fell awaye from his lorde.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Judges xx. 8 So all the people gat them vp as one man.

1640 W. Lithgow Gushing Teares of Godly Sorrow sig. F^v Ag'd Jacob, and his race may starve, Unlesse he flit; then get you up and go.

1677 tr. S. Brémond Cheating Gallant 62 Get you up, and clear your self before him.

1737 W. Whiston tr. Nicolaus of Damascus in tr. Josephus Antiq. Jews i. vii, in tr. Josephus Genuine Wks. 15 But after a long time he got him up, and removed from that country.

1849 A. W. Street Serm. preached Chapelry Bishop's College, Calcutta xv. 246 Get you up, for the sake of Christ's Blood shed for you!

1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley's Secret III. viii. 234 He got himself up by holdin' on to me, for it seemed as if his limbs was so cramped, the use of 'em was almost gone.

1965 N. Mailer Amer. Dream (1966) v. 132 I've tried to reach you six times today. I got myself up for it six times, and each time, Steve, I caught your fright-wig answer service.

2012 C. Priest Inexplicables xxix. 347 ‘You're already awake,’ Zeke noted. ‘Might as well get yourself up and do something useful.’

c. intransitive. To rise from bed. to get up early (in the morning): (figurative, originally U.S.) to be alert, wide awake, or quick.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > bed related to sleep or rest > go to bed or retire to rest [verb (intransitive)] > get up or rise

arisec950

riseOE

risec1175

uprisea1400

to dress upc1400

rouse1577

to get up1583

up1635

unroost1751

to turn out1801

to show a leg1818

to roll out1884

to hit the deck1918

1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 5 Rise, rise vp, Leape foorth of the bed. Get up, get up, out of the idle fethers.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 290 The king was so incens'd..that as soon as he got up the next morning [etc.].

1712 E. Harrold Diary 3 Aug. (2008) 24 Got up ½ hour past five. Went to morn: prayer, heard Dr Harper, 2 sermons.

1795 Scots Mag. July 418/1 Got up early this morning, to prepare for business.

1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vi. 118 Getting up early for a journey, with a racking head-ache.

1870 ‘M. Twain’ Let. 4 Sept. in Lett. to Publishers (1967) i. 39 Have written first four chapters of the book, and I tell you the ‘Innocents Abroad’ will have to get up early to beat it.

1884 J. Hawthorne in Harper's Mag. Feb. 433/2 You must get up early to get the better of a man who has been a parson.

1914 Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 28 Nov. 12/1 When one tries to beat Charles Murphy at this base ball game of politics they will have to get up very early in the morning and not be so cock-sure of themselves as the National Leaguers have been.

1939 C. H. Madge & T. H. Harrisson Brit. by Mass-observ. (2009) viii. 220 When they get up in the morning, they knock chairs over.

1981 L. R. Banks Writing on Wall vi. 51 No prizes for guessing how I felt about getting up for school.

2004 E. Edmondson Frozen Lake 359 You have to get up early to catch Mr Grindley out.

d. intransitive. Of game: to rise from cover.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > thing hunted or game > action of game > [verb (intransitive)]

to stand, be (abide obs.) at bayc1314

to steal awayc1369

stalla1425

starta1425

rusec1425

beatc1470

lodgec1470

trason1486

rouse1532

angle1575

bolt1575

to take squat1583

baya1657

watch1677

fall1697

tree1699

to go away1755

to sink the wind1776

to get up1787

to go to ground1797

lie1797

to stand up1891

fly1897

1787 World 2 Jan. The unfortunate Banker being much fluttered when the Game got up, shot both the Dogs through the head.

1793 Tour through Theatre of War 87 Woe to the game that gets up before them; a hundred soldiers are sure to send after it the contents of their muskets.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 43 Traversing one of our untrodden wildernesses, with..hogs..quail and partridges, getting up on all sides.

1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 614/1 He never missed anything that got up within range.

1922 Forest & Stream Aug. 364/3 An old rouser of a big woods-rabbit got up about thirty yards ahead.

1977 P. Mincher in L. Wevers N.Z. Short Stories (1984) 4th Ser. 191 When he was maybe halfway across, stepping it out but hunting all the way, a big, bright-pelted hare got up out of a clear patch ahead of him and took off.

2012 D. Dobie Legendary Whitetails III xviii. 102/1 After an agonizing pursuit, during which he saw the elusive buck get up and run several more times, Johnny heard his cousin Brad Heisz shoot his rifle and yell, ‘Big buck!’

†e. intransitive. to get up again: (of a person's health) to reach its former (good) condition. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1788 Ld. Nelson Let. 6 May in Dispatches & Lett. (1844) I. 273 My health is got up again, after the Doctors telling me they could do nothing for me.

2. transitive.

a. To prepare, make ready; to organize, set going; to bring into existence.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)]

yarec888

yarkc1000

graithc1175

readya1225

biredienc1275

to make yarec1290

forgraitha1300

adightc1330

buskc1330

purveyc1330

agraith1340

disposec1375

before-graithea1382

to forge and filec1381

to make readya1382

devisec1385

bounc1390

buss?a1400

address?a1425

parel?a1425

to get upc1425

providec1425

prepare1449

bakec1450

aready1470

arm?a1505

prevenea1522

get?1530

to get ready1530

to set in readiness1575

apply1577

compose1612

predy1627

make1637

to dispose of1655

do1660

fallowa1764

to line up1934

prep1936

tee1938

c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Vesp. B.xii) (1904) 97 (MED) What houndes þat þei may gete vp, bryng hem to þe next rightes.

1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere vi. p. ccxliiii For some one of them.., kepeth all theyr leuynge alone, sauynge for an harlot taken vnto hym.., and gete vppe a couent of bastardes betwene theym.

c1550 C. Bansley Treat. Pryde & Abuse of Women sig. A.i^v For a stewde strumpet can not so soone, gette vp a lyghte lewde fashyon But euerye wanton Jelot wyll lyke it well, and catche it vp anon.

1593 R. Bancroft Daungerous Positions iv. i. 136 The Puritanes in Scotland haue got-vp their discipline.

1663 S. Pepys Diary 2 Oct. (1971) IV. 322 My wife, who is over head and ears in getting her house up.

a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) i. 179 Minos..got up a potent fleet.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker III. 260 We have got up several farces.

1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vi. 120 A mob of red-hot cooks and scullions..getting up two or three large dinners.

1832 Ann. Reg. 1831 i. Hist. Europe 153/1 Petitions to the magistrates in his favour were gotten up by his friends.

1849 E. E. Napier Excursions Southern Afr. II. 291 It was deemed more than probable that he would ‘get up a fight’.

1850 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 11 ii. 681 It is..more easy to get up a good breed than to keep it up.

1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. x. 499 It was affirmed that the revolt had been..got up by the secret practices of Harold.

1902 E. Banks Autobiogr. Newspaper Girl 95 A girl artist and I were told by our editor to go out and get up a true story on ‘The Hottest Day among the New York Poor’.

1948 B. Griffith Amer. Me Notes 323 The residents got up a petition to be rid of the owner of a beer joint.

1999 J. Yager Friendshifts ii. 22 (caption) I'm just trying to get up a card game.

b. To make (linen or other clothing) ready for wearing. Now rare (chiefly historical).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [verb (transitive)] > prepare for wearing

to get upa1712

a1712 W. King tr. Persian & Turkish Tales (1714) II. 629 After the Woman and her Daughters had wash'd and got up their Linen, they used to lay it in Flowers.

1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 12. ⁋3 There would be nothing to do but to clean my mistress's room, get up her linen [etc.].

1779 Mirror No. 25 A laced suit, which I had worn at my marriage, was got up for the purpose; but the breeches burst a seam.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 77 Hard at work..at what is called getting up frills.

1884 G. Gissing Unclassed II. iii. iv. 86 I was in the laundry nearly six months, and became quite clever in getting up linen.

1968 A. Pomerans tr. J. Presser Ashes in Wind 427 Section VIII was in charge of mending... This section also helped to get up the costumes for the camp cabaret.

1992 C. Hardyment Home Comfort (1997) xi. 220 ‘Getting up’ the lace frills, the goffered ruffs on widows' caps, and the shiny starched evening-shirt fronts provided the laundress with a challenge.

c. To dress or arrange (the person, hair, a room, etc.) in a certain way; to produce or turn out in a (specified) style as regards external appearance. Also: to produce (a book) in a specified way. Chiefly in past participle. Formerly also intransitive with reflexive meaning.In quot. 1782 with reference to the mounting of a play.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (transitive)]

enact1430

to set out1540

to bring (a person) on or to the stage1602

to bring on1768

to get up1782

to put up1832

stage1879

to put on1885

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (intransitive)] > be staged in specific style

to get up1782

the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > devise, contrive, or make up, compose, or concoct

craftOE

befind1297

visec1325

contrive1377

temper1390

preparate?a1425

brew1530

to make up1530

forge1549

compact1576

mint1593

feign1690

to get up1828

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)]

wrya901

clothec950

shride971

aturnc1220

begoa1225

array1297

graith1297

agraithc1300

geara1325

cleadc1325

adightc1330

apparel1362

back1362

shape1362

attirea1375

parela1375

tirea1375

rayc1390

addressa1393

coverc1394

aguisea1400

scredea1400

shrouda1400

bedightc1400

buskc1400

harnessc1400

hatterc1400

revesta1449

able1449

dressa1450

reparel?c1450

adub?1473

endue?a1475

afaite1484

revestera1500

beclothe1509

trimc1516

riga1535

invest1540

vesture1555

suit1577

clad1579

investure1582

vest1582

deck1587

habit1594

to make ready1596

caparison1597

skin1601

shadow1608

garment1614

riga1625

raiment1656

garb1673

equip1695

to fit out1722

encase1725

tog1793

trick1821

to fig out1825

enclothe1832

toilet1842

to get up1858

habilitate1885

tailor1885

kit1919

1782 Mrs. Thrale Let. 16 Feb. in Lett. to & from S. Johnson (1788) II. 234 I am told the new plays this year are got up (as the phrase is) very penuriously.

1800 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1801) 4 388 The principal novelty is a piece called the Confederacy..which is getting up in great style.

1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 51 Instead of two reflectors, this instrument may be got up with three or more such planes.

1828 L. Hunt Ess. (Camelot) 13 The pocket-books that now contain any literature are ‘got up’, as the phrase is, in the most unambitious style.

1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma iii. 7 Miss Willing was extremely well got up.

1864 Eton School Days xviii. 207 He felt confident in his power of ‘getting up’ so that no one would recognise him.

1879 F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 8 The hair is taken great care of and tastefully got up à la Chinois.

1890 Sat. Rev. 22 Nov. 603/2 The book is prettily got up.

1939 A. L. Rowse Diary 22 July (2003) 113 The chapel was got up like a hotel lounge, over-decorated with palms and hydrangeas for a succession of anonymous visitors passing through.

1966 W. Percy Last Gentleman v. iv. 265 Hadn't he got himself up grandly for the occasion: flowing locks, big cigar,..a proper villainous-looking old man if ever there was one.

2007 E. White Chaos (2010) 168 Loti loved drag of any sort..and would get himself up in a fez and baggy trousers and a scimitar and smoke opium and drink sugared tea.

d. To acquire a knowledge of (a subject) for a special purpose or by a special effort.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > cram

prepare1586

cram1825

to get up1828

to study up1846

1828 H. Alford Jrnl. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) 32 Getting up the Georgics, reading trigonometry.

1866 T. Carlyle Inaug. Addr. Edinb. 172 There is a process called cramming..that is, getting-up such points of things as the Examiner is likely to put questions about.

1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. 157 He would..devote studious hours to getting up the subjects to be discussed.

a1902 S. Butler Way of All Flesh (1903) xlix. 223 They got up Beveridge on the Thirty-nine Articles, and Pearson on the Creed.

1966 G. Greene Comedians i. i. 19 She's down there in the cabin getting up her French grammar. She said she couldn't concentrate with me around.

2002 D. Emmott Clergy Training in Victorian York 9 It was not enough simply to pick up a degree or spend a little time ‘getting up’ the subjects for the Bishop's examination.

3. intransitive.

a. To ascend, mount, climb up; esp. to mount on horseback or get into a coach, carriage, etc. Also figurative or in figurative contexts: to ascend, rise in dignity; to rise to a certain level. Also †transitive (reflexive).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > rise or go up [verb (intransitive)]

styc825

astyc950

ariseOE

upstyOE

to step upOE

upcomec1000

to come upOE

to go upOE

upwendc1200

runge?c1225

amountc1275

upgoa1325

heavec1325

uparise1340

ascend1382

higha1393

lifta1400

risea1400

skilla1400

uprisea1400

raisec1400

rearc1400

surmount1430

to get upc1450

transcenda1513

springa1525

upmounta1560

assurge?1567

hove1590

surgea1591

tower1618

hoist1647

upheave1649

to draw up1672

spire1680

insurrect1694

soar1697

upsoar1726

uprear1828

higher1889

the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > fame or renown > famous or eminent person > be or become eminent [verb (intransitive)] > rise in fame or eminence

mounta1393

to get upc1450

augmenta1533

rocket1929

society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride a horse (or other animal) [verb (intransitive)] > mount

worthOE

mountc1330

lighta1450

horse1535

to get up1553

to get on1613

to take horse1617

saddle1834

to saddle up1849

c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 132 (MED) Sho gatt hur vp into a tre.

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 105 Yf he had not wonne a roche vpon whiche he gate vp with grete payne.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/2 I get up upon a ladder or any hyghe thyng, je monte.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxlix^v This Marques thus gotten vp, into fortunes trone..was shortely erected to the estate and degree of a Duke.

1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Cij When you attempt to geat vp, to ryde on them.

1629 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. (ed. 5) vi. sig. C2 A verse or some such worke he may sometimes get vp to, but seldome aboue the stature of an Epigram.

1658 Trad. Mem. K. Jas. G ij By what steps the Puritans got up, and the old Clergy degenerated.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 189 After this they took a Ladder..one of the other four got up to the top of it.

1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) viii. 93 The coach stopped and went on... Passengers got up and passengers got down.

1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. v. 85 He used to get up into the trees.

1900 G. B. Grinnell Jack among Indians xvi. 158 It'll do you good to get up onto the high hills and look out over the prairie.

1921 Mentor May 30/1 The average man, whose scheme of things demands devotion of his entire activity, outside of the home, to ‘getting up in the world’.

1991 T. Mo Redundancy of Courage (1992) xxi. 277 Their gunner must have had a struggle getting up to the top of the bluff.

2001 J. Boyle Galloway Street 26 The ragman backs his horse out into the road and gets up on the cart.

b. Of fire, wind, the sea: to begin to show action or movement; to increase in force or violence.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > become active or come into operation > be stirred up or aroused > of fire, the sea, etc.

to get up1556

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > blow (of the wind) [verb (intransitive)] > blow strongly > increase

rise?1520

fresh1599

to come up1647

freshen1669

ascend1715

to get up1834

to blow up1840

stiffen1844

to breeze up1867

to pipe up1901

1556 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 246 The fire got up.

1623 N. Metcalfe tr. P. Du Moulin Boldnesse & Confidence of Christian 25 in Coales from Altar The winde of persecution getteth vp.

1789 E. Riou Jrnl. 30 Dec. in Last Voy. of Guardian (1990) 79 It blew fresh during the night and the sea got up, which carried away one of the masthead guys of the machine.

1813 I. Pocock Miller & his Men i. ii. 11 Here's a pretty mess!..the sun gone down, a storm got up, and no getting out of this vile forest, turn which way one will.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales II. 136 The wind got up with the sun.

1890 S. Lane-Poole Barbary Corsairs i. xi. 121 The wind was getting up, the sea rising.

1928 E. Cadbury in C. F. S. Gamble Story North Sea Air Station xii. 194 As an awful sea got up about noon we knew he must be done in unless he was picked up.

2006 D. A. Ellis Undergardeners 60 All of a sudden this roarin' gale gets up. Don't know where it came from.

c. Cricket. Of the ball: to rise off the pitch higher than usual.

ΚΠ

1828 Sporting Mag. Feb. 244/2 Straight-armed bowlers are invariably slow bowlers. Their balls, indeed, get up fast, but they never come fast to the long stop.

1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 139 A ball got up and smashed his hand.

1888 A. G. Steel in A. G. Steel & R. H. Lyttelton Cricket (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) iii. 163 Should the ball ‘shoot’ or ‘get up’.

1930 Oxf. Ann. Girls 92/1 Now suppose the ball pitches short and gets up outside the off stump: that ball wants cutting.

1999 Observer 19 Dec. (Mag.) 24/3 Larwood failed to make the ball get up even waist high!

4. transitive.

a. To succeed in bringing, conveying, or causing to come or go up; to raise from a lower place; (figurative) to increase. to get up steam: see steam n. 7d.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [verb (transitive)]

echeOE

ekec1200

multiplya1275

morea1300

increase13..

vaunce1303

enlargec1380

augmenta1400

accrease1402

alargea1425

amply?a1425

great?1440

hainc1440

creasec1475

grow1481

amplea1500

to get upa1500

improve1509

ampliatea1513

auge1542

over1546

amplify1549

raise1583

grand1602

swell1602

magnoperate1610

greaten1613

accresce1626

aggrandize1638

majoratea1651

adauge1657

protend1659

reinforce1660

examplify1677

pluralize1750

to drive up1817

to whoop up1856

to jack up1884

upbuild1890

steepen1909

up1934

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > raising > make to go up or cause to rise [verb (transitive)]

overOE

mountc1330

risec1384

raise?c1425

to get upa1500

to screw up?1614

sublime1616

altify1643

a1500 (?a1425) Ipomedon (Harl.) (1889) l. 2162 She lepyd..In to þe water..And he in aftir also faste, Þat vp he gatte hyr at þe last.

1590 R. Ferris Most Dangerous Aduenture B 2 Andrew Hill.., fell ouer boord into the sea; where..we recouered him and got him vp againe.

1593 B. Rich Greenes Newes sig. D.4 They will make a mayde beleeue they loue her, tyll they haue gotte vppe her bellie.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 157 We at last made a shift to get up the great [anchor].

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xv. 416 Having fine handsom weather, we got up our Yards again.

1735 J. Price Some Considerations Stone-bridge Thames 6 The rest of the Piers..are all got up to the Stones above-mentioned.

1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland (1823) 12 All the crew were called to get up the whale-boats.

1826 R. Sharp Diary 24 Oct. (1997) 79 Let them try to get up the prices of Corn again.

1839 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. July 29 The time lost,..in diminishing speed.., and again to get up the speed of the train.

1876 G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto v. 60 Show me where the deer is harboured. The Lord have mercy on him, for I will not, when once I get him up to bay.

1919 Plumbers' Trade Jrnl. 1 Apr. 411/2 When we get up pressure in the boiler the water leaves the gauge.

1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse iii. iii. 242 Now they had got the sail up; now after a little flagging and hesitation the sails filled.

1951 New Mexico Hist. Rev. 26 270 We were kept busy getting up our shelter tents.

2010 S. Junger War ii. ii. 104 They're taking heavy, accurate fire..and it's so effective that much of Second Platoon is having trouble even getting their guns up.

b. To make up, make good, recover (an expense, deficiency, loss, arrears). Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (transitive)] > bring in (a revenue) > from a previous financial loss

to get upa1535

recoup1764

recuperate1867

the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > put right (a wrong or loss)

winc1220

righta1275

astorec1300

addressa1325

reform1405

dressc1410

redressa1413

arightc1420

refound1497

richa1500

redub1531

repair1533

to make good1569

reducec1592

remend1592

to set up1610

to get up1688

a1535 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. (1557) II. 1303/1 The money which he lost by thanoynting of hys mayster, he woulde get it vp agayne by the bytraying of his mayster.

1578 T. Rogers Godlie Treat. Lawfull Vse of Ritches v. f. 8, in tr. P. Cæsar Gen. Disc. Damnable Sect Vsurers [Buyers] wil giue more than a thyng is worthe, and get vp their losse, by some other shifte.

1608 T. Middleton Your Fiue Gallants sig. A4^v Tis got vp at your house in an after-noone ifaith, the hire of the whole month.

1622 T. Weston in W. Bradford Plymouth Plantation (1856) 115 Mr. Beachamp and myselfe bought this little ship..partly to gett up what we are formerly out.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 I am so much a Loser, I must get it up another Way.

1845 New Statist. Acct. Scotl. IV. 284 The proprietor in order to get up arrears of rent, ‘drave the pun’, in other words carried off the hypothecated stock.

1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xv The afternoon was spent in getting up arrears of correspondence.

1902 Weekly Irish Times 5 Apr. 20/4 They had been harrassed during the last three months to get up the arrears of rates.

1924 Daily Times Enterprise (Thomasville, Georgia) 20 June 6/5 Chairman Harris stating that he expected to be able to take steps to get up the deficit in expenses at once.

1964 Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times 16 Dec. 5/1 If any of the freeloaders are going to get up their arrears.

c. To work up, create in one's self (an emotion or feeling).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > quality of affecting the emotions > affect with emotion [verb (transitive)] > create an emotion in oneself

to screw up1644

to get up1826

1826 Christian Reg. (Boston) 2 Dec. 190/1 The frequent publication of these accounts has a tendency to inflate the pride of those instrumental in getting up the excitement in question.

1837 J. Halley in W. Arnot Life J. Halley (1842) 81 Let him beware of getting up (ὡς εἰπεῖν) certain emotions as due to his views..of the sacred office.

1860 Temple Bar 1 68 She got up a spurious affection for the creature.

1885 R. C. Praed Affinities I. ii. 42 These are the only subjects about which she ever gets up any excitement.

1956 H. Weinberg & A. W. Hire Case Bk. Abnormal Psychol. 166 She had been drinking all that evening to get up enough courage to call to tell her troubles.

1989 E. Gilchrist Light can be both Wave & Particle 96 There was this little roadwhore named Sally in here that Royals knew but I couldn't even get up the interest to talk to her.

2012 New Yorker 24 Sept. 50/3 ‘I personally can get up no enthusiasm for any kind of bird of prey,’ the candidate says.

5. transitive.

a. To cause to rise; to lift up, raise from a stooping position (now rare). Also: to improve (one's health or strength). Now rare.

ΚΠ

1559 Passage Quene Elyzabeth (new ed.) sig. B.iiii^v The Queenes maiestie..helde vice vnder foote. For if vice once gotte vp the head, it would put the seate of gouernement in peryll of falling.

1605 J. Marston Dutch Courtezan iii. sig. D4 Once married got vp his head aboue A stiffe crooked knobby inflexible tyrannous creature he [sc. a husband] grows then.

1674 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. Northern Countries 106 I awaked at the noise the Master made to get up his Family.

a1708 W. Beveridge Thes. Theologicus (1711) III. 410 It is a good while, before we can get up our hearts from earth to heaven.

a1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 107 The man naturally bends his force to get off the weight, that he may get up his head.

a1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 152 God will..remove the weight so long hung at them..and let them get up their back long bowed.

1815 M. J. Clairmont in E. Dowden Life Shelley (1887) I. 521 Don't you think Papa and Mamma will go down to the seaside, to get up their health a little?

1920 A. C. W. Harmsworth Let. 31 Dec. in R. Pound & G. Harmsworth Northcliffe (1959) xxvii. 779 My dear Steed,—I am going away to get up my health and strength in one final endeavour to get The Times situation right.

1959 Dominion-News (Morgantown, W. Va.) 6 Mar. 17/4 The Wesleyan players have had a long rest in which to get up their strength for the long tournament grind.

b. to get one's back up: to become angry or resentful. to get (a person's) back up: to make (a person) angry or resentful. Cf. back n.¹ 24f.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > anger > [verb (transitive)] > make angry

wrethec900

abelgheeOE

abaeileOE

teenOE

i-wrathec1075

wratha1200

awratha1250

gramec1275

forthcalla1300

excitea1340

grieve1362

movea1382

achafea1400

craba1400

angerc1400

mada1425

provokec1425

forwrecchec1450

wrothc1450

arage1470

incensea1513

puff1526

angry1530

despite1530

exasperate1534

exasper1545

stunt1583

pepper1599

enfever1647

nanger1675

to put or set up the back1728

roil1742

outrage1818

to put a person's monkey up1833

to get one's back up1840

to bring one's nap up1843

rouse1843

to get a person's shirt out1844

heat1855

to steam up1860

to get one's rag out1862

steam1922

to burn up1923

to flip out1964

1840 N.Z. Jrnl. 1 206 Capt. Nias had ‘got his back up’.

1878 Scribner's Monthly Nov. 86/1 Of course, I got my back up at that and they walked the plank—the whole kit and caboodle.

1887 H. R. Haggard Jess ii. 18 ‘I'm your brother.’ ‘Are you?’ I said, beginning to get my back up.

1930 ‘H. Z. Smith’ Not so Quiet ii. 50 There are many fatigues I detest, but cleaning cook's room gets my back up more than anything. Why should I clean it?

1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side i. 6 In a town where nearly everyone danced, swore and gambled, the only fun Fitz had left was getting his back up.

2007 Washington Post 25 Sept. (Home ed.) f1/1 I can afford to do it, but I got my back up and I'm not going to.

2012 H. Noble Tears of Phoenix 169 There was something about his manner that really got my back up.

c. slang (originally U.S.). to get it up: to achieve an erection of the penis. Frequently in negative contexts.

ΚΠ

c1934 ‘H. Ever’ William Powell & Myrna Loy in ‘Nuts to Will Hays!’ 7 I'll have to suck you off..I just can't get it up again!

1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. v. 526 He can't even get it up without a dose of methyltestosterone.

a1968 W. W. Smith in P. Smith Let. from my Father (1976) 239 The men looked as if they could never get ‘it’ up again.

1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny ii. 46/1 After the shower we tried to ball. And I couldn't get it up. I was so loaded I couldn't get down sexually.

1993 Social Text 37 26 In Urban Heat she does a torrid scene where she seduced a man in a freight elevator, and the guy was so intimidated by the whole thing that he couldn't get it up.

2010 K. L. Seegers tr. D. Meyer 13 Hours ix. 79 The story is, he can’t…you know…get it up, because of the steroids.

6. intransitive.

a. To come up, come close to (also †unto, †with).

ΚΠ

1577 N. Breton Floorish vpon Fancie sig. Biv^v If you can make a shift to swim, Though it bee but a stroke or two, yet you may get vp trim Unto the bankes therof.

1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xi. 615 Certayne of the Spanishe footemen got vp to the terrasse or heape of earth, and began to assayle the breache.

1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. xvi. 279 The wind coming at North and by West, they could not get up to them.

1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. xvi. 280 The rest were not able to get up being to the leeward.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 179 This made us the more Earnest to get up to 'em.

1796 Ld. Nelson Let. 25 Apr. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 162 The batteries..opened on our approach and the fire was returned as our Ships got up.

1801 Knight & Mason I. xvii. 186 It is easier to cripple a mast, or a yard, than to get up with a ship that sails nearly as fast as yoursel [sic].

1857 E. Bennett Border Rover xix. 287 ‘D'ye think you could fotch one, boy—hey?’ ‘If I could get near enough, perhaps I might.’ ‘If they'd only stand till you got up to 'em, hey?’

1892 J. Fiske Let. 28 Apr. (1940) 602 Next morning we reached Portland, and I got up to Eliot's house early enough for johnny-cake and coffee.

1943 T. W. Lawson Thirty Seconds over Tokyo viii.162 I finally got up to a counter and noticed uneasily that a helmeted Colonial was staring at me.

1985 Truck & Driver June 38/2 (caption) The crowds get up close to the racing trucks.

2000 Observer 18 June (Sport section) 8/2 There's plenty of room along the rail of the walking ring to get right up and see the animals.

b. In imperative. colloquial. As a command to a horse: go! go ahead! Cf. giddap int.

ΚΠ

1829 G. Griffin Collegians xvi. 125 I see my load is ready... Whup, get up dere, you old garron!

1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin vii. 123 Get up!—get up..he says..and once more the horses resume their gait.

1943 Coast to Coast 1942 106 The bottle-o winked to himself and urged his lean brown horse on with a ‘Git up, can't yer, yer brumby.’

2009 R. A. Koestler-Grack Abraham Lincoln ii. 27 ‘Git up, you old hussy; git up!’ Suddenly, the horse reared up on its hind legs and kicked Abe in the head.

c. Horse Racing.

(a) Of a racehorse: to catch up with a leading horse.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > engage in horse racing [verb (intransitive)] > actions of horse

to carry weight1734

to get up1840

screw1840

to come again1841

to set to1856

to wait off1856

romp1869

to answer the question1875

compound1876

to gallop to a standstill1892

nick1898

to take up1912

rate1920

1840 Sporting Mag. July 274 Dædalus..took up the running, having Scutari in attendance to the turn for home, when the ruck got up, and to within the distance Ruby led.

1862 Illustr. London News 27 Sept. 335/1 On Thursday Lord Clifden, 71b. extra, got up in the last stride and beat Bohemia a head for the Two-Year-Old Stake.

1896 Racing Illustr. 2 Dec. 547/2 Racing in Australia... He kept his place until a couple of strides from the winning-post, where Cremorne, who came with a tremendous rush, got up and won by a head.

1988 Racing Post 28 May 1/2 Jamarj has won six of her last seven starts, getting up on the line to win at York on her reappearance.

1993 Racing Post 8 Aug. 50/4 Though still only eighth with two furlongs left, he stayed on to such effect that he got up to take second place behind the well-regarded Bulwark Hill.

(b) Australian slang. Of a racehorse: to take a winning place. Also in extended use: to be successful.

ΚΠ

1904 H. Fletcher Dads Wayback 100 When ther public fancies yer nag's chance, an' puts ther beans on, ther books gives yer ther office, an' that prad don't quite get up that time; though he runs close.

1949 L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 48 The way you bet you're up for a bundle if the favourite gets up.

1974 Australian 6 Nov. (Sydney ed.) 22/5 (heading) Rival owner sorry Leilani didn't get up.

1983 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 9 Oct. 9/1 I can't think of one confronting feature film that has criticised our society and got up.

2009 P. Klein Punter's Turf i. 10 We made a killing..when that outsider got up at a hundred to one.

7. transitive.

a. To collect, raise (money).

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (transitive)] > receive or take money

takec1300

perceivea1382

rear1418

draw1591

rake1601

to get up1627

touch1654

1627 Earl of Manchester Let. 4 June in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 267 The loans have brought in 240,000l. at least; therefore the remain must needs be got up, which is not past 50,000l.

1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 314 Having gotten up a good summe of money, hee stole away.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World Introd. p. iii I was willing to get up some money before my return, having laid out what I had at Jamaica.

1721 J. Clarke Introd. to Making of Lat. (ed. 3) 84/1 He had immediately sent away his Companions and other Servants at first to get up Money to redeem him.

1848 J. Moodie Princ. & Observ. for Health of Nations ii. 37 From the congregation subscribing, and getting up the amount at once by subscription, an endowment might be formed.

1957 S. J. Perelman Road to Miltown 125 A couple of shmos like you and me, we can't even get up our rent, whereas them dukes and earls..are rolling in dough.

2010 F. Oberlechner Life is built around If 35 Mama and Daddy talked about getting up the money to make the move to Texas and selling off a lot of our stuff.

b. To harvest (a crop). Also: to stack (corn).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)]

gatherc950

getc1250

harvestc1400

in?1407

win1487

ingatherc1575

crop1602

enda1616

to get in1699

to get up1764

secure1842

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > storage or preservation of crops > [verb (transitive)] > make into stacks or ricks

mowa1325

rick1623

steep1741

to get up1764

1764 Museum Rusticum (1765) 3 lxxvi. 338 When harvest is done, the stubble may be got up at one shilling per acre,..this is called pecking the haulm, from the method of performing the work.

1791 Trans. Soc. Arts 9 44 Weeding potatoes, getting them up, and pyeing them.

1827 W. Sewall Diary (1930) 120 Mr. Sudduth and myself busily engaged in getting up wood.

1844 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 5 i. 68 The crops having been got up, the land is..sown with wheat.

1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 266 If ‘got up’ damp, it [barley] is liable to generate excessive heat.

1919 B. Hunter Dry Farming for Better Wheat Yields 21 Summer-fallow land should always be sown to winter wheat if sufficient rain comes to..get the wheat up in good season in the fall.

2013 Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) (Nexis) 23 Aug. At any rate, that afternoon I found myself in the garden helping get up potatoes.

8. intransitive. to get up to: to become engaged in or bent on (an activity, esp. of a reprehensible nature).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > occupy or engage (a person) [verb (transitive)] > engage in or busy oneself about > become engaged in or occupied with

to fall aboard——1593

to get into ——1665

to get up to1864

1864 Mrs. H. Wood Ld. Oakburn's Daughter II. xviii. 209 And you know, when people do get up to mischief on the sly, punishment is sure to follow.

1919 E. M. Dell Lamp in Desert iii. v. 271 Dear Tommy! But he has lots of friends. You don't think he would get up to mischief?

1935 I. Miller School Tie ii. ix. 110 Being a tart. The sort of thing you were getting up to with Black last Easter term.

1968 N. Coward Diary 3 Apr. (2000) 663 I got up to a few highish jinks.

1986 K. Amis Old Devils iii. 56 As anyone might who was as keen as he on what you could get up to indoors.

2009 Wired Feb. 32/2 Make it clear that you'll instantly defriend Mom if she starts getting up to her old nosy tricks.

PV2. With prepositions, in specialized senses.Used (intransitively) forming phrasal constructions with prepositional object, and (transitively) forming phrasal constructions with direct object and prepositional object.For less specialized uses see sense 26b and the entries for the prepositions. to get above ——

intransitive. To rise or become superior to; to surmount, overcome; to recover from (an illness, etc.). Now rare except in to get above oneself at above adv., prep., n., and adj. Phrases 9a.Cf. to get over —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > [verb (intransitive)] > overcome or surmount an emotion

to get above ——1603

the world > action or operation > easiness > find no difficulty in [verb (transitive)] > surmount (difficulty or disaster)

overcomea1225

surmount1484

compass1561

superate1598

to get above ——1603

to get over ——1618

overa1800

to tide over1821

the mind > emotion > calmness > self-possession or self-control > maintain self-control [verb (intransitive)]

to keep one's countenance1470

to get above ——1603

to keep one's head1717

keep your shirt on1844

to keep one's hair on1883

to keep one's wool1890

not to bat an eye, eyelid1904

to keep one's pants on1928

to play it cool1955

to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1086 Being risen aloft, and gotten above vice and sinne, take their winde and breath againe.

a1631 J. Donne Poems (1912) I. 61 Should she Be more then woman, she would get above All thought of sexe, and think to move My heart to study her, and not to love.

1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels II. 315 Contempt of the World, Heavenly Mindedness, Subduing our Appetites and Passions, suppose us present with the Creatures and the Passions we get above.

1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xxviii. 175 Religion..required, as she thought, that she should get above all regards for me.

1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 241 The old world will still be long in getting above its bad institutions.

1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. v. 35 ‘I have let that chap, that young man of mine,’ said Mr. Boffin, taking a trot up and down the room, ‘get above his work. It won't do.’

2010 M. R. Cunningham Factors that Facilitate Recovery in Individuals with Serious Mental Illness 93 They put emphasis on goals, goals to help you get above your mental illness.

to get across ——

intransitive. colloquial. To annoy, get on the wrong side of, come into conflict with (someone).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > be annoyed or vexed by [verb (transitive)] > annoy or vex

gremec893

dretchc900

awhenec1000

teenOE

fretc1290

annoyc1300

atrayc1320

encumberc1330

diseasec1340

grindc1350

distemperc1386

offenda1387

arra1400

avexa1400

derea1400

miscomforta1400

angerc1400

engrievec1400

vex1418

molesta1425

entrouble?1435

destroublea1450

poina1450

rubc1450

to wring (a person) on the mailsc1450

disprofit1483

agrea1492

trouble1515

grig1553

mis-set?1553

nip?1553

grate1555

gripe1559

spitec1563

fike?1572

gall1573

corsie1574

corrosive1581

touch1581

disaccommodate1586

macerate1588

perplex1590

thorn1592

exulcerate1593

plague1595

incommode1598

affret1600

brier1601

to gall or tread on (one's) kibes1603

discommodate1606

incommodate1611

to grate on or upon1631

disincommodate1635

shog1636

ulcerate1647

incommodiate1650

to put (a person) out of his (her, etc.) way1653

discommodiate1654

discommode1657

ruffle1659

regrate1661

disoblige1668

torment1718

pesta1729

chagrin1734

pingle1740

bothera1745

potter1747

wherrit1762

to tweak the nose of1784

to play up1803

tout1808

rasp1810

outrage1818

worrit1818

werrit1825

buggerlug1850

taigle1865

get1867

to give a person the pip1881

to get across ——1888

nark1888

eat1893

to twist the tail1895

dudgeon1906

to tweak the tail of1909

sore1929

to put up1930

wouldn't it rip you!1941

sheg1943

to dick around1944

cheese1946

to pee off1946

to honk off1970

to fuck off1973

to tweak (a person's or thing's) tail1977

to tweak (a person's or thing's) nose1983

to wind up1984

to dick about1996

to-teen-

1888 Sunday at Home 35 5/2 I believe he could be a regular tyrant if once one got across him!

1893 Chambers's Jrnl. 16 Sept. 590/1 I felt sure that in a fight he would kill an enemy without compunction, and I devoutly hoped that he and I might never get across each other in the course of events.

1921 V. Woolf Diary (1979) II. 140 Very soon we should have got across each other. I felt come over me the old aversion.

1960 M. Stewart My Brother Michael xiv. 183 He's got across that damned Greek.

1991 M. Tully No Full Stops in India (1992) ii. 59 I thought that perhaps the two sculptors had got across each other—that there had been a personality clash.

to get around ——

intransitive. Originally U.S. = to get round —— at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > find solution, solve [verb (transitive)]

findOE

assoilc1374

soil1382

contrive1393

to find outc1405

resolvea1438

absolvea1525

solute?1531

solve?1541

dissolve1549

get1559

salvec1571

to beat out1577

sort1581

explicate1582

untiea1586

loose1596

unsolve1631

cracka1640

unscruple1647

metagrobolize1653

to puzzle out1717

to work out1719

to get around ——1803

to dope out1906

lick1946

to get out1951

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > speech intended to deceive > beguile, cajole [verb (transitive)]

bicharrea1100

fodea1375

begoc1380

inveiglea1513

to hold in halsc1560

to get within ——1572

cajole1645

to cajole with1665

butter1725

veigle1745

flummer1764

to get round ——1780

to come round ——1784

to get around ——1803

flatter-blind1818

salve1825

to come about1829

round1854

canoodle1864

moody1934

fanny1938

cosy1939

mamaguy1939

snow1943

snow-job1962

1803 National Intelligencer & Washington Advertiser 4 Nov. The gentleman thus surmounts, or gets around his own doctrine, and opposes a treaty as effectively as if he had never supported the position.

1875 H. B. Stowe We & our Neighbors iii. 38 Eva is my girl; I sha'n't let anyone get around her.

1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Mar. 283/2 This has got to be learned; there isn't any getting around it.

1894 ‘M. Twain’ Those Extraordinary Twins iv, in Pudd'nhead Wilson (new ed.) 362 There is no getting around proof like that.

1936 B. Spewack & S. Spewack Spring Song iii. i. in Boy meets Girl 199 Trying to get around me now, huh? Trying to make me feel sorry for you so I'll go through with it... Not a chance!

1968 Economist 14 Sept. 27 Censorship is now operating... the Czech papers succeeded in getting around this by reporting, poker-faced and without comment, what the ‘socialist’ press is saying.

2003 Bowling Digest June 16/2 [Tenpin bowling], as legend or fact has it, was invented in 1841 in Connecticut as a way of getting around a puritanical law that banned nine-pin bowling.

to get at ——

1. intransitive. colloquial.

a. To attack, assail; to make destructive inroads on.In some uses overlapping with sense 2a.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > attack > attack [verb (transitive)]

greetc893

overfallOE

riseOE

assail?c1225

to lay on or upon?c1225

onseekc1275

to set on ——c1290

infighta1300

saila1300

to go upon ——c1300

to turn one's handc1325

lashc1330

annoyc1380

impugnc1384

offendc1385

to fall on ——a1387

sault1387

affrayc1390

to set upon ——1390

to fall upon ——a1398

to lay at?a1400

semblea1400

assayc1400

havec1400

aset1413

oppressa1425

attachc1425

to set at ——c1430

fraya1440

fray1465

oppugn?a1475

sayc1475

envaye1477

pursue1488

envahisshe1489

assaulta1500

to lay to, untoa1500

requirea1500

enterprise?1510

invade1513

assemblec1515

expugn1530

to fare on1535

to fall into ——1550

mount1568

attack?1576

affront1579

invest1598

canvass1599

to take arms1604

attempt1605

to make force at, to, upon1607

salute1609

offence1614

strikea1616

to give a lift at1622

to get at ——1650

insult1697

to walk into ——1794

to go in at1812

to go for ——1838

to light on ——1842

strafe1915

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > attack (of hostile agency)

besetOE

infighta1300

saila1300

seeka1300

visitc1340

beclipc1380

entainc1380

seizec1381

offendc1385

affectc1425

rehetea1450

take1483

attaintc1534

prevent1535

attach1541

attempt1546

affront1579

buffeta1593

to get at ——1650

assault1667

insult1697

to lay at1899

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > attack with hostile words or measures

fangc1320

hurtlec1374

impugnc1384

weighc1386

to fall upon ——a1398

to start on ——a1398

oppugn?1435

to lay to, untoa1500

onseta1522

wipe1523

to set against ——1542

to fall aboard——1593

aggress1596

to fall foul1602

attack1613

appugn1615

to set upon ——1639

to fall on ——1641

to lay home, hard, hardly to1650

tack1720

bombard1766

savage1796

to pitch into ——1823

to begin upon a personc1825

bulldog1842

to down on (also upon)a1848

to set at ——1849

to start on ——a1851

to start in on1859

set on at or to1862

to let into1872

to go for ——1890

swash1890

slog1891

to get at ——1893

tee1955

1650 G. Foster Pouring Fourth of Seventh & Last Viall 28 You would not do as now you do, lay up treasures for the rust and canker to get at.

1823 J. Constable Let. 2 Aug. (1964) II. 283 I fear my great coat is got at by moths, as I find my father's is that I am come down here with.

1893 National Observer 1 July 176/2 The author's burning anxiety to ‘get at’ capital, his profligate disregard of national prosperity.

1923 D. H. Lawrence Stud. Classic Amer. Lit. vi. 119 Nowadays society is evil. It finds subtle ways of torture, to destroy the life-quick, to get at the life-quick in a man.

1977 P. O'Brian Mauritius Command (1996) v. 179 Them wicked old rats got at the coffee, sir.

2008 S. Armstrong Matter of Life & Death 218 Why hadn't the maggots got at him? Oh, because he was in the basement of a house, wrapped up in plastic.

b. To unsettle by making fun of, finding fault with, etc.; to jeer at or taunt; to criticize; to make nervous or upset. Also: (transitive) to get (someone) at it: to have (a person) on, to make fun of (rare).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)] > captiously

upbraidc1290

bite1330

to gnap at1533

carp1550

cavil1581

carp1587

to pick at ——1603

to pick a hole (also holes) in1614

yark1621

vellicate1633

to peck at1641

snob1654

ploat1757

to get at ——1803

crab1819

to pick up1846

knock1892

snark1904

kvetchc1950

to pick nits1978

1803 J. Jackson Let. 17 Jan. in T. U. P. Charlton Life Major Gen. J. Jackson (1809) I. 188 R—e puffed up by his triumph over Ellery, may be pushed to get at me.

1825 Oriental Herald 5 Suppl. No. 16 176/2 I see that Gentlemen are getting at me that way, but I do not care.

1891 Ally Sloper's Half Holiday 3 Jan. 7/1 ‘Your family don't seem to get on, missie?’.. ‘On! Who're ye gettin' at?’

1895 Punch 14 Dec. 227/1 Smart women..delight In ‘getting at’ you in a shameful way.

1956 R. Galton & A. Simpson Hancock's Half-hour (1987) 56 Don't keep getting at me, it's not my fault I'm weak.

1957 J. Osborne Entertainer iii. 30 Don't look hurt. I'm not getting at you. I love you very much.

1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights iii. 136 You see I did this on perpose just to get her at it.

1987 ‘A. Burgess’ Little Wilson & Big God (U.K. ed.) iii. 234 The war was getting at us: our nerves were on edge.

2001 H. Holt Delay of Execution (2002) xi. 125 ‘But what did she do to Margaret?’ ‘I suppose she didn't actually do anything, but she was always getting at her, trying to undermine her.’

c. To mean or intend; to hint, imply. Usually in interrogative clauses, as what are you getting at?

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > hint or covert suggestion > hint at or suggest [verb (transitive)]

inkle1340

induce1481

alludec1487

signifya1535

insinuate1561

to glance at (upon, against)1570

thrust1574

imply1581

adumbrate1589

intimate1590

innuate?1611

glancea1616

ministera1616

perstringea1620

shadow1621

subinduce1640

involve1646

equivocate1648

hint1648

subindicate1654

hint at1697

suggest1697

indicate1751

surmise1820

to get at ——1875

1875 Rep. Comm. Finance Expenditures New Capitol Commissioners in Documents Senate State N.Y.: 98th Sess. VII. No. 95. 197 What are you getting at?

1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets (1983) 34 ‘Garn,’ said Lizerunt once more ‘Wot ye gittin' at now’?

1899 D. Belasco Naughty Anthony ii, in Heart of Maryland (1941) 294 What are you getting at? What do you refer to when you call me the husband?

1921 Collier's 26 Mar. 22/1 ‘Say, what are you gettin' at?’ says the kid, interested at last.

1931 N. Coward Post Mortem vi. 75 I wish I knew what you were getting at.

1969 ‘J. Fraser’ Cock-pit of Roses x. 81 I know some bugger's been pinching 'em, if that's what you're getting at.

2007 L. McLane Dancing Shoes & Honky-tonk Blues 42 ‘I know what you mean,’ I say with a nod. In truth I have no clue what he's getting at but I'm thinking that agreement sort of covers all the bases.

2. intransitive.

a. To get hold of, come at; to reach, arrive at.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)]

wieldeOE

haveeOE

ofgoOE

oweOE

addlec1175

winc1175

avela1200

to come by ——a1225

covera1250

oughtc1275

reachc1275

hentc1300

purchasec1300

to come to ——c1330

getc1330

pickc1330

chevise1340

fang1340

umbracec1350

chacche1362

perceivea1382

accroacha1393

achievea1393

to come at ——a1393

areach1393

recovera1398

encroach?a1400

chevec1400

enquilec1400

obtainc1422

recurec1425

to take upc1425

acquirea1450

encheve1470

sortise1474

conques?a1500

tain1501

report1508

conquest1513

possess1526

compare1532

cough1550

coff1559

fall1568

reap1581

acquist1592

accrue1594

appurchasec1600

recoil1632

to get at ——1666

to come into ——1672

rise1754

net1765

to fall in for1788

to scare up1846

access1953

1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands xxiv. 150 This vermine hath a particular malice to Books, and their covers. The Wood-lice are as good, if they can get at them.

1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World ii. 75 Half the hold must have been unstow'd to get at them.

1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 33 We gave him all our handkerchiefs, and what line we could get at.

1833 H. Martineau Brooke & Brooke Farm (ed. 3) x. 117 A ledge of rock which cannot be got at but by his companions letting him down by a rope.

1859 T. De Quincey Style (rev. ed.) in Select. Grave & Gay XI. 175 Augustus was much of a blockhead: a truth which we utter boldly, now that none of his thirty legions can get at us.

1893 Law Times Rep. 68 302/1 The pipe could not be seen or got at without removing a portion of the cargo.

1922 ‘K. Mansfield’ Garden Party 43 There hung a cluster of sand-shoes so extraordinarily mixed that to get at one pair you had to tear apart and forcibly separate at least fifty.

1969 S. Miller On Trials xvi. 99 It is useless to have a load of sections which cannot be got at without a winch and rope gang.

2005 High Country News 7 Mar. 21/2 Western coal, gas and uranium have powered this country since entrepreneurs could get at them with a shovel.

b. To attain to knowledge of, to find out, ascertain, learn.

ΚΠ

1692 E. Paye Antichrist in Spirit Unmasked Ep. to Rdr. 2 The Author, to unfold their Riddles, hath made use of their own Construing Books, to get at their Meanings.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. x. 81 Joseph,..by tampering with Will, got at all my secrets.

1793 J. B. Burges in Hist. MSS Comm.: 14th Rep. App. V: MSS J. B. Fortescue (1894) II. 488 in Parl. Papers (C. 7572) L. ii. 1 Baron Jacobi called; his sole intention appeared to be to get at the nature and extent of Lord Malmesbury's instructions.

1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. i. 9 To get at the truth of any history is good.

1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets iii. 89 There are no means of getting at the thoughts of men.

1883 Law Times 20 Oct. 412/1 I cannot see..the process by which the court will get at the facts on which its judgment is to hinge.

1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 67/2 Her strange mind quietly got at the truth in a way that startled Lynn.

1953 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 53 205/2 More can be done in getting at the cause of blood spitting and in treating the underlying disease than was possible only a generation ago.

2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 2 Mar. (Week in Review section) 3/4 The hard work is getting at the underlying inefficiencies in the health system, the perverse incentives that have everybody operating in the dark.

c. colloquial. To influence by underhand means, to corrupt, bribe. Also: to make an aggressive attempt to influence, to pressurize.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe

meedOE

underorna1325

corrump1387

forbuy1393

hirec1400

wage1461

fee1487

under-arearc1503

bribe1528

grease1528

money1528

corrupt1548

budc1565

to feed with money1567

to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580

sweeten1594

to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598

over-bribe1619

to buy off1629

palter1641

to take off1646

buy1652

overmoneya1661

bub1684

to speak to ——1687

to tickle in the palm1694

daub1699

overbuy1710

touch1752

palm1767

to get at ——1780

fix1790

subsidize1793

sop1837

to buy over1848

backsheesh1850

nobble1856

square1859

hippodrome1866

see1867

boodleize1883

boodle1886

to get to ——1901

reach1906

straighten1923

lubricate1928

to keep (someone) sweet1939

sling1939

to pay off1942

bung1950

the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > persuade (a person) [verb (transitive)] > persuade or prevail upon > by subtle or underhand means

undermine1457

compass1563

cozen1599

wire-draw1622

subinduce1646

to get at ——1780

1780 Earl of Malmesbury Let. 21 Mar. in Diaries & Corr. (1844) I. 289 The French had failed in several underhand attempts to get at the Empress.

1865 J. S. Mill in Morning Star 6 July That part of the electors whose minds are to be got at by money—who are to be reached by trickery.

1871 Sat. Rev. 9 Sept. 329/2 It is quite clear that some of them [imported artisans] have been ‘got at’, and it is easy to conceive the terrorism, which [etc.].

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. xxxix. 78 The legislator can be ‘got at’, the people cannot.

1937 J. P. Marquand Late George Apley (1940) xxv. 276 I cannot get at him, for he appears to suffer from a species of shell-shock when subjects of which he should be proud are mentioned.

1952 W. J. H. Sprott Social Psychol. (1964) vii. 123 We are all ‘propaganda conscious’ in the sense that we put up a resistance if we feel we are being ‘got at’.

1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Jan. 57/1 We resent, as the Victorians did not, being ‘got at’ by the social or religious moralist.

1999 J. Arnott Long Firm ii. 78 ‘I wouldn't worry,’ he said with an affable grin. ‘People can be got at.’

d. slang. To tamper with (a horse, etc.) in order to prevent it from winning a race; to nobble.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > ride horse in race [verb (transitive)] > tamper with horse

to get at ——1812

nobble1847

1812 Sporting Mag. 39 283 The prisoner said it would be a rare thing to get at that mare which was first favourite.

1870 Spectator 23 Apr. 514/2 That, of course, makes it profitable..for scoundrels to ‘get at’ horses.

1908 Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches 25 160 The cause of the latter's defeat is a mystery to this day... Had he been got at?

1975 T. Fitzgeorge-Parker Great Racehorse Trainers vi. 112 The nobblers got at him not once but twice and..they even attacked his legs to such good effect that he never ran again.

1993 E. Trzebinski Lives Beryl Markham (1995) v. 71 The press suggested that Cam had been ‘got at’.

3. intransitive. colloquial. To begin (an activity); to start work on; to turn one's attention to.

ΚΠ

1805 European Mag. & London Rev. Dec. 434/2 We got at it in arnest. Fire away Flannagan—Bow wow—More cartridges and plenty of shot—Batter the hulls, and splinter the decks—Zounds!

1847 H. Melville Omoo liii. 258 We were roused by Zeke's crying out, ‘Up! b'ys; up! rise, and shine; time to get at it agin!’

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. to Publishers 14 Apr. (1967) 173 Get at your canvassing early, and drive it with all your might.

1923 H. Crane Let. 6 Feb. (1965) 118 I have been so rushed around..that I have not yet got at the review for your study.

1974 B. Bainbridge Bottle Factory Outing (1975) vi. 93 ‘That's it,’ encouraged Brenda. ‘Get at it, luv.’

1991 T. E. Malis Fools Crow (2001) ii. 32 Ordinarily, we think we must rush and organize to get at the work because there is so little time.

to get by ——

intransitive. colloquial. To succeed in getting past (someone); to evade; to escape the notice of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)] > contrive to escape or evade > a person or slip away from

aglya1250

outsteala1325

glide?1510

slip1513

betrumpa1522

to give (one) the slip1567

to get by ——1601

outslip1616

to give (a person or thing) the go-by1653

elude1667

to tip (a person) the picks1673

bilk1679

to tip (a person) the pikes1688

to give one the drop1709

jouk1812

double1819

sneak1819

shirk1837

duck1896

1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor ii. i. sig. D4 S'lid I am afeard they will know me, would I could get by them.

1691 A. D'Anvers Academia 35 I have sometimes met with some Young Men, may chance with a whole Gown, Holding 'um out as if they'd dry 'um, So that one hardly can get by 'um.

1733 T. Stackhouse New Hist. Bible I. iv. iii. 473/2 The Angel..stood in a Place so very narrow, that there was no Possibility of getting by him.

1770 Yorick's Jests 39 Not being able to get by him unobserved.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. iii. 55 How the deuce did you get by the lodge, Joe?

1874 C. White Hop of Fashion 12 Ah, there's the door keeper. How to get by him?

1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories ii. v. 199 How he had gotten by the office boy Brown could not conceive.

1919 H. Crane Let. 13 Dec. (1965) 27 I am thoroughly confident about the thing itself since it has got by the particular, hierarchic Josephson.

1951 A. Zaleznik Foreman Training in Growing Enterprise vii. 112 That Rita has an eagle eye. Nothing gets by her.

2008 Roanoke (Va.) Times (Nexis) 20 Jan. b7 How'd that guy get by security?

† to get from ——

Obsolete.

intransitive. To escape from.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)]

atwendOE

atwindc1000

overfleeOE

to come out of ——lOE

atstertc1220

atbreak?c1225

aschapea1300

scapea1300

aslipc1325

escape1340

atscapea1350

astartc1374

to wade out ofc1386

starta1400

withscapea1400

withslipa1400

atwapec1400

to get out of ——a1470

evite1503

outstart1513

to get from ——1530

rid1615

skip1630

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 707/2 I scruggell with one to gette from hym, or by cause I wyll nat obey his correction.

1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 130 He leapes upon his Mule, and spurring him hard to get from the bawling woman [etc.].

1699 W. Hacke Coll. Orig. Voy. 11 One of the three [Indians]..got from our men, and run to the Town.

1771 Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797) III. 201 I hope she got from him innocent.

1771 Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797) IV. 27 I did get from him, however, and ran to the door.

1840 Central Criminal Court: Minutes of Evid. 11 677 Thinking the prisoner would get from him, I lent a hand to hold him.

1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason xiii. 225 Get from this place, for never more can ye Become partakers of the majesty That from man's soul looks through his eager eyes.

to get inside ——

intransitive. To investigate closely; to achieve a deep or intimate understanding of, to penetrate.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > thoroughly, with effort

through-goOE

through-seekOE

penetrate?1563

bore1622

bottom1713

to get inside ——1830

underthink1886

to dope out1906

1830 W. Dunlap Trip to Niagara iii. v. 48 Nothing else will you see, among them sarpents, but one slippery trick or 'nother to get inside your head or your pocket.

1867 R. Broughton Not Wisely, but too Well II. 282 It is very, very difficult figuratively to get inside another person.

1875 Athenæum 14 Aug. 222/2 More important..is the power of getting inside a character and revealing it to the public.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 958 Some people take a very sceptical attitude and point out that we cannot get inside an animal and prove that it is joyous or unhappy, sympathetic or envious.

1959 Listener 16 July 112/3 No need to stress the good qualities of William Parsons as a vocalist or his ability to get inside a song and really interpret it.

2009 R. Dasgupta Solo 342 Those guys aren't very complex, I know how to get inside their heads. It's only a matter of time before they come down on you.

to get into ——

1. intransitive.

a. To make one's way into (business, favour, office, etc.); to succeed in obtaining; to gain admittance to (an educational establishment).

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > change [verb (intransitive)] > pass into state, become

yworthOE

worthOE

goOE

becomec1175

come?a1200

waxc1220

charea1225

aworthc1275

makea1300

fallc1300

breedc1325

grow1340

strikea1375

yern1377

entera1382

turna1400

smitec1400

raxa1500

resolvea1500

to get into ——?1510

waxen1540

get1558

prove1560

proceed1578

befall1592

drop1654

evade1677

emerge1699

to turn out1740

to gain into1756

permute1864

slip1864

?1510 T. More in tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. f.vi^v So thou that wilt with god gete in to fauoure Garnisshe thi self vp.

1543 T. Chaloner tr. G. Cousin Office of Seruauntes sig. Avi^v Some of them get into seruice.

1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies i. ii. 3/2 I..vsed all meanes I could to get into his seruice.

1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 88 Your Physicians Discourse is..as if they..are pretending mighty Practice to get into Practice.

1704 J. Pitts True Acct. Mohammetans vi. 47 Slaves in such places do always strive to get into the Childrens Affections.

1790 J. B. Moreton Manners & Customs West India Islands 93 When a young man gets into a good employ.

1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene III. xii. 170 That I had no difficulty in getting into society may easily be imagined.

1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 182 Trade grew much more active after he got into office.

1936 ‘P. Quentin’ Puzzle for Fools iv. 26 He was crazy to get into show business; stunts and strong-man acts.

1966 Contemp. Relig. Japan 7 74 There were so many persons who tried to get into favor with the supervisor by a faked conversion to the Christian religion.

1992 D. Lessing Afr. Laughter 155 But what I didn't expect was that these bastards would get into power and then not care about anything but feathering their own nests.

2012 Independent on Sunday 12 Aug. 64/2 One day, he looked round and thought, ‘I know I'm better than this’, so he worked his guts out and got into Oxford.

b. To come to be, result in being, in (a certain state or condition).to get into a flap: see flap n. 2c. to get into one's stride: see stride n. 3c. to get into trouble: see trouble n. 5a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > change [verb (intransitive)] > pass into state, become > get into specified condition

becomec888

fallOE

turnc1540

change1583

to get into ——1657

1657 V. de Voiture Lett. of Affaires li. 99 He is got into an humour to let his beard grow.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 81 When they are once got into Wine they mind nothing else.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 284 The King who was got into a pleasant Humour, only Laugh'd at it.

1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §124. 153 Lying is..so much in fashion amongst all sorts of People, that a Child..can scarse be kept, without great care, from getting into it.

1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 82. ⁋1 When one is got into such a Way of Thinking.

1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 151 They were got into full cry before we heard them.

1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen 27 Before ever your horse gets into motion, clap both your spurs into him pretty sharp.

1801 tr. ‘C. F. Damberger’ Trav. through Continent Afr. 177 We got into a sort of discourse together.

1833 Act 3 & 4 William IV c. 46 §104 Where any..spouts, shores, or pipes, drains or common sewers..shall get into disrepair.

1862 Temple Bar 6 401 He used to get into a frightful passion.

1887 H. R. Haggard Jess iv. 29 He very soon got more or less into the swing of the thing.

1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace 101 I'm frightfully sorry. It was cheek. But as I've got myself into a hole, you won't leave me in it.

1959 D. Lessing Each in his own Wilderness 74 Never mind, love, you'll soon get into the way of it.

2001 C. Fowler Devil in Me (2005) 110 But while he was away, right, he got into a fight with some geezer and ended up with a punctured lung.

c. To become occupied with; to become interested, involved, or absorbed in. Also: to specialize in.In quot. 1788: to penetrate by inquiry, to get knowledge of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > occupy or engage (a person) [verb (transitive)] > engage in or busy oneself about > become engaged in or occupied with

to fall aboard——1593

to get into ——1665

to get up to1864

1665 W. Johnson Αγυρτο-Μαστιξ 95 I am got into his Elaboratory which is so pitifull a sight, that it minds me of an Expression in his Eighth Chapter.

1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 479. ⁋6 Instead of..Displaying Conjugal Love in its natural Beauties..I am got into Tales to the Disadvantage of that State of Life.

1743 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 16 July (1932) (modernized text) II. 535 As you are now got into sense verses, remember, that it is not sufficient to put a little common sense into hexameters and pentameters.

1788 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 376 I endeavored to get, as well as I could, into the state of national credit there.

1822 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas (new ed.) III. vii. xii.104 I soon got into all his personal history: he related on what occasions he had left an eye at Naples, an arm in Lombardy, and a leg in the Low Countries.

1827 Newcastle Mag. May 222 When men of a poetic genius get into politics they are very apt to lose themselves.

1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 June 2 I got into the way of orchestrating and writing for every instrument.

1938 E. Hemingway Fifth Column (1939) 220 ‘What are you reading?’ ‘Richard Feveral.’ ‘I couldn't get into it.’

1966 ‘C. Keith’ Elusive Epicure (1968) v. 69 He did advise me one time to get into Early American antique furniture.

1969 It 11 Apr. 11/2 What sort of things are you getting into musically now?

2000 D. Adebayo My Once upon Time (2001) ix. 199 The mass of us, including a couple who stumbled in having lost their way, still got into it enough to shout, ‘Yeah, yeah, yay, yo!’ whenever he requested.

d. To start discussing (a subject) extensively or in full.

ΚΠ

1940 A. Tate in Southern Rev. 6 243 I do not intend here to get into Aristotle and to argue the difference between history and fiction.

1954 Rotarian July 62/3 Scale-model construction..[is] an interesting field, but I'll not get into that because this is a hobby story.

1969 Computers & Humanities 4 95 It would be especially inappropriate in this context to get into the question of whether scholar/teachers should unionize or professionalize.

1971 Sci. Amer. June 20 (advt.) We use a tiny crystal chip called a light-emitting diode. It works something like a transistor, but let's not get into all that.

1984 Adweek (U.S.) (Nexis) 30 Jan. We have to talk to parents, and parents don't want to get into all the techy things.

2003 National Post's Financial Post & FP Investing (Canada) 6 Mar. fp8/5 Without getting into the hideously abstruse details.

2. intransitive. colloquial. To put on (a garment, shoes, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] > put on

to do oneOE

graitha1375

puta1382

to take on1389

to let falla1400

takea1400

to put on?a1425

endow1484

addressa1522

to get on1549

to draw on1565

don1567

to pull on1578

dight1590

sumpterc1595

to get into ——1600

on with1600

array1611

mount1785

to cast on1801

endoss1805

endue1814

ship1829

1600 Looke about You sig. H^v Some od mate is got into my gowne, And walkes deuoutly like my counterfeite.

1613 G. Wither Abuses Stript ii. i. sig. M8^v Most of our Courtiers would make much ado, But they would get into that fashion too.

1655 F. G. tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Artamenes IV. vii. 43 She went to her as soon as she had got into a habit of mourning.

1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel i. 22 They [sc. Monks and Friars] pretending to nothing but holiness..whether in these mob'd habits, or got into a more brisk dress.

1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 151 He is gotten into a new dress.

1790 Lady Newdigate Let. 21 Oct. in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels (1898) vii. 101 I..must borrow a Gown which I shall not be able to get in to.

1813 Lady Burghersh Lett. (1893) 38 By that time I shall ‘get into my shoes’ here.

1840 N. P. Willis Romance of Trav. 166 ‘Percie!’ ‘Sir!’ ‘Get into your best suit of plain clothes, and if a foreigner calls on me this morning, come in and forget that you are a valet. I have occasion to use you for a gentleman.’

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 11/2 Here he is now! It's lucky I dressed; getting into a cobwebby dress and nice, foolish slippers.

1976 N. Maclean River runs through It 74 I didn't know how a nurse could get into a uniform so fast, but I could hear the swish of starch as she came through the door.

2004 Stardust (Internat. ed.) June 16/1 Anil would get into his spandex cycle shorts and hit the suntanning beaches.

3. intransitive.

a. Of liquor: to take effect upon; to render a person's mind, gait, etc., confused or unsteady.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (transitive)] > make drunk > take effect on (of drink)

to get into ——a1642

a1642 J. Suckling Goblins iii. 27 in Fragmenta Aurea (1646) The Wine has got into his head.

1661 A. Brome Songs & Other Poems 164 Drink alwayes gets into the head.

1770 I. Bickerstaff 'Tis Well it's no Worse ii. 41 Zounds! my stomach was so empty when I drank, that the wine's getting into my head.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 145 This ale gets into my noddle.

1894 Pall Mall Mag. Dec. 576 Ever since I've been holding off from the whisky the least drop gets into my walk.

1968 Times of India 21 Apr. 11/4 The motor-racing and the whiskey got into his head.

1996 S.-L. S. Yu tr. Jin Yun Nirvana of Grandpa Doggie in S.-L. S. Yu Chinese Drama after Cultural Revol. 377 Their arguments rang in my ears and the wine got into my head.

b. In interrogative clauses, esp. in (I don't know) what's got into me (also him, her, etc.): to take possession of, to come over (a person); to cause to behave in an extraordinary way. Cf. to come over —— 1b at come v. Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > unaccustomedness or state of disuse > unaccustomed to [phrase] > why is a person behaving unusually?

(I don't know) what came over me (also him, her, etc.)1726

to get into ——1798

1798 W. Milns All In A Bustle 14 Why what the devil has got into the people?

1841 W. G. Simms Kinsmen II. xix. 228 Joe Brydone, what's got into you, that you can't see the road that's safest and most profitable?

1876 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Tom Sawyer iii. 37 All through supper his spirits were so high that his aunt wondered ‘what had got into the child’.

1937 I. Baird John xiv. 163 You, too? Why, what's got into you tonight?

1946 D. Stivens in Austral. Short Stories (1951) 386 I dunno what's got into you to-night.

1972 J. Brown Chancer iii. 46 What's got into you, love?.. I thought you were always one for live and let live.

2006 Ireland's Own Feb. 51/1 I don't know what's got into that boy,..he comes home from school and hides in his room all evening with a face as long as a fiddle.

4. intransitive. colloquial. To have sexual intercourse with (a woman).

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity with [verb (transitive)] > have sexual intercourse with > specifically of a man

jape1382

overliec1400

swivec1405

foilc1440

overlay?a1475

bed1548

possess1592

knock1598

to get one's leg over1599

enjoy1602

poke1602

thrum1611

topa1616

riga1625

swingea1640

jerk1650

night-work1654

wimble1656

roger1699

ruta1706

tail1778

to touch up1785

to get into ——c1890

root1922

to knock up1934

lay1934

pump1937

prong1942

nail1948

to slip (someone) a length1949

to knock off1953

thread1958

stuff1960

tup1970

nut1971

pussy1973

service1973

c1890 My Secret Life I. vi. 184 I felt as if I was wicked in getting into her, almost as if I was going to poke my mother.

1922 F. Harris My Life & Loves I. iii. 61 Again I dreamed of Lucille and again I was trying, trying in vain to get into her when again the spasm of pleasure overtook me.

1957 J. Kerouac On the Road i. vii. 44 I've just got to get into her sister Mary tonight.

2001 K. Sampson Outlaws (2002) 180 Go'ead, love! Get into her! Fucking get right into that juicy quim!

† to get of ——

Obsolete.

intransitive. To gain advantage over; (also) to outstrip in speed; to gain upon in pursuing. Cf. sense 10b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > get ahead of

to get of ——1548

to get (also have) the start of1569

to get (also gain) a march (up)on1707

to cut out1738

1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. xxi. 43 Euery day they ymagined by what subteltie they coulde gette one of another by dedes of armes.]

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccix The kynges shyp was good with sayle, & so much gat of the Easterlinges, that she came on the coast of Holland.

1583 J. Newbery Let. 28 May in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) i. 208 Notwithstanding, they get of the Persians, and make castles and holds in their countrey.

a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 37 It was her boate which I tooke vp, that they had cutt of because my sattia got so mainely of her.

1700 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote II. iv. xii. 499 They, perceiving that the Woolf Galley got of 'em in the chace, all of a sudden laid by their Oars.

to get off ——

Cf. to get off at Phrasal verbs 1.

1. intransitive.

a. Originally: to dismount from (a horse). Subsequently also: to alight from (a railway carriage, tram, bus, aircraft, etc.).to get off one's bike: see bike n.² Phrases 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride (a horse or other animal) [verb (transitive)] > dismount from

void1470

avoid1557

unstride1635

dismount1638

to get off ——1652

unmount1892

1652 tr. M. de Scudéry Hist. Philoxypes & Polycrite 25 He got off horse-back, leaving his horse with his servant.

1781 P. Beckford Thoughts on Hunting xvii. 211 He seldom will condescend to get off his horse.

1841 Gardeners' Chron. 3 Apr. 221/3 The gentleman refused to give it up, taking it into the omnibus when he got off the train.

1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xxxvii. 358 Have you ever seen Lord Hotspur get off his horse when he thinks nobody is looking? Taken out of his stirrups, his shiny boots can hardly totter up the steps of Hotspur House.

1890 Cent. Mag. July 349/1 When I got off the train, I found myself on a moss-grown platform.

1925 A. Loos Gentlemen prefer Blondes v. 143 He thought that we ought to get off the train at a place called Munich.

1951 A. Baron Rosie Hogarth 166 I gets off a bus in Old Street, all loaded up with clobber.

1961 Mag. Western Hist. Winter 32/1 When they reached the river, the son got off his pony and lay down on the bank to drink.

2007 Wine & Spirit May 57/1 I just got off a plane from Chile.

b. To remove oneself or be removed or displaced from (a place, position, route, etc.); to stop resting on (a part of the body). Also: to disengage from (an activity, attitude, topic of discussion, etc.).get off my back: see back n.¹ 23d. to get off one's backside: see backside n., adj., and adv. Phrases 3. to get off the ground: see ground n. 8b. to get off one's perch: see perch n.¹ Phrases 1. to (shit or) get off the pot: see pot n.¹ Phrases 13.

ΚΠ

1772 Gentleman's & London Mag. Sept. 573/1 On getting off the horse's back, hold the bridle and mane in the same manner as when you mounted.

1798 W. Clubbe Omnium 33 He got off his box, and went to splicing the fractures [of the harness].

1806 H. K. White Let. July in Remains (1807) I. 234 As I am much alone now, I never get quite off study.

1845 Rep. Select Comm. Atmospheric Railways 190 (table) in Parl. Papers (H.C. 252) X. 177 Goods-truck getting off the line by the breaking of a coupling.

1855 Startling Facts for Native Amer. 99 They have to get off their knees every time they go round.

1859 All Year Round 31 Dec. 222/2 I know not how I should have ‘got off’ the scene, as actors say.

1919 Outing Mar. 306/3 I felt like shouting to him to get off my land.

1926 National Geographic Mag. Sept. 363/2 We got off the end of the runway at a terrific speed.

1962 J. Clavell King Rat xv. 234 We did all right alone—giving you buggers the time to get off your arse.

1970 Globe Mag. (Toronto) 26 Sept. 8/3 We must get off this kick that every job is a career—it isn't.

1985 D. Lucie Progress ii. ii, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business (1991) 143 Ange Ronee? Can I ask you something? Ronee Trying to get off the subject?

1988 G. Patterson Burning your Own i. vii. 89 Too lazy to get off their behinds and do things for themselves.

1991 Coarse Fishing Feb. 6/2 I have, by the very nature of bringing this subject into debate, got off my butt as you suggested.

2006 Wired Apr. 139/1 When it comes to immersive gameplay, some people just have to get off the couch.

c. To give up, to cease to use (medication, an illegal drug, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > drug addiction or craving > cause addiction to drugs [verb (transitive)] > withdraw from addiction

to get off ——1951

withdraw1971

the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > reverse or abandon one's purpose or intention [verb (transitive)] > abandon, give up, or discontinue

forhightc1000

forswearOE

forletc1175

sdeign1590

to think (the) better of1752

to get off ——1951

1951 W. S. Burroughs Let. 5 May (1993) 86 When I got off the junk, I decided I didn't want any more part of it in any way.

1968 H. S. Thompson Let. in Fear & Loathing in Amer. (2000) 9 All these veteran heads keep telling me to get off the speed because it's dangerous.

1979 Maclean's 5 Mar. 34/1 Pierre, a good Catholic, insisted she get off the pill.

1993 Flex Feb. 129/3 Lots of bodybuilders take strange chemicals..; so if you are going to do that, you'd better know just when to get off those substances.

2006 Total Film Feb. 104/2 I'd mended my ways by those days, I'd got off the sauce and all that.

d. In imperative U.S. get off it: expressing rejection, rebuke, or incredulity.

ΚΠ

1973 J. W. Zeigler Revolutionary Stage xiii. 217 ‘Get with it,’ he was saying to the central theatre. ‘Get off it,’ the central theatre replied.

1978 T. O'Brien Going after Cacciato xliv. 313 ‘Maybe we could explain it... Couldn't we? tell them how Cacciato—’ ‘Get off it man.’

1985 R. Carver Fires 191 What a hell of a thing to be thinking about... Come on, get off it.

2005 D. Heyn Drama Kings ii. 26 He'd get annoyed, like, ‘Oh, who cares. Just…get off it.’

2. intransitive. To obtain release from.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from (action) [verb (transitive)] > avoid or shun > get out of doing something

evade1722

to get out of ——a1817

to get off ——1835

odds1958

1735 R. Smythe Let. 8 May in A. Pope Wks. I. 482 If I should get off my engagement for this evening, leave word where I shall meet you.

1797 F. G. Waldron Virgin Queen ii. iii. 35 Now to try if we can get off keeping watch!

1835 J. Constable Let. 12 Sept. (1967) V. 27 I wish I could get off going there to lecture.

1893 Sir R. Romer in Law Times Rep. 68 443/1 It appears to me impossible to say that the defendants can get off the contract.

1950 R. Heinlein Farmer in Sky xii. 120 The only two merit badges..that stood in the way of my getting off probation and back up to my old rating of Eagle Scout were agronomy and planetary ecology.

1999 Guardian (Nexis) 20 May 3 A bunch of layabouts who have neither the means, nor the desire, to get off jury service.

2009 J. M. Carroll & K. Schultz Underneath It All 106 Encourage him to get off work a little early.

to get on ——

Cf. to get upon —— at Phrasal verbs 2 and to get on at Phrasal verbs 1.

1. intransitive.

a. To mount (a horse, etc.); to make one's way on to (a cart, train, aircraft, etc.).to get on one's high horse: see horse n. 23b.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride (a horse or other animal) [verb (transitive)] > mount (a horse or other animal)

to win upona1400

worthc1400

takea1438

mountc1540

to get upon ——1561

to get on ——1572

back1594

1572 J. Parinchef tr. Extracte of Examples, Apothegmes, & Hist. 85 He came to the horse, and..he so dealt with him, that in the ende he got on his backe.

a1607 H. Chettle Trag. Hoffman (1631) sig. H3^v Some got on Rafts..; many strid the mast, But the seas working was soe violent, That [etc.].

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 502 When the keeper employeth him [the elephant] in any burthen, hee getteth first on his necke.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 220 He got on Horse-back and departed.

1732 Visct. Bolingbroke Let. 18 July in J. Swift Corr. (1965) IV. 45 Get on Pegasus..or mount the white Nag in the Revelation.

1788 Calcutta Chron. 31 Jan. The next day they got on a dung-cart, which carried them 4 leagues into the country.

1826 A. N. Royall Sketches Hist., Life, & Manners U.S. 73 He is too fine to work, to be sure; what would he do, but get on his fine horse and ride about, and smoke cigars.

1868 Our Young Folks Nov. 668 The witch had flown. One morning she got on her broomstick and whisked away to Boston.

1891 C. Roberts Adrift in Amer. 67 I watched my chance..and got on a west-bound freight train.

1896 G. Ade Artie i. 5 If he gets on a street-car where I am, I get off and walk.

1905 E. R. Chudleigh Diary 20 Aug. (1950) 428 Huia was bare-footed..so she got on my back and I carried her with ease.

1944 J. Dos Passos Let. 4 Dec. in L. Miller Lett. from Lost Generation (1991) 288 When I finally got on the plane it was with the cosiest feeling of having been wined and dined.

1959 H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker (1965) i. 13 Mr. Jamieson rode a saddle pony for a few miles then got on the wagon with us.

2003 G. Burn North of Eng. Home Service (2004) iv. 108 It was this history that..made Jackie think nothing of getting on his bike and cycling the 72 miles home.

b. To convey oneself or be conveyed on to (a place or surface); to move oneself so as to be supported by (a part of the body), as to get on one's knees, to get on one's back. to get on one's feet: to assume a standing position, esp. for the purpose of speaking in public. to get on one's legs: see leg n. Phrases 1b(a).

ΚΠ

1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime viii. 84 I saued my selfe and got on shoare as wet as a drowned Rat.

1642 J. Howell Instr. Forreine Travell iii. 32 Some have used to get on the top of the highest Steeple, where one may view..all the Countrey circumjacent..and so take a Landskip of it.

1669 tr. Duc de Guise Mem. ii. 155 He got on his knees and begged his life.

1699 A. Boyer Royal Dict. (at cited word) To get On ones Feet, Se lever.

1704 Nat. Hist. iii, in L. Wafer New Voy. & Descr. Isthmus Amer. (ed. 2) 204 The River Souldier..they say it gets on Land to seek for Water when the Rivers are near dry.

1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxxv. 292 Getting on the roof of the house through the trap-door.

1874 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. 249 If there be a strong ‘outsetting’ tide,..then get on your back and float till help comes.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) II. 237 Pray observe how I gallop away when I get on smooth ground.

1903 J. London Call of Wild iv. 116 He did not get on his feet again till harness-up time in the morning.

1943 M. Shulman Barefoot Boy ix. 90 We got on the dance floor just as a Benny Goodman record started to play.

1999 Y. M. Murray What it takes to get to Vegas iv. 67 Told him to get on his knees and beg for his life.

c. To enter upon (a subject), esp. by chance.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of > begin or proceed to talk of

to get upon ——1704

to get on ——1705

1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea x. 158 Since we are got on this Subject, I must not forget to inform you that [etc.].

1758 C. Lennox Henrietta II. iv. iii. 127 Mrs. Autumn had got on a subject which she knew not how to quit.

1833 London Lit. Gaz. 7 Sept. 561/2 Every body talks too much; and when once they get on politics, there is no stopping them.

1868 W. Collins Moonstone I. i. x. 137 He lost his foreign smoothness; and, getting on the subject of the medical profession, said such downright things in ridicule of doctors, that he actually put good-humoured little Mr. Candy in a rage.

1906 J. H. Edge Irish Utopia xxx. 243 He and the good old priest soon got on the all-absorbing topic of the trial, and they talked and re-talked it over and over again.

1940 Proc. 31st Ann. Convent. Rotary Internat. 245 If we get on the question of controversial issues, we immediately take a chance on straining the friendships within Rotary.

2010 Financial Times 31 July 3 When he gets on the theme of statistics and research, Greenspan relaxes and becomes almost expansive.

†2. intransitive. To produce an effect on. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) v. i. 270 This discourse got somewhat on the slave, but not enough to bring him wholly to himself.

3. intransitive. Hunting. To come upon, meet with (an animal or bird).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hunt [verb (transitive)] > find game

to get on ——1711

1711 Narborough's Acct. Several Late Voy. (new ed.) ii. 94 I got on him [a Bird] the 11th of July.

1892 Irish Times 27 Jan. We had at last got on the fox that gave three such splendid runs from here to the Castletown country a few years ago.

1992 Alabama Game & Fish Feb. 48M/3 I was hunting a buck once, and I decided to take my rifle and a video camera. I got on the buck and he came in.

4. intransitive.

a. To affect (a person's mind, etc.) in such a way as to harass, obsess, or cause to become a source of worry; esp. in to get on a person's nerves (see nerve n. Phrases 4).to get on (a person's) quince: see quince n.¹ Phrases. to get on one's tits: see tit n.¹ Phrases 1. to get on one's wick: see wick n.¹ 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > state of being harassed > harass [verb (transitive)]

tawc893

ermec897

swencheOE

besetOE

bestandc1000

teenOE

baitc1175

grieve?c1225

war?c1225

noyc1300

pursuec1300

travailc1300

to work (also do) annoyc1300

tribula1325

worka1325

to hold wakenc1330

chase1340

twistc1374

wrap1380

cumbera1400

harrya1400

vexc1410

encumber1413

inquiet1413

molest?a1425

course1466

persecutec1475

trouble1489

sturt1513

hare1523

hag1525

hale1530

exercise1531

to grate on or upon1532

to hold or keep waking1533

infest1533

scourge1540

molestate1543

pinch1548

trounce1551

to shake upa1556

tire1558

moila1560

pester1566

importune1578

hunt1583

moider1587

bebait1589

commacerate1596

bepester1600

ferret1600

harsell1603

hurry1611

gall1614

betoil1622

weary1633

tribulatea1637

harass1656

dun1659

overharry1665

worry1671

haul1678

to plague the life out of1746

badger1782

hatchel1800

worry1811

bedevil1823

devil1823

victimize1830

frab1848

mither1848

to pester the life out of1848

haik1855

beplague1870

chevy1872

obsede1876

to get on ——1880

to load up with1880

tail-twist1898

hassle1901

heckle1920

snooter1923

hassle1945

to breathe down (the back of) (someone's) neck1946

to bust (a person's) chops1953

noodge1960

monster1967

the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > irritate [verb (transitive)]

gremec893

grillc897

teenOE

mispay?c1225

agrillec1275

oftenec1275

tarya1300

tarc1300

atenec1320

enchafec1374

to-tarc1384

stingc1386

chafe?a1400

pokec1400

irec1420

ertc1440

rehete1447

nettlec1450

bog1546

tickle1548

touch1581

urge1593

aggravate1598

irritate1598

dishumour1600

to wind up1602

to pick at ——1603

outhumour1607

vex1625

bloody1633

efferate1653

rankle1659

spleen1689

splenetize1700

rile1724

roil1742

to put out1796

to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823

roughen1837

acerbate1845

to stroke against the hair, the wrong way (of the hair)1846

nag1849

to rub (a person, etc.) up the wrong way1859

frump1862

rattle1865

to set up any one's bristles1873

urticate1873

needle1874

draw1876

to rough up1877

to stick pins into1879

to get on ——1880

to make (someone) tiredc1883

razoo1890

to get under a person's skin1896

to get a person's goat1905

to be on at1907

to get a person's nanny1909

cag1919

to get a person's nanny-goat1928

cagmag1932

peeve1934

tick-off1934

to get on a person's tits1945

to piss off1946

bug1947

to get up a person's nose1951

tee1955

bum1970

tick1975

1880 Girl's Own Paper 30 Oct. 74/2 A continual tapping gets on the nerves of others and worries them.

1920 R. Macaulay Potterism iii. ii. 127 ‘Never mind Arthur,’ she said. ‘I wouldn't let him get on my mind if I were you, mother.’

?1972 R. Galton & A. Simpson Best of Steptoe & Son (1989) 25 One cannot undertake creative work with somebody who gets on your threepenny bits as much as he does.

1992 S. Coogan et al. Alan Partridge: Every Ruddy Word (2003) 14/2 But these people really just get on my breasts.

b. U.S. slang. To unsettle, disconcert, or annoy; to reprimand or criticize; to pester.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)]

threac897

threapc897

begripea1000

threata1000

castea1200

chaste?c1225

takec1275

blame1297

chastya1300

sniba1300

withnima1315

undernima1325

rebukec1330

snuba1340

withtakea1340

reprovec1350

chastisea1375

arate1377

challenge1377

undertake1377

reprehenda1382

repreync1390

runta1398

snapea1400

underfoc1400

to call to account1434

to put downc1440

snebc1440

uptakec1440

correptc1449

reformc1450

reprise?c1450

to tell (a person) his (also her, etc.) own1450

control1451

redarguec1475

berisp1481

to hit (cross) one over (of, on) the thumbs1522

checkc1530

admonish1541

nip1548

twig?1550

impreve1552

lesson1555

to take down1562

to haul (a person) over the coals1565

increpate1570

touch1570

school1573

to gather up1577

task1580

redarguate?1590

expostulate1592

tutor1599

sauce1601

snip1601

sneap1611

to take in tax1635

to sharp up1647

round1653

threapen1671

reprimand1681

to take to task1682

document1690

chapter1693

repulse1746

twink1747

to speak to ——1753

haul1795

to pull up1799

carpet1840

rig1841

to talk to1860

to take (a person) to the woodshed1882

rawhide1895

to tell off1897

to tell (someone) where he or she gets off1900

to get on ——1904

to put (a person) in (also into) his, her place1908

strafe1915

tick1915

woodshed1935

to slap (a person) down1938

sort1941

bind1942

bottle1946

mat1948

ream1950

zap1961

elder1967

1904 E. W. Townsend Sure x. 126 Say, dis education game is getting on me, too.

1911 Pacific Monthly June 606/1 This long, dry period is getting on me, sweetheart. I'm losing my nerve—.

1914 Texas Criminal Rep. 69 591 I made some rough talk back to them about getting on me so hot, and told him he was a God dam liar or something that way.

1965 Boys' Life Apr. 21/3 ‘Why's he always getting on me, Al?’ ‘Don't worry about it, kid. Buster needles every rookie.’

1985 New Yorker 19 Aug. 53/2 I was just about to quit the business, too. What happened, my wife got on me.

1991 M. Mantle My Favorite Summer: 1956 v. 83 He never got on me for striking out.

†5. intransitive. Horse Racing. To stake money upon (a horse). Cf. to get on 9 at Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > bet on [verb (transitive)]

back1697

to put one's money on1847

to put one's shirt on1856

play1858

lump1864

lay1877

stand1877

to get on ——1884

to bet (also stake) one's shirt (that)1892

to go a (or the) bundle on1938

1884 Punch 18 Oct. 181/1 There is all the difference between getting on an ordinary hack and ‘getting on’ the favourite for the Derby.

1894 G. Moore Esther Waters xxxiii. 270 Get on a winner at forty to one, and you could make as much in one bet as a poor devil of a bookie could in six months, fagging from race-course to race-course.

1909 Times of India 12 Apr. 5/1 The three days' sport have been enjoyed..especially by those who were fortunate to get on the winners ere the bookmakers rubbed the names off their lists.

6. intransitive. To initiate communication by means of (a telephone, etc.).

ΚΠ

1916 H. Snowden Marshall: Hearings before Comm. on Judiciary (U.S. House of Representatives, 64th Congress, 1st Sess.) 706 She got on the phone—she asked for Miss Tanzer and my sister answered.

1930 Boys' Life Aug. 46/2 I'll get back to the office and get on the phone.

1951 ‘N. Shute’ Round Bend vii. 217 Somebody must have got on the blower from Bahrein.

1963 Life 19 Apr. 10/1 Every spring I get on the telephone with people who are making syrup.

1987 R. Shilts And Band played On vi. xxv. 250 Gary got on the horn to other people with AIDS.

2011 Private Eye 27 May 26/3 Bibi would get on the blower, and a terrific party would take place that very evening.

to get on to ——

1. intransitive. To shift the subject of discussion to, to move in the course of conversation to.

ΚΠ

1814 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 23 Apr. 513 I wish to get on to a very important topic.

1837 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 648/1 Let's now get on to what Skelton calls his ‘Derelictions’.

1881 J. Fiske Let. 31 Jan. (1940) 454 From carwheel we got on to contraction and expansion, molecular motion, vortex-atoms, the nebular hypothesis, matter and spirit, and so on.

1923 Humorist 29 Sept. 228/3 He got on to what was probably his favourite theme.

1944 D. Cooper Diary 9 June (2005) 310 When I got on to the question of the francs.

2003 G. Joseph Big Smoke xxvi. 237 They hadn't got on to football talk yet, but Martine knew her stuff.

2. intransitive. To pick up the trail or scent of (an animal). Also: to pick up and follow (the trail of an animal). Now rare.

ΚΠ

1837 New Sporting Mag. Feb. 111 Found in High-wood the fastest thing of the season... Got on to him at Beeches, and running hard through it, and on by Oxberry and Meesden, ran into him at Hormead.

1842 Sporting Rev. Mar. 203 They..got on to a good drag, and hunted him slowly, but beautifully, up to Madhams, where they got up to him.

1894 43rd & 52nd Light Infantry Chron. III. 238 After many attempts, this heat was started on a good boar. Kennard got on to him at once and ran him for some time, when Fanshawe got on to him.

1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox (1920) 143 The fox heard hounds get on to his line, And again the terror went down his spine.

1951 Irish Times 15 Feb. 2/7 He got on to another hare, which took him into the country.

1981 Winnipeg Free Press 13 Nov. 55/1 Whenever she got on to the scent of a sharptail, a rabbit would dash across her path to create problems.

1996 D. G. Schueler Handmade Wilderness xxv. 223 In the background, the stir of hounds or bird dogs snuffling in the thickets, wanting to get on to the next quarry.

3. intransitive. To get in touch or communication with (someone).

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > [verb (transitive)] > communicate with

to get to ——1853

to get on to ——1879

reach1886

to get through1917

contact1927

1879 C. M. Greene & S. Thompson Sharps & Flats i. 26 Clever, duecid [sic] clever and just as strong as he is clever. Bully of the board... Get on to him. Get—get on to him.

1895 W. B. Yeats Let. 3 Mar. (1954) ii. 252 I am beginning to think of getting on at Roscommon to Douglas Hyde. I shall go from that to Dublin.

1939 J. Cannan They rang up Police 72 Very well. Get on to him, darling, will you? And then I'll speak myself—that would be more courteous.

1955 Times 30 June 9/5 Then later I read the body was to be exhumed. This thing got on my nerves, so I got on to the police.

1978 J. Sherwood Limericks of Lachasse xi. 133 Get on to that plant hire place..and get them to have an excavator up here..to dig up the car park.

2007 J. Armstrong et al. Thick of It: Scripts Special 2. 318 You, I want you to get on to the press, I want you to tell them I am..all over it.

4. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To grasp the meaning, truth or significance of; to understand; to detect or discover.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [phrase]

to know what's whatc1422

to know where to find a person1565

to see the light1812

to be awake to1813

to know a move or two1819

to get on to ——1880

to get the strength of1890

to be (or get) wise to1896

to get the picture1900

the penny dropped1939

to pick up1944

to get the message1959

to take on board1979

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > reach understanding of > words or meaning

takec1175

understanda1225

intenda1400

conceive?1526

accept1587

construe1622

to catch a person's drift1821

comprehend1860

to get on to ——1880

1880 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 2 June 6/3 The visitors taking kindly to Ward's curves, Dunlap and McCormick especially getting on to him in fine style.

1893 S. Crane Maggie xv. 130 Do yehs want people teh get onto me?

1904 N.Y. Sun 7 Aug. 28 Wise people are getting on to the fact that Eastwood is no ordinary real estate development.

1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves ix. 97 I knew there wasn't a chance of my being able to work this stage wheeze in London without somebody getting on to it and tipping off the guv'nor.

1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement vi. 277 That was a bit of smart thinking on your part... There aren't many men about here who could have got on to it like that.

1940 E. Percy in Best One-act Plays 1940 70 It's very fortunate I got on to it in time. I'm sure I've saved Ann a great deal of unhappiness.

1998 A. Hollinghurst Spell (1999) xi. 147 He waited there for a moment or two, wondering impatiently how Martin had got on to him, what he hadn't noticed.

5. intransitive. colloquial. To scold or reprimand; to criticize.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)]

reprehendc1400

murmur1424

discommenda1500

belack1531

to find fault (with, at)c1540

scan?c1550

fault1563

pinch1567

to lift or move a lip1579

raign1581

reflect1605

criminate1645

criticize1652

nick1668

critic1697

chop1712

stricture1851

to get on to ——1895

chip1898

rap1899

nitpick1956

1895 Nottingham Daily Express 27 Aug. 8/1 If I go home I shall do it. My mother is always getting on to me.

1901 Testimony Select Comm. Hazing Mil. Acad. (U.S. House of Representatives 56th Congress, 2nd Sess.) 988 Mr. Burnett was getting onto Mr. Albert about something. I don't know whether it was about not bracing properly or a slovenly way in which he did the manual.

1962 ‘A. Burgess’ Wanting Seed iii. ix. 145 You stop getting on to me, boy. You keep them dirty words to yourself.

1994 C. Dexter Daughters of Cain xxx. 126 I don't get on to you, for what you like.

2009 R. Bautista in D. E. Davis et al. Voices from Nueva Frontera iii. 53 My dad..didn't like getting on to me for stuff I did bad.

to get out of ——

1. transitive.

a. To draw out, elicit (information) from (a person). Also: to succeed in obtaining (money, work, etc.) from (a person or animal).not to get any (or much) change out of: see change n. Phrases 5e.

ΚΠ

a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 134 Þe Abbot badde hym tellen it [sc. a sin] & he seide nay..& algate his abbot gate it out of hym.

1476 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 496 Dyverse have lost mony er they cowde gete ther dywtes owte off th' Estaple.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. xxvii. f. cxxii^v Hys accusers called vpon the matter, Pilate desiryng to get out of hym, wherby he mighte bee delyuered.

1584 W. Allen True Def. Eng. Catholiques i. 11 M. Thomson..was put to tormentes onelie to get out of him to what end he kept certaine Superaltaries.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 189 The Queene, perceiving well what he meant..yet resolved to get it plainly out of him.

1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer v. ii I told you 'twas in vain to think of getting money out of her.

1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 213 This was the Account we got out of them.

1737 S. Berington Mem. G. di Lucca 19 We resolv'd to try what we could get out of him by his own Confession.

1809 M. Edgeworth Ennui iii. in Tales Fashionable Life I. 149 I defy him to get the truth out of them, if they don't wish to tell it.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. ii. 267 You won't get anything out of him worth having.

1880 Science 9 Oct. 178/1 When a horse is ill, the policy of getting as much work out of him as possible is..exceedingly short-sighted.

1916 Overland Monthly Nov. 395/2 Nobody could get a word out of Burke as to what had excited him. He shut up like a clam.

1965 G. Jones Island of Apples ii. i. 68 She was mingier than ever, I couldn't get a penny out of her.

1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes ii. 37 Mother had gone off to hide. She knew something hot, and she did not want me to get it out of her.

1995 V. Stallwood Oxf. Mourning (1996) ix. 187 She would get the truth out of Angel. All of it.

b. To extract (juice, etc.) from (a substance).

ΚΠ

a1551 J. Redman Complaint of Grace (?1556) sig. Di Moyses was faine to get then water out of the hard stone.

1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 218 (heading) Of rosaries [L. rosariis], that is to say instruments wherwith a destilled liquor maye be gotten oute of Roses and other medicines.

1631 E. Pellham Gods Power 22 (margin) These [sc. Frittars or Graves] be the Scraps of the Fat of the Whale, which are flung away after the Oyle is gotten out of it.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 84 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors Opium..is nothing but the juice which is got out of poppy, by an incision made therein.

1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 98 The Trencher-maker is..cautious of getting the Sap out of this Wood.

1794 T. Wedge Gen. View Agric. Chester 58 The more perfectly the whey is got out of the cheese, by skewering, thrusting, and pressing, the less air will be left in it.

1854 H. R. Schoolcraft Information Indian Tribes U.S. IV. iii. 68 They do collect old bones if they have the least appearance of marrow or fat in them, and boil them to get the fat out of them.

1876 J. C. Geikie Life in Woods xxv. 399 Science got the beautiful metal aluminium out of the clay which ignorance trod under foot.

1973 J. Seymour & S. Seymour Self-sufficiency xvi. 221 The fish were..pressed with powerful presses to get the last drop of oil out of them.

2008 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Sept. b7 I felt like a lemon; they got the juice out of me and threw me away.

c. To gain or derive (something good or beneficial) from (a situation, experience, or thing).

ΚΠ

1553 R. Eden in tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India Pref. sig. Aiii I meane by knowledge y^t which we comonly call learning, whether it be gotte out of bokes..or otherwyse by conference & educacion with such as are lerned.

1583 C. Rosdell tr. J. Calvin Comm. Romanes iii. f. 44 For if the lawe make vs subiecte to death, what glorie shall wee gette out of it?

1616 S. Hieron Doctrines Triall 47 Determine if thou wouldest get ought out of Gods booke, by which thy soule may bee satisfied as with marow and fatnesse.

1668 J. Flavell Saint Indeed 124 O that I should have such a bad heart, that can get no good out of such troubles.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xi. ix. 177 He would have got a good Picking out of it.

1787 W. Huntington Justif. Sinner 219 A child of God often gains ground by such stumblings, and gets fresh discoveries out of confusion.

1867 Cheering Words Oct. 161 I read it [sc. the Bible], but I get no comfort out of it; the blessings spoken of there are not for me.

1893 J. Bonar Philos. & Polit. Econ. i. iii. 47 His independence consisted in making the best of the world as it stood, and getting the utmost enjoyment out of the good things of this life.

1909 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 589 A scientist.., when confronted by a complainant committee, is honestly thunderstruck to hear that nobody is getting anything out of his courses.

1962 Financial Times 24 Apr. 16/6 (advt.) The old master craftsmen got great satisfaction out of doing a job as well as it could possibly be done.

2006 K. A. Tufts in M. J. Smith & J. J. Fitzpatrick Best Pract. in Nursing Educ. xx. 151 I got a lot out of that experience by observing which techniques worked and which ones did not.

d. to get the most (also best) out of (someone or something): to get the maximum amount of value, effort, satisfaction, etc., from (a person or thing).

ΚΠ

1791 Abstr. of Evid. Select Comm.: Petitioners for Abol. Slave-trade (House of Commons) xii. 131 It appears..that pregnant women, to get the most out of them, are frequently worked within a very little time of their delivery.

1866 Q. Jrnl. Sci. 3 71 His power not only of getting into the minds of his students the utmost amount of knowledge, but..getting the most out of them for the advancement of science.

1897 W. B. Yeats Secret Rose 130 Whatever a man does against me, and wherever I am, I get the best out of things.

1902 Daily Chron. 29 Apr. 3/5 The workshop system answers because the master works with his men, and gets the best out of them.

1948 Life 6 Sept. 19/1 Southworth has a magnificent talent for getting the most out of players whom other managers have given up on.

2010 Independent 8 Dec. (Viewspaper section) 14/1 (heading) How do you get the best out of Venice? Visit La Serenissima during the low season.

2. intransitive.

a. To succeed in issuing or emerging from; to go or come out of; to escape from; to leave, quit. to get out of bed: to rise from one's bed (typically after sleep). to get out of bed (on) the wrong side: see wrong adj. 10g. to get out of a person's face: see face n. Phrases 5g(a).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)]

atwendOE

atwindc1000

overfleeOE

to come out of ——lOE

atstertc1220

atbreak?c1225

aschapea1300

scapea1300

aslipc1325

escape1340

atscapea1350

astartc1374

to wade out ofc1386

starta1400

withscapea1400

withslipa1400

atwapec1400

to get out of ——a1470

evite1503

outstart1513

to get from ——1530

rid1615

skip1630

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 351 And so with grete payne he gate oute of the pres.

a1500 (?a1400) Stanzaic Life of Christ (Harl. 3909) (1926) l. 8243 So geete he oute of that cite and wildernesse soght.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xxi. 64 Or he can gete out of the wood he wyll cause reyne and wynde.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xx. 25 b Some of them before they coulde gette out of the barke were stripped intoo their shyrtes.

1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 89 The Marquesse to get out of the confusion, and to avoyd the tumult..retired to his Castle.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 92 The Bride..gets out of bed, gets on a morning Gown [etc.].

1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle 64 I told him they might do as they thought fit, but I would get out of the Way.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. v. 187 He was..all in rags, being but just got out of Paita goal.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 600 Before they got out of the lane more than a hundred of them had been killed or wounded.

1882 Harper's Mag. June 49/2 She would tell him further that a man who got into scrapes ought to get out of them.

1924 Boys' Life July 45/2 One day he lost an eye in an accident. Just as soon as he could get out of the house he was back at work.

1965 Malcolm X Autobiogr. (1968) ix. 226 Sophia's husband had gotten out of the military, and he was some sort of salesman.

2004 Daily Tel. 1 Oct. 7/6 The Gucci girl rarely gets out of bed before the cocktail hour.

b. To divest oneself of (shares); to cease investing capital in (an enterprise).Quot. 1843 involves a pun on stock n.¹ 52a and 8a.

ΚΠ

1813 T. Jefferson Let. 25 Apr. in Papers (2009) Retirement Ser. VI. 86 I have unluckily got out of the Ravensworth pea.

1843 ‘Minor Hugo’ Hints & Refl. Railway Travellers III. viii. 80 We are glad to get out of the stocks at any compromise, even though we should get a little more into debt by so doing.

1868 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 Sept. 580 Some few, who were preternaturally wise, or who had caught a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes, took the hint, accepted the first slight loss, got out of everything they held.

1964 J. Didion Run, River (1969) ii. 18 There was no longer any money in hops: everyone on the river was getting out of them.

1978 Maclean's 18 Dec. 51/1 Governments are getting out of land-banking because it has failed to lower house prices.

1985 Times 31 July 15/1 Investors scramble to get out of stock as prices toboggan.

c. In imperative. British colloquial. get out of it: go away, be off; also (as an expression of incredulity) go on, you don't say so.

ΚΠ

1937 E. Partridge Dict. Slang 323/1 Gertcher, get out of it, you!

1943 T. Harrisson et al. Mass Observ. Pub & People (2009) vii. 245 Just then a sergeant with a stick and a P.C. came up... ‘Now then, come on there, get out of it, get out of it!.’

1960 H. Pinter Caretaker 27 Aston: She said, how would you like me to have a look at your body? Davies: Get out of it.

1991 C. James Brrm! Brrm! (1992) iii. 43 Garn, get out of it, you fuckin' slant-eyed git! Sod off!

1997 A. Wood EastEnders (BBC TV script) (O.E.D. Archive) Episode 575. 20 Lenny: Me and Huw have decided to help you to win the heart of the beautiful Mary. Robbie: Get out of it.

3. intransitive. To get beyond, esp. in to get out of one's depth, to get out of sight, to get out of reach, to get out of control.to get out of hand: see hand n. Phrases 1j(b)(iii).

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > lack of subjection > unruliness > be unruly [verb (intransitive)] > get out of control

to-breakc1475

to get out of ——1892

1596 Z. Jones tr. M. Barleti Hist. G. Castriot iv. 145 The enemie perceiuing that they were in a moment gotten out of sight, & thinking..that they were hidden in the bottome of the valley.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 73 The Galley..got quit out of their sight.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 45. ¶6 As I had a mind to hear the Play, I got out of the Sphere of her Impertinence.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. v. 171 They flattered themselves they were got out of his reach.

1831 E. T. Anwyl Tales of Welshland & Welsherie I. ii. 27 We had scarcely got out of sight of the cottage, before we met Mr. Cantwell.

1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 19 Jan. 4/3 He remained three hours in the water, afraid to move, lest he should get out of his depth.

1919 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 20 May 1/1 The aviator almost certainly would have sent a farewell message before getting out of radio range had an accident not befallen him.

1965 G. Weales Tennessee Williams 11 Its opening night was a fiasco, in part because a smoke-making machine got out of control.

1991 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 29 Dec. 3/1 His grandmother..beat him so horribly that he was sure she would kill him if he did not get out of her reach.

2012 Sun (Nexis) 6 Mar. 4 It's all very well taking on a challenge, but I think you could be getting out of your depth.

4. intransitive. Of a person: to give up, leave off (a fashion, etc.). Also: (of a thing) to begin to go out of (fashion or use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ceasing > cease from (an action or operation) [verb (transitive)] > abandon or relinquish (an activity or occupation)

remit1587

to give up1589

quit1607

to give off1613

to get out of ——1632

ding1852

to jack up1880

jack1902

to throw in1951

toss in1956

1632 T. Hooker Soules Prepar. for Christ 136 But I know not how to get out of it, saith the gallant, The custome is so usuall, that I cannot leave it.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 119. ¶7 The Rural Beaus are not yet got out of the Fashion that took place at the time of the Revolution.

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxx. 193 And between the one Character, which she wants to get into, and the other she dares not get out of, she trips up and down mincingly.

1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 214 Those classical wigs..that I am sorry to see getting out of fashion, yclept bobs.

1845 B. Disraeli Sybil III. vi. iv. 182 ‘It is the livery of the Bardolfs,’ said Lady Joan. ‘I always call them Firebrace; I cannot get out of it,’ said Mr. Mountchesney.

1877 Georgia Weekly Tel. 6 Nov. 1/7 This ancient practice is fast getting out of vogue.

1911 Life 1 June 1071/1 When their gowns begin to get out of style, no matter how good the gowns may be or how becoming, they wear them with heaviness of heart.

1963 R. C. Kwant Phenomenol. Philos. of Merleau-Ponty vi. 108 In every realm, including that of philosophy, terms may get out of use.

2001 R. Nicoll White Male Heart (2002) 200 I always believed there was a really exciting party going on. I've never been able to get out of the habit.

5. intransitive. To evade, escape from, avoid (something inconvenient or uncongenial).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)] > contrive to escape or evade

fleec1175

shunc1275

forgoc1305

passc1330

escapea1340

beglidea1350

voidc1380

shuntc1400

missa1522

evade1535

delude1536

to dally out1548

illude1553

prevent1598

outruna1616

to fail of1624

elude1634

subterfugea1643

shoot1685

shift1724

to get out of ——a1817

win by…1816

the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from (action) [verb (transitive)] > avoid or shun > get out of doing something

evade1722

to get out of ——a1817

to get off ——1835

odds1958

a1817 J. Austen Persuasion (1818) III. vii. 128 This is always my luck! If there is any thing disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it.

1885 Sir N. Lindley in Law Times Rep. 53 479/1 I do not see how to get out of the language of the Act.

1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge I. xxiii. 282 He is like a schoolboy in getting out of things that are disagreeable to him.

1893 Earl of Dunmore Pamirs I. 228 He tried to evade the question and..he attempted to get out of giving a direct reply.

1942 ‘M. Fitt’ Requiem for Robert (1948) v. 148 As I got older, I began trying to get out of going; and as she didn't press the point, my visits ceased.

1981 ‘Q. Crisp’ How to become Virgin i. 10 ‘But you don't really do nothing, do you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘But you read.’ ‘Books are for writing, not reading.’ ‘Well then, you write.’ ‘Not if I can possibly get out of it.’

2002 Lincs. Echo (Nexis) 19 Nov. 29 Whenever you could find a way of getting out of duties and exercises, the beach..was the place to be.

to get over ——

Cf. to get over at Phrasal verbs 1.

1. intransitive.

a. To overcome, surmount (a difficulty); to evade the force of (evidence); to cease to be troubled or surprised by.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > easiness > find no difficulty in [verb (transitive)] > surmount (difficulty or disaster)

overcomea1225

surmount1484

compass1561

superate1598

to get above ——1603

to get over ——1618

overa1800

to tide over1821

1618 E. Parr Plaine Expos. Epist. St. Paul to Romans (viii. 29) 64 The world casts shamefull and opprobrious things vpon them which followe Christ: which keepes many, from professing the Gospell; this being such a rub which they cannot get ouer.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 They cannot get over the Prejudice of [Edu]cation.

1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome ii. 469 [This] was Alexander's great difficulty, which for many years he happily got over.

1764 E. Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) IV. 376 Yet the name of slave was not to be got over.

1783 Ainsworth's Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (new ed.) iv. at Bellerophontes He conquered them, and got safe over several other dangers.

1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain 264 All such substances, milk, butter, cheese, oil, have a particular taste at first, which use alone gets over.

1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 597/1 We have happily got over the prejudice of last century.

1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke x. 80 No explanation or excuse could get over the fact that the man was dead.

1934 D. Thomas Let. 15 Apr. (1987) 113 But I haven't got over the idea yet that if I open a cupboard door very quickly, I might see you sitting & beaming inside.

1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. ii. 2/1 The novelty value of spaghetti bolognaise can often get over the hurdle of the silverbeet hidden in the sauce.

2001 T. Parsons One for my Baby ii. 30 My mum and dad act as though I am a nut job for not getting over Rose.

b. To finish, accomplish (an action); to get through with, have done with.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > completing > complete (an action or piece of work) [verb (transitive)] > get finished with (a task, etc.)

overcome?c1225

speedc1340

overtake?a1400

rid1467

finish1526

absolve1574

to work off1618

to get over ——a1646

to finish with1823

a1646 J. Burroughs Christ inviting Sinners (1659) xi. 78 Men that have been ful of business, and afterwards have got over their business, what a freedome do they account it.

1761 tr. C. Batteux Course Belles Lettres III. iv. ii. v. 194 Who ever can get over the first reading, will find in the second wherewithall to recompense them.

1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxvii The inn..had clearly got over its day's labour.

1889 A. V. Carr Margaret Maliphant II. xxiv. 191 I had got over my visit quite safely.

1937 H. Jennings et al. May 12th Mass-observ. Day-surv. (1987) ii. 358 The general feeling in the spinning room..is that work is an evil thing, a thing to be got over as quickly as possible.

1999 G. E. Marcus Let. 25 Mar. in G. E. Marcus & F. Mascarenhas Ocasião (2005) 154 I'll write more this weekend as soon as I get over the business of the week.

c. To recover from (a shock, injury, illness, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > recover (health) [verb (transitive)] > recover from (an illness)

recoverc1330

overseta1600

to come through ——1655

to get over ——1662

overgeta1729

overa1800

overcast1830

the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restoration of a person > recovery from misfortune, error, etc. > [verb (transitive)]

overcomea1225

recoverc1330

overputa1382

overpassa1387

passa1500

digest1577

to put over1593

outwear1598

overseta1600

to make a saving game of it1600

repassa1631

to get over ——1662

overgeta1729

overcast1788

overa1800

1662 Hist. Life M. Corbet in Speeches, Disc. & Prayers J. Barkstead, J. Okey & M. Corbet (new ed.) ii. 39 If I can get over my present ilness, I shall perform my Journey very well.

1712 C. Mordaunt Let. in E. Hamilton Mordaunts (1965) iv. 83 I hope she may be in no great danger but got over the Measles as easily as I did.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 274 He was now gotten over his Fright.

1769 O. Goldsmith Rom. Hist. II. 357 These excesses..brought on a violent fever..which his constitution was sufficiently strong to get over.

1839 Thirty-six Yrs. Seafaring Life 219 Such was his state, that no one supposed he ever could get over it [an amputation].

1873 C. M. Yonge Cameos cxv, in Monthly Packet May 459 I shall get over this hurt.

1892 Good Words May 341/2 A shock that he never got over.

1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 3 When they found him he was melancholy mad, poor old boy; and he never got over it.

1966 Listener 13 Jan. 77/1 ‘I shall never get over her death..,’ he said, over eighty years later.

2006 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 6 Dec. After Jackie split from her first husband,..she consulted psychics in an effort to get over the trauma of the experience.

d. U.S. to get over the footlights: = to get across at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΚΠ

1915 Munsey's Mag. Aug. 515/1 Shaw was generally considered altogether too wild to stand a chance of getting over the footlights.

1951 H. S. Canby Turn West, turn East x. 204 Plot and characters did not get over the footlights, probably because he did not really believe in plots, nor was much interested in pure personality.

2004 J. Meyers Somerset Maugham (2005) iv. 54 He believed that the playwright had to have a distinct knack, ‘the dramatic instinct’ for writing lines that get over the footlights.

e. colloquial (originally North American). to get over oneself: to stop being conceited; to look beyond one's own interests.

ΚΠ

1982 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 29 Oct. Come on, get over yourself, darling.

1986 Arkansas Gaz. 21 Jan. a8/3 I don't need to support him..with my money... He needs to get over himself.

1997 Guardian (Nexis) 20 May (Features section) 6 When will scientists get over themselves enough to recognise that chocolate is simply an inherently Good Thing.

2003 T. Richards & E. Blehm P3 v. 93 Do you think I'll recognize your name or something? I don't care if you are some pro, so get over yourself.

2. intransitive. To while away, succeed in passing (time). Cf. to get through —— 3 at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > spending time > spend time or allow time to pass [verb (transitive)]

overdoOE

adreeOE

wreaka1300

to draw forthc1300

dispend1340

pass1340

drivea1375

wastec1381

occupyc1384

overpassa1387

to pass over ——a1393

usec1400

spend1423

contrive?a1475

overdrive1487

consumea1500

to pass forth1509

to drive off1517

lead1523

to ride out1529

to wear out, forth1530

to pass away?1550

to put offc1550

shiftc1562

to tire out1563

wear1567

to drive out1570

entertainc1570

expire1589

tire1589

outwear1590

to see out1590

outrun1592

outgo1595

overshoot1597

to pass out1603

fleeta1616

elapse1654

term1654

trickle1657

to put over1679

absorb1686

spin1696

exercise1711

kill1728

to get through ——1748

to get over ——1751

tickc1870

fill1875

1751 E. Justice Amelia 64 He..could not find that she was in the least the Occasion of his Roving, or of those discontented Hours he so melancholy got over.

1824 S. Beazley Philandering ii. ii. 35 Hem! hem! well, I've got over the night however without either hanging or drowning myself; I see a man can do a great deal with a little resolution.

1890 Temple Bar 90 147 He never is quite clear afterwards how he gets over the hours that intervene.

1930 Times of India 29 Nov. 13/7 These dreary, desultory efforts to get over the blank hours.

1987 Washington Informer 15 Apr. 31 Compared with the last several days, getting over the next several days should be a piece of cake.

3. intransitive. To cover (a distance).

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military operations > manoeuvre > [verb (intransitive)] > move or march

move?a1400

marcha1450

remarch1620

countermarch1644

to get over ——1781

yomp1982

tab1985

1781 H. Lloyd Contin. Hist. Late War in Germany 33 You are sometimes several hours in getting over a mile of ground.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 6 You can get over a couple of thousand miles of ground for three pound ten.

1883 G. M. Fenn Middy & Ensign xxxii. 193 Ten miles were got over that evening.

1918 W. H. Hudson Far Away & Long Ago xiii. 185 As we sat talking after supper I expressed my intention of leaving early in the morning so as to get over a few leagues while it was fresh.

1941 Scotsman 7 May 6/2 What you have to answer is how the Germans got over 300 miles of sea with a superior force to that which we could muster.

2006 Geelong (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 11 Oct. 43 He has won a couple of races over the 2500 metres, which should stand him in good stead when they get over a bit of distance.

4. intransitive. slang. To take advantage of (someone); to circumvent; (also, in later use) to dominate, overwhelm.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > overcome or overwhelm

overcomeeOE

overgangOE

overnimOE

overswivec1175

foldc1275

overgoc1275

to bear downc1330

oversetc1330

outrayc1390

overleada1393

overreach?a1425

overwhelmc1425

to whelve overc1440

overruna1475

surprise1474

overpress1489

surbatea1500

overhale1531

overbear1535

overcrow1550

disable1582

surgain1586

overpower1597

overman1609

to come over ——1637

to run down1655

overpower1667

compel1697

to get over ——1784

overget1877

to grab (also take) by the balls1934

the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > cunning > treat cunningly [verb (transitive)] > circumvent or overreach

overgoc1275

circumvene1526

circumvent1564

undercreep1592

overreach1594

circuit1614

out-juggle1620

outwit?1630

out-plot1648

overwit1671

Cretizea1673

outjockey1714

to steal a march1771

to get over ——1784

Jew1825

outfox1872

outsmart1926

blindside1968

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > exploit or take advantage of > specifically a person

to prey upon1610

impose1667

picaroon1681

live1712

to twirl (a person) round one's finger1748

to get over ——1784

exploit1838

to play (it) low down (on)1864

to avail upona1871

pole1906

to put on1958

1784 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. (new ed.) VII. 141 This would secure that place to him in case of a demise, and be a bar against any one getting over him.

1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxvii. 279 ‘Wery glad to see you, Sammy,’ said the elder Mr. Weller, ‘though how you've managed to get over your mother-in-law, is a mystery to me.’

1840 H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox viii. 49 And as the old boy's not always exactly wide awake, he's to be got over just in the same way.

1891 F. W. Robinson Her Love & his Life II. iv. ix. 210 You'll have to get up early to get over me.

1911 F. H. Burnett Secret Garden x. 93 Tha' thinks tha'll get over me by doin' that... Tha' thinks no one can stand out against thee—that's what tha' thinks.

1933 Washington Post 15 Jan. s13/1 She came after me and gave me no peace till I—I didn't want to do the dirty on my colonel..But a man's only a man after all and she knew how to get over me.

2001 Los Angeles Sentinel 17 Oct. b4 In boxing, you learn not only how to be defensive, but how to say, ‘I'm tough, you can't get over me.’

5. transitive. to get one over = to get one over on at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

undergoa1325

circumvene1526

crossbitec1555

circumvent1564

gleek1577

outreach1579

fob1583

overreach1594

fub1600

encompassa1616

out-craftya1616

out-knave1648

mump1649

jockey1708

come1721

nail1735

slew1813

Jew1825

to sew up1837

to play (it) low down (on)1864

outfox1872

beat1873

outcraft1879

to get a beat on1889

old soldier1892

to put one over1905

to get one over on1912

to get one over1921

outsmart1926

shaft1959

1921 R. Watson Spoilers of Valley xii. 159 I'm going to get one over that bunch if it is only to satisfy my own Scotch inquisitiveness.

1989 New Scientist 25 Feb. 75/1 That and the notion of getting one over you inspires this puzzle.

1997 J. Mathews in G. Smith Children's Food ii. 25 It involves getting one over adults.

2007 Church Times 27 July 9/4 They are getting one over the capitalist system in a Robin Hoodish kind of way.

to get round ——

Cf. to get round at Phrasal verbs 1.

1. intransitive. To induce (a person) to relax or abandon his or her reluctance, caution, or resistance; to circumvent, get the better of; to win round.

ΘΚΠ

bicharrea1100

fodea1375

begoc1380

inveiglea1513

to hold in halsc1560

to get within ——1572

cajole1645

to cajole with1665

butter1725

veigle1745

flummer1764

to get round ——1780

to come round ——1784

to get around ——1803

flatter-blind1818

salve1825

to come about1829

round1854

canoodle1864

moody1934

fanny1938

cosy1939

mamaguy1939

snow1943

snow-job1962

1780 Earl of Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. (1844) I. 309 The French are indefatigable in the pains they take to get round the Empress.

1804 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems 40 But Tabby was terribly wroth To think he should think to get round her.

1848 G. F. Ruxton Life in Far West iii, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 130/2 One from the Land of Cakes..sought to ‘get round’ (in trade) a right ‘smart’ Yankee, but couldn't ‘shine’.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 40 I must..ask her for the ring, very polite and civil, and try if I can't get round her that way.

1890 Harper's Mag. Nov. 963/2 She probably managed to get round him in various ways.

1934 G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good iii. 102 You think you can get round me by pretending to be my daughter; but that just shews what a fool you are; for I hate my daughter and my daughter hates me.

a1956 K. Sekyi Blinkards (1974) i. ii. 38 So you want to get round the old man? All right, come to my office tomorrow.

2000 H. Simpson Hey Yeah Right (2001) 161 And don't think you're going to get round me like that.

2. intransitive. To evade (a difficulty); to solve or deal successfully with (a problem).

ΚΠ

1801 F. Ames in Mercury & New-Eng. Palladium 4 Dec. 1/4 That one great barrier of the constitution..may be subverted indirectly though not directly. The democrats cannot get over it; but they say they will get roundit.

1854 Merry's Museum 27 374/2 Please don't attempt to get round the question..by denying the facts, but meet it fair and square on its logical merits.

1896 Westm. Gaz. 24 July 1/2 With every change in the rules comes a fresh ingenuity in getting round them.

1934 G. D. H. Cole & M. Cole Guide Mod. Politics ii. iv. 108 Not even American democracy can get round the fact that the fittest in the modern world are commonly those who possess the largest incomes.

1954 A. Skira Degas 54 Degas got round this drawback by using pastels instead of oils.

1971 G. Moore tr. M. Beti Poor Christ of Bomba ii. 101 ‘But the chief knows that the legal maximum is five hundred francs.’ ‘Don't be a donkey, my dear Vidal. You know that the natives always find ways of getting round that.’

1988 J. Trefil Dark Side of Universe xi. 152 To get round this disparity, superstring theorists postulate that [etc.].

2008 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 18 July 23 A bar is trying to get round the ban on smoking..by declaring itself part of the One and Universal Smokers' Church of God.

to get through ——

Cf. to get through at Phrasal verbs 1.

1. intransitive.

a. To reach the end of, bring to a conclusion, accomplish (a task, etc.).

ΚΠ

1602 J. Hayward Serm. Steward's Danger 43 Thus are wee now got through the first verse of our text.

1661 A. Marvell Let. 27 June in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 33 We are not yet got through the bill of Corporations to haue it ingrossd.

1782 London Mag. Oct. 460/1 Lady Catterwaul was teized to sing, and she got through ‘Non temen’, &c. as well a good church yard cough, and a tolerable astmatic [sic] wheeze would permit.

1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 463/2 He managed to get through four good meals.

1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss I. ii. i. 264 He got through his supines without mistake.

1889 J. Masterman Scotts of Bestminster I. vi. 194 He therefore got through his business as quickly as he could.

1903 W. B. Yeats Let. 6 Dec. (1994) III. 478 Please forgive me for dictating this letter, but I am up to my ears in occupations and must get through my work as quickly as possible.

1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. i. 27 You sure going to Wood Bridge with us after Ah git thru tellin' this one?

1942 R. L. Haig-Brown Timber xix. 278 ‘They're rich,’ Julie said. ‘They own oil. That's how Ron got his start so soon after getting through college.’

2004 All about Soap 23 Oct. 66/3 I tried to get through the scene, but in the end I just gave up and we had to do a retake.

b. To pass (an examination).

ΚΠ

1829 Scots. Mag. Mar. 218 A knowledge of what has been laid down in the lectures is by no means necessary to enable a student to get through these examinations.

1840 J. T. J. Hewlett Peter Priggins xvi, in New Monthly Mag. Getting through his great-go by a shave.

1894 J. Mackenzie tr. V. M. Garshine in Gentleman's Mag. July 16 ‘Congratulate you on what?’ ‘I have just got through my exams. for the Teaching Seminary.’

1969 ‘C. Fremlin’ Possession xvii. 137 Janice said what about her revising?.. How could she ever get through her Mocks next term?

1992 S. Fry Paperweight (1993) 141 There are lots of children relying on you to help them get through their exams.

†c. to get through the court: (of a bankrupt) to receive a discharge (see discharge n. 2a). Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1838 Rep. Select Comm. Manor Courts, Ireland 27 in Parl. Papers 1837–8 (H.C. 648) XVII. 1 Generally they got through the court, and with the adjudication in their pocket they never paid their debts.

1855 D. Costello Stories from Screen 82 As to the Court, if you did get through it..you'd be worse off when you came out than when you went in.

2. intransitive. Of a bill: to be passed by (a legislative assembly).

ΘΚΠ

society > law > legislation > make (a) law(s [verb (intransitive)] > be passed into law

pass1454

to pass the seals1710

to get through ——1718

1718 L. Echard Hist. Eng. (new ed.) III. i. ii. 173 During these Divisions between the Houses, the King under-standing the Poll-Bill, and some others, to have got through both..came to the House of Peers.

1718 L. Echard Hist. Eng. (new ed.) III. i. iv. 316 It [sc. a bill] did not get through the House of Lords.

1845 Economist 10 May 439/1 On the same night the Maynooth Bill got through Committee, subjected to an opposition on the pure voluntary system by Mr Crawford and only three other members.

1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 168 A new Reform Bill had got through the Commons by more than a hundred majority.

1931 Science 13 Mar. 279/2 The Everglades National Park bill failed to get through the House, though it passed the Senate.

2011 Sun (Nexis) 4 Apr. 2 Insiders say the Bill will need major surgery to get through the House of Lords where concerned peers have met with experts who oppose the proposals.

3. intransitive. To succeed in passing (time); esp. to find occupation for (a period of time), so as to escape boredom. Cf. to get over —— 2 at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > spending time > spend time or allow time to pass [verb (transitive)]

overdoOE

adreeOE

wreaka1300

to draw forthc1300

dispend1340

pass1340

drivea1375

wastec1381

occupyc1384

overpassa1387

to pass over ——a1393

usec1400

spend1423

contrive?a1475

overdrive1487

consumea1500

to pass forth1509

to drive off1517

lead1523

to ride out1529

to wear out, forth1530

to pass away?1550

to put offc1550

shiftc1562

to tire out1563

wear1567

to drive out1570

entertainc1570

expire1589

tire1589

outwear1590

to see out1590

outrun1592

outgo1595

overshoot1597

to pass out1603

fleeta1616

elapse1654

term1654

trickle1657

to put over1679

absorb1686

spin1696

exercise1711

kill1728

to get through ——1748

to get over ——1751

tickc1870

fill1875

1748 C. Cibber Lady's Lect. 5 Agreements for Life are so apt to put them out of Humour with one another before they get through the first half Year of their Term.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 16 Those who..have no other plan in life, but to get through it in sloth and ignorance.

1849 A. Helps Friends in Council II. i. iv. 93 How do you get through the days?

1890 Temple Bar Oct. 145 He gets through the morning tolerably well with letter-writing.

1920 ‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain xvii. 214 Long, overeaten irritable hours to be got through before bedtime.

1973 N. Freedman Joshua 149 It was a time of waiting. A time to be gotten through.

2012 Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 27/1 He spent six months..wondering how to get through each minute; and if he would ever recover.

4. intransitive. To use up, run through, expend (money).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > using up, expending, or consuming > use up, expend, or consume [verb (transitive)]

spend1297

usea1382

costa1400

consumea1527

to make a hole (in anything)1591

absorb1686

to use up1712

expend1745

to use off1812

to get through ——1833

to go through ——1949

1833 Court Jrnl. 13 July 485/3 There is now in Paris an English gentleman, whose income is said to be 14,000l. a-year. As he is not a gambler, he finds it exceedingly difficult to get through his money.

1864 Dublin Univ. Mag. June 678/2 The youth with a broken constitution had got through all his money the very week on which the doctors had appointed him to die.

1903 W. A. Ellis Life Wagner III. iv. 205 By the end of this month I shall have got through all my money.

1958 Economist 11 Oct. 155/1 A racecourse, a dog track, and thirty-nine pubs help the men to get through the £A2,000 a year that many of them have been earning.

1998 Today's Golfer Sept. 22 Get through a small fortune on logoed merchandise, equipment and food and drink.

to get to ——

1. intransitive. To begin, settle down to. See also sense 26b(c). Cf. to get to at Phrasal verbs 1.to get to business: see business n. Phrases 13. to get to work: see work n. Phrases 1f(b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)]

beginc1000

take?a1160

comsea1225

gina1325

commencec1330

tamec1386

to take upa1400

enterc1510

to stand to1567

incept1569

start1570

to set into ——1591

initiate1604

imprime1637

to get to ——1655

flesh1695

to start on ——1885

1655 T. Gouge Narr. Life Dr. Gouge in W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes sig. c2 If he heard any at their work before he had got to his study, he would say,..that he was much troubled that any should be at their Calling before he at his.

1683 Fifteen Real Comforts of Matrimony xvi. 114 A man may conclude his wife safe, when she is once got to her Cards.

1787 J. Woodforde Diary 28 Aug. (1926) II. 342 We got to Cards the Game Vingt' one or one and twenty at which I lost abt. 1. o. o.

1855 L. Oliphant Minnesota & Far West 163 We had no intention of ‘getting to housekeeping’ in Superior.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. Introd. 2 Tom was..beginning to feel that it was high time for him to be getting to regular work again.

1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship II. v. 52 You and I will get to business with due solemnity.

1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast xiv. 228 With his first cigar Blenkiron got to business.

1976 E. Hamner Homecoming i. 12 There's work to do. Now get to it!

1996 C. Robb King's Bishop v. 57 Now get to your chores. I cannot abide slothfulness.

2. intransitive. Chiefly North American. To reach the attention or feelings of (an audience, etc.) with a message, performance, etc. Cf. to get across 2b at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > [verb (transitive)] > communicate with

to get to ——1853

to get on to ——1879

reach1886

to get through1917

contact1927

1853 J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama & Mississippi 63 The squire..was particularly pleased when he got to a jury on ‘a plain note’, and particularly annoyed when the road was blocked up by pleas in abatement and demurrers or special pleas in bar.

1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways I. i. 23 Get to her, if in no other way, by the sentimental route.

1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 28/6 They didn't even realize that they were hearing a great man in Teagarden..even though we always got to them by the end of the evening.

1985 T. Gibbs in I. Gitler Swing to Bop vii. 237 See, Stan got to the audience more, and Stan was a giant player, even though Al actually, musically, could play rings around everybody at the right tempo.

1999 A. M. Sayers Parties, Candidates & Constituency Campaigns in Canad. Elections vii. 113 Getting to voters in these communities can be difficult and requires large teams of volunteers willing to canvass and drop literature.

3. intransitive. slang (chiefly U.S.). To bribe.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe

meedOE

underorna1325

corrump1387

forbuy1393

hirec1400

wage1461

fee1487

under-arearc1503

bribe1528

grease1528

money1528

corrupt1548

budc1565

to feed with money1567

to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580

sweeten1594

to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598

over-bribe1619

to buy off1629

palter1641

to take off1646

buy1652

overmoneya1661

bub1684

to speak to ——1687

to tickle in the palm1694

daub1699

overbuy1710

touch1752

palm1767

to get at ——1780

fix1790

subsidize1793

sop1837

to buy over1848

backsheesh1850

nobble1856

square1859

hippodrome1866

see1867

boodleize1883

boodle1886

to get to ——1901

reach1906

straighten1923

lubricate1928

to keep (someone) sweet1939

sling1939

to pay off1942

bung1950

1901 Westm. Gaz. 18 Sept. 8/2 Johns are sure to visit the old girl to see if anyone has got to her.

1908 H. C. Fisher A. Mutt (1977) 41 The jury has been out for 24 hours..Tobasco got to one of them.

1930 E. D. Sullivan Chicago Surrenders i. 10 Gangsters can't operate on a satisfactory scale anywhere until they have ‘got to someone’.

2001 K. Sampson Outlaws 170 He's like an Untouchable. He's like De Niro in A Bronx Tale, you can't get to him, he won't take nothing from you.

4. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To have an overpowering negative effect upon the spirits or outlook of (a person); to worry, depress, or obsess.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > cause of mental pain or suffering > cause mental pain or suffering to [verb (transitive)]

heavyc897

pineeOE

aileOE

sorryeOE

traya1000

sorrowOE

to work (also do) (a person) woeOE

angerc1175

smarta1200

to work, bake, brew balec1200

derve?c1225

grieve?c1225

sitc1225

sweam?c1225

gnawc1230

sughc1230

troublec1230

aggrievea1325

to think sweama1325

unframea1325

anguish1340

teen1340

sowa1352

distrainc1374

to-troublea1382

strain1382

unglad1390

afflicta1393

paina1393

distressa1400

hita1400

sorea1400

assayc1400

remordc1400

temptc1400

to sit (or set) one sorec1420

overthrow?a1425

visit1424

labour1437

passionc1470

arraya1500

constraina1500

misgrievea1500

attempt1525

exagitate1532

to wring to the worse1542

toil1549

lament1580

adolorate1598

rankle1659

try1702

to pass over ——1790

upset1805

to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823

to put (a person) through it1855

bludgeon1888

to get to ——1904

to put through the hoop(s)1919

1904 N.Y. Evening Jrnl. 10 May 12 The talented gent..fears that the culture of the Bean Town might get to him.

1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice (1985) 108 He kind of got to you, hey?

1968 New Yorker 28 Dec. 42/2 You can't excuse yourself that way, any more than you can let drunks and such get to you.

1982 V. N. McIntyre Wrath of Khan iv. 84 Del's flakiness got to her worst when she was exhausted.

2009 E. Thom Tin-kin 83 You could always tell when something was getting to her because she'd have to start pulling her split-ends, chewing her cuticles, biting the inside of her mouth.

to get upon ——

Cf. to get on at Phrasal verbs 1.

1. intransitive. To convey oneself or be conveyed on to (a place or surface); to move oneself so as to be supported by (a part of the body); = to get on —— 1b at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΚΠ

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2124 (MED) Bot he..hield him faste, That he ne mihte with no sleighte Out of his hond gete upon heighte.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 12 All beastes so soone as they are delivered from their dam get upon their feete, and are able to stand a high alone.

1685 J. Dunton Hue & Cry after Conscience 78 I got upon my feet, when looking round me, I perceived a neighbouring Grove.

1720 D. Manley Power of Love i. 123 With much Difficulty he got upon his Knees.

1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) v. 42 Gentlemen who get upon their legs to return thanks for having been ‘tea-potted’.

1887 W. Besant World Went xv. 122 A young man got upon a ladder..and sat upon the topmost rung.

1933 W. N. Kellogg & L. A. Kellogg Ape & Child vii. 148 He then gets upon his stomach and while in this position he slides himself backward by pushing with his hands.

a1976 C. Reznikoff Testimony (1979) II. 122 At this, those who had come to hear the trial Stood up, too; And some got upon the benches and others crowded forward.

2. intransitive. To mount (a horse, etc.); = to get on —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride (a horse or other animal) [verb (transitive)] > mount (a horse or other animal)

to win upona1400

worthc1400

takea1438

mountc1540

to get upon ——1561

to get on ——1572

back1594

1561 G. Gilby tr. J. Calvin Admon. against Astrol. Iudiciall sig. B.vii^v Certayne phantasticall felowes..which durst not get vpon their mules without thei had afore asked leaue of the stars.

1652 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Hist. Relations Flanders 152 When the Coach-horses were tired; he and his wife got upon the pacing geldings.

1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 224. ⁋2 Thus the fable tells us, that the wren mounted as high as the eagle, by getting upon his back.

1826 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 4 Nov. 361 Getting upon a good strong horse, and riding about the country has no merit in it.

2007 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 3 Apr. 7 Each and every citizen will be obliged to get upon their donkey..and wend their way to a site in Plymouth.

a. intransitive. To enter upon (a subject); = to get on —— 1c at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of > begin or proceed to talk of

to get upon ——1704

to get on ——1705

1704 T. Baker Act at Oxf. iv. ii. 39 You are got upon a whimsical Subject.

1759 Campaign I. i. i. 2 Our good citizens having now got upon a topic that most of them were totally unacquainted with, there was not a moment's silence.

1852 H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 38 If you find us getting upon these topics, join us.

1887 F. J. Whishaw tr. F. Dostoevsky Idiot iv. vii. 418 Yesterday, Aglaya Ivanovna forbade me to talk, and even specified the particular subjects I must not touch upon—she knows well enough that I am odd when I get upon these matters.

1919 S. Anderson Winesburg, Ohio 1 The brother had died of starvation, and whenever the carpenter got upon that subject he cried.

1938 J. Cary Castle Corner (1963) vi. 234 Cobden, languidly strolling forward with his crutched stick held before him like a processional cross, had now got upon his favourite subject, the philistinism of the English.

1973 Eng. Hist. Rev. 88 862 Despite the shyness and inhibition he felt when the conversation got upon political topics..he heard and remembered much.

†b. transitive to bring (a person) to talk about a subject. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1805 J. Bentham Let. 16 July in Corr. (1998) VII. 307 Before this, I had got him upon the subject of his Son Molyneux.

1835 F. W. Thomas Clinton Bradshaw II. xi. 222 Nothing pleased Clinton more than to get him upon that topic, for he would show off all his own eccentricities in describing those of others.

1891 M. M. Dowie Girl in Karpathians ix. 111 We fell a-talking about one thing and another. Very soon I got him upon legends and tales of the district.

1922 C. K. Scott-Moncrieff tr. M. Proust Swann's Way I. 31 When you get him upon Maubant or Mme. Materna he will talk for hours on end.

to get with ——

1. intransitive.

a. Originally North American. To associate or keep company with; to join, be accepted by.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate with [verb (transitive)]

seeOE

drawc1275

mella1300

meeta1325

fellow1340

usec1384

conjoinc1386

joinc1390

knitc1400

accompany1461

enfellowship1470

frequent1477

haunt1477

mixa1513

encompanya1533

combinea1535

contract1548

to take with ——1562

associate1581

to have a saying toa1593

cope1594

sort1594

to take in1597

consort1600

herd1606

factionate1611

to keep company (with)a1616

accost1633

solder1641

converse1649

walk1650

consociate1653

coalite1734

to get with ——a1772

forgather1786

unionize1810

to go rounda1867

to mix in1870

cop1940

a1772 J. Woolman Jrnl. & Major Ess. (1971) i. 26 Giving way to youthful vanities, they gained strength, and, getting with wanton young people, I lost ground.

1859 J. Redpath Roving Editor 314 I had had a pretty easy life till I got with them.

1873 G. M. Grant Ocean to Ocean iii. 50 Louis tried to get with us by exchanging places with Baptiste, but Baptiste couldn't see it.

1939 N.Y. Times 12 Dec. 26/4 You get with people and you are never alone. To sing with people is beautiful.

1968 Chicago Daily Defender 24 June 12/1 This is certainly an opportunity for youngsters who want to get with a swinging group to make it!

2003 J. Dawson & S. Propes 45 RPM xii. 98 The key in those days was to get with the jocks.

b. colloquial (originally U.S.). To become romantically or sexually involved with.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > love affair > have affectionate or sexual relationship [verb (intransitive)]

to hook up1903

to get with ——1916

involve1936

to have a thing (with a person)1959

to have something going (with someone)1971

1916 District Rep. State of Pennsylvania 25 579 She proceeded to ‘get with him’, the libellant.

1965 D. A. Ward & G. G. Kassebaum Women's Prison iv. 99 It usually follows a set pattern unless you get with a freak and they're usually freaky about only one or two things.

1992 Ebony May 84/2 Eight months ago she started dating a guy she had known in passing for about two years. When she got with this guy, he had just arrived back in town.

2006 G. Malkani Londonstani vi. 65 It was as if she needed guys to flirt with her, especially guys who she obviously din't fancy an who she'd never wanna get with.

2. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To become involved with or absorbed in; to adhere to, agree with, be in tune with. Cf. to get with it at with prep. 22f, to get with the programme at programme n. 11.

ΚΠ

1929 Miami (Okla.) Daily News-Record 20 Jan. 23/5 We want more industries it is true, but let's get with understanding and have an idea of permanency.

1952 Billboard 18 Oct. 36/3 Let's get with the hits!

1969 P. White Let. 5 Oct. (1994) x. 348 I am neither new nor sensational, and I won't get with the publicity machine.

1996 Village Voice (N.Y.) 12 Mar. 46/5 Its dank slapstick harks back to Blood Simple and Raising Arizona (two movies I couldn't get with either).

2003 G. Joseph Big Smoke xxxiv. 304 No, I can't get with that. You're saying that Ronnie Bullpitt hired someone to kill his own nephew and Andrew Rowe.

† to get within ——

Obsolete.

1. intransitive. To succeed in coming within the defences of (an adversary).

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > fight with [verb (transitive)] > fight at close quarters

to get within ——1523

to grapple witha1616

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cxxxviii^v/1 Ther was a sore encountre with speares and sheldes, and they were a certayne space or any of them coude get within other.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xxiv. sig. Ee3^v I had in a short space gotten within him, and (giuing him a sound blowe) sent him to feede fishes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) v. i. 34 Some get within him, take his sword away.

1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. xvi. 279 Got within shot of the enemy, who fearing that by degrees the English Fleet would get within them; set up their sailes [etc.].

1710 D. Manley Mem. Europe I. ii. 347 Drawing his Sword with his Height, Rage, and Strength, he presently got within him.

1860 D. P. Thompson Doomed Chief xviii. 349 Our first struggle will be to get within them; and then will come the more terrible one of making headway against the then doubly desperate three thousand defenders we shall be sure to find there.

2. intransitive. figurative. To succeed in deceiving (a person); to win the confidence of.

ΘΚΠ

bicharrea1100

fodea1375

begoc1380

inveiglea1513

to hold in halsc1560

to get within ——1572

cajole1645

to cajole with1665

butter1725

veigle1745

flummer1764

to get round ——1780

to come round ——1784

to get around ——1803

flatter-blind1818

salve1825

to come about1829

round1854

canoodle1864

moody1934

fanny1938

cosy1939

mamaguy1939

snow1943

snow-job1962

1572 J. Bridges tr. R. Gwalther Hundred, Threescore & Fiftene Homelyes vppon Actes Apostles cxxxiii. 739 They haue craftily crope and gotte within men through their pretence of vertuousnesse.

1640 R. Sanderson Serm. I. 303 By this very means he got within our grandmother Eve.

1660 Exact Accompt Trial Regicides 154 I should so much sympathize with him, to get within him to know his intentions.

a1676 M. Hale Judgm. True Relig. (1684) iii. 45 Gentleness, softness, mildness, and personal respectfulness quiet the Passions and Spirits of the adverse Party, gain upon him, get within him.

1861 W. S. Blacket Young Men's Class (ed. 2) vii. 94 If he would convince them of sin, he may talk long about it and effect nothing; but if he can get within them,..he can, to use a figure, storm the citadel instead of besieging it.

Compounds

a. With nouns.

get-nothing n. rare a person who earns nothing, an idler; (also) a person who obtains nothing.

ΚΠ

1609 J. Boys Expos. Princ. Script. 102 As a spendall, so a get-nothing is a theefe to his estate.

a1625 J. Boys Wks. (1629) 55 As a spend-all so a get-nothing is a theefe to his estate.

1655 R. Younge Blemish of Govt. 4 Drunkards are not onely lazie get nothings but they are also riotous spend alls.

1960 S. Hileman tr. C. Fuentes Where Air is Clear (2004) ii. 314 The world belongs to the do-nothings, and the reformers are get-nothings. You'll see.

get-penny n. now rare something which brings in money (cf. catchpenny n. and adj.).Apparently disused in the 19th cent.; revived in the 20th cent.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > profit > [noun] > source of profit

get-penny1605

Diana1640

money-spinner1825

money-maker1850

oof-bird1888

grosser1959

port wages1992

1605 G. Chapman et al. Eastward Hoe iv. sig. G2^v Thy deeds plaid i'thy life time, by the best companies of Actors, and be call'd their Get-peny.

1608 T. Middleton Your Fiue Gallants sig. A4^v That face will get money ifaith, twill bee a get peny I warrant you.

1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre v. i. 69 in Wks. II The Gunpowder-plot, there was a get-penny! I haue presented that to an eighteene, or twenty pence audience, nine times in an afternoone.

1684 G. S. Anglorum Speculum 481 ‘London Lick penny’..there is no less Truth in this ‘London Get penny’.

1756 Crit. Rev. June 484 The three and six-penny book..is the meanest and most unmannerly get-penny that ever was exhibited.

1975 R. Davies World of Wonders (1977) ii. v. 199 The Master 's been a mighty get-penny for Sir John.

1997 G. K. Hunter Eng. Drama 1586–1642 vi. 260 The first part of If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody was one of the most successful plays of the period... It was perhaps some premonitary sense of its power as a get-penny that persuaded Heywood to write.

b. With adverbs. See also getaway n. and adj., get-on adj. and n.²

get-there adj. and n. originally U.S. (a) adj. that aims to achieve or succeed; (b) n. energy, ambition (rare).

ΚΠ

1888 Current Lit. Sept. 215/2 These same young fellows generally are enterprising and of the ‘get there’ class.

1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xix. 169 He hain't got much ‘git there’ in his make-up.

1901 Daily Chron. 22 June 10/5 Their style of rowing..is certainly the ‘get there’ style.

1921 Southern Engineer Apr. 63/1 These fellows were of the ‘get there’ class. They knew how their plants ought to run and they also knew how to make them run properly.

2001 B. K. Bachel What do You Really want? iii. 100 If you haven't already gotten the get-there, know-how, or feel-good help you need..ask for it now.

c. With adjectives.

get-acquainted adj. that enables or encourages people to get to know one another.Also occasionally used in advertising to designate introductory offers.

ΚΠ

1913 Battle Creek Idea 6 247/1 All guests who had come to the Sanitarium within the past ten days being given a ‘Get Acquainted Banquet’ by the management.

1924 Amer. Mercury Nov. p. xxxiii (advt.) Free—With our ‘Get-Acquainted offer’—a large size Aluminum Tea Ball.

1967 Boston Sunday Herald 16 Apr. (Mag.) 6/2 You might call a Mixer an overgrown get-acquainted dance.

2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 Jan. c5/5 There have been get-acquainted talks between Fox network and Mr. O'Brien and his representatives.

get-tough adj. promoting or advocating resolute and uncompromising measures (see to get tough at tough adj. 5b).

ΚΠ

1942 Washington Post 20 Aug. 4/1 Donald M. Nelson..soon will inform the military services, in line with his new ‘get tough’ policy, that they cannot have all they want of every conceivable kind of war tool.

1959 Daily Mail 1 Apr. 7/2 The United States wants to force its ‘get tough’ line on the other Western Powers.

1971 Guardian 19 Nov. 14/3 Criminal Justice Bills tend to be miscellaneous collections of proposals... The current one..is a sweet-and-sour concoction, with several ‘get tough’ provisions.

2007 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 27 Mar. 4 Ever more illiberal legislation and fanatical ‘get tough’ rhetoric do little to tackle either the fear of crime or its root causes.

get-well adj. designating a card or other form of message sent to a sick person to express good wishes for his or her recovery.

ΚΠ

1929 Manch. Guardian 20 Feb. A new idea..is the ‘get well’ card, a sort of birthday postcard on which in flowing verse the invalid is told how much he or she is missed.

1956 B. Cleary Fifteen (1962) x. 145 She looked over the get-well cards in Woodment's stationery store.

1966 Guardian 29 Dec. 7/4 Mrs. Kennedy..sent him a ‘get-well’ telegram.

1989 J. E. Dolibois Pattern of Circles 130 Goering suffered from severe tonsilitis. Hitler didn't even send a get-well message to him at the hospital.

2011 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 4 Nov. 24 I would like to thank everyone for all the lovely get well cards and good wishes sent to me over the last few months.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	get
释义	getn.¹ Brit. /ɡɛt/, U.S. /ɡɛt/ Forms: Middle English gete, Middle English (1500s–1800s Scottish and northern) gett, Middle English– get; also Scottish (in senses 2a, 2b) pre-1700 1700s–1800s geit, 1700s gyt, 1700s–1800s gait, 1700s– geet, 1800s gaitt, 1800s gwite, 1800s–1900s gyte, 1800s– goit (south-western), 1900s– geat, 1900s– geit; also New Zealand (in sense 4) 1900s git; also Irish English (northern) 1900s– gat, 1900s– git (in sense 2b). See also git n. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: get v. Etymology: < get v. Compare earlier beget n. 1. a. Gain, booty; (in plural) earnings. Now rare (English regional (northern and midlands) and U.S. regional). ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > [noun] > that which is obtained or acquired strainc950 i-winc1000 winc1175 winninga1300 purchasec1325 by-gatec1330 getc1390 gettingc1400 acquisition1477 conquest1556 gleaning1576 acquiring1606 acquest1622 acquist1635 attain1661 obtainment1829 acquiree1950 c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 236 (MED) Off Envye comeþ..to make sweryng [read serwyng] gret ffor oþur mennes wel-farynge and get. c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1638 Alle my get I schal yow gif agayn, bi my trawþe. 1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 142 The gets..and takings of common strumpets. 1647 J. Trapp Mellificium Theol. in Comm. Epist. & Rev. 625 The day-labourer must give somewhat out of his gets, the servant out of his wages. a1804 J. Mather Songs (1862) 3 Wretched is my fate and shocking, Since my wants exceeds my gets. 1868 F. P. Verney Stone Edge ii. 33 I dunna know as p'r'aps they's any the better off for their gets. 1882 J. H. Nodal & G. Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial.: Pt. II 142 Why his gets wouldn't keep hisself, mon, let alone booeth on you. 1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Gets, the nett payment received by a blacksmith under the Crowley system of working. 1975 J. Gould Maine Lingo 108 Get, the catch or take of a fishing vessel; hence, the degree of success attending any venture or effort: ‘He ran for office and had a fair get, but he lost.’ b. Coal Mining. An amount of coal obtained or obtainable by mining; the (potential) output of a seam or mine. Frequently in get of coal. Now historical. ΚΠ 1610 in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 16 Four pittes now going, the getts greatlie exceeding the charges alredy. 1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 60 Grey stone with many coal stripes, good gets. 1847 B. Gibbons On Ventilation Mines 20 You may split or withdraw from the main stream of Air such portions as may be found necessary to carry on the preparatory work to maintain the Get of Coal. 1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Get..The produce or output, in tons, of a colliery or mine during a certain period. 1899 N.Y. Times 2 Apr. 14 The get of coal rose from 70,000,000 to 140,000,000 tons [in the United States between 1880 and 1890]. 1915 Rep. Departmental Comm. Coal Mining Industry 72/1 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 8009) XXVIII. 55 I think if a man works unduly hard to make a good get whilst he is down the pit, there would be an inducement. 1979 J. Langton Geogr. Change & Industr. Revol. Notes 278 A get of twelve loads of ten baskets entitled a hewer to a bonus at Haigh in 1758. 2. a. An offspring, a child; a descendant. Also: (as a mass noun or with uninflected plural) progeny, offspring. Now chiefly of animals (esp. stud animals).In use with reference to humans now (like sense 2b) chiefly Scottish, Irish English (northern), English regional (northern), and U.S. regional. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > [noun] > offspring seedOE offspringOE begottena1325 birtha1325 issuea1325 burgeoninga1340 fruit of the loinsa1340 young onec1384 increasement1389 geta1400 gendera1425 procreation1461 progeniturec1487 engendera1500 propagation1536 feture1537 increase1552 breed1574 spawn1590 bowela1593 teeming1599 pullulation1641 prolifications1646 educt1677 produce1823 society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > progeny or offspring bairn-teamc885 childeOE tudderc897 seedOE teamOE wastum971 offspringOE i-cundeOE fostera1175 i-streonc1175 strainc1175 brooda1300 begetc1300 barm-teamc1315 issuea1325 progenyc1330 fruit of the loinsa1340 bowel1382 young onec1384 suita1387 engendrurea1400 fruitinga1400 geta1400 birth?a1425 porturec1425 progenityc1450 bodyfauntc1460 generation1477 fryc1480 enfantement1483 infantment1483 blood issue1535 propagation1536 offspring1548 race1549 family?1552 increase1552 breed1574 begetting1611 sperm1641 bed1832 fruitage1850 a1400 (?a1325) Medit. on Supper of our Lord (Harl.) (1875) 817 Myn owne gete ys fro me take. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 391 Þus be-gylid he this gude wyfe & makis hire to wene It ware na gett of na gome bot of god ane. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. vi. 63 I pray the, Lord, as thou me het, That [thou] saue me and my gete. 1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid x. i. 67 I, thy blude, thi get, and douchter schene. 1786 R. Burns Poems 67 She was nae get o' moorlan tips. 1786 R. Burns Poems 82 Will's a true guid fallow's get. 1795 G. Haldane Let. 5 July in J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth (1799) App. 534 Some of his [sc. a ram's] gets were killed at 4½ years old. 1815 Sporting Mag. 46 118 The Stradling or Lister Turk..proved his high blood, by the racers, his immediate get. 1889 Evening Post 9 Feb. The winnings of his get in 1888 were $120,000. 1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Getts, young children. 1927 N.Y. Times 8 May ix. 7/1 Whiskery, better tempered and easier than the run of the get of Whisk Broom 2d, has a clean sheet so far. 1936 K. M. Morehouse Rain on Just 109 And where those twins?.. What breed of man your man there to let you treat his get so careless? 1977 J. Y. Mather & H. H. Speitel Ling. Atlas Scotl. II. 108 Nestling (young bird), [Dumfries, Kirkcudbright] goit. 1987 P. J. Fetner Afr. Safari iv. 240/2 Those get [sc. leopard cubs] that die in the first few days from natural causes are eaten by the mother to hide the telltale odors. 2002 S. Douglass Wounded Hawk i. 83 ‘I am the get of a peasant... See? They all believe it!’ ‘The Lord our God says that you are the get of kings!’ 2004 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) 26 July 12 Syne we hae the squad o geets, 14 o them, playin at the ba wi aye the ither kick landin't in the weel-keepit gairden neist door. b. Chiefly Scottish, Irish English (northern), English regional (northern), and U.S. regional. In contemptuous use: a child, a brat; (spec.) an illegitimate child, a bastard. Frequently with possessive indicating the (alleged) begetter.In many uses simply a contextual contemptuous use of sense 2a. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > held in contempt thingOE cat?c1225 geggea1300 fox-whelpc1320 creaturea1325 whelp1338 scoutc1380 turnbroach14.. foumart1508 shit1508 get?a1513 strummel?a1513 scofting?1518 pismirea1535 clinchpoop1555 rag1566 huddle and twang1578 whipster1590 slop1599 shullocka1603 tailor1607 turnspit1607 fitchewa1616 bulchin1617 trundle-taila1626 tick1631 louse1633 fart1669 insect1684 mully-grub-gurgeon1746 grub-worm1752 rass1790 foutre1794 blister1806 snot1809 skin1825 scurf1851 scut1873 Siwash1882 stiff1882 bleeder1887 blighter1896 sugar1916 vuilgoed1924 klunk1942 fart sack1943 fart-arse1946 jerkwad1980 society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > illegitimate child avetrolc1300 bastardc1330 misbegetc1330 whoresonc1330 horcop14.. get?a1513 misbegotten1546 misbegot1558 mamzer1562 base1571 bantling1593 by-blow1595 by-chopa1637 by-scape1646 by-slipa1670 illegitimate1673 stall-whimper1676 love brata1700 slink1702 child, son of shame1723 babe of love1728 adulterine1730 come-by-chance?1750 byspel1781 love-child1805 come-o'-will1815 chance-child1838 chance-bairn1863 side-slip1872 fly-blow1875 catch colt1901 illegit1913 outside child1930 a1513 W. Dunbar Flyting in Poems (1998) I. 208 Fals tratour, feyindis gett. 1566 in W. Mackay & H. C. Boyd Rec. Inverness (1911) I. 138 Elspet and Mareoun..callit hyr commond theiffis geit. 1567 R. Sempill in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. viii. 11 Blasphemus baird and beggeris get! a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 236 [John] Leslye, preastis gett, Abbot of Londorse and Bischope of Ross. 1697 T. P. Rel. Diabolical Pract. 13 They intended, if they were not Apprehended, To Forme the said Christian Shaws Picture, and then they would gett a gett of her. 1706 in W. Cramond Court Bks. Regality of Grant (1897) 20 Gregor Burgess protested against the said Allane that called him a witch gyt or bratt. 1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd i. ii. Song 5 Whingeing getts about your ingle side. 1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess i. 248 They've gotten a geet that stills na night nor day. 1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vi, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. III. 150 A' the gaitts o' boys and lasses wad be crying at Madge Wildfire's tail. 1822 J. Galt Provost ix. 65 A donsie mother that could gie no name to her gets. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Words Antrim & Down 43 Get, an opprobrious term used in scolding matches. 1887 J. Service Life Dr. Duguid vi. 42 Gibby a ne'er-do-weel hellicate thing that was the get o' a son who was deid. 1908 J. Masefield Capt. Margaret xi. 325 He's a mother's joy, the Portuguese drummer's get. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 311 The bloody thicklugged sons of whores' gets! 1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Grey Granite 126 The woman said of all the whoreson's gets she'd ever met he was the worst. 1972 R. A. Wilson Playboy's Bk. Forbidden Words (1974) 122 Get, one's children, in rural and deliberately offensive slang: ‘I want you and your get off this land by sundown.’ 1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 143/2 Get, an illegitimate child. 2007 J. McCourt Now Voyagers x. 475 Are you trying to tell me..that my mother was a whore, and I myself by inevitable declension, in consequence, yet another whoring beggar's get? c. colloquial. A fool, an idiot; a contemptible person. Cf. git n. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] dizzyc825 cang?c1225 foolc1225 apec1330 mopc1330 saddle-goosec1346 mis-feelinga1382 foltc1390 mopec1390 fona1400 buffardc1430 fopc1440 joppec1440 fonda1450 fondlinga1450 insipienta1513 plume of feathers1530 bobolynec1540 dizzard1546 Little Witham?1548 nodc1563 dawkin1565 cocknel1566 nigion1570 niddicock1577 nodcock1577 cuckoo1581 Jack with the feather1581 niddipol1582 noddyship?1589 stirkc1590 fonkin1591 Gibraltar1593 fopper1598 noddypeak1598 coxcombry1600 simple1600 gowka1605 nup1607 fooliaminy1608 silly ass1608 dosser-head1612 dor1616 glow-worm1624 liripipea1625 doodle1629 sop1637 spalt1639 fool's head1650 buffle1655 Jack Adams1656 bufflehead1659 nincompoopc1668 bavian1678 nokes1679 foolanea1681 cod1699 hulver-head1699 nigmenog1699 single ten1699 mud1703 dowf1722 foolatum1740 silly billy1749 tommy noddy1774 arsec1785 nincom1800 silly1807 slob1810 omadhaun1818 potwalloper1820 mosy1824 amadan1825 gump1825 gype1825 oonchook1825 prawn1845 suck-egg1851 goosey1852 nowmun1854 pelican1856 poppy-show1860 buggerlugs1861 damfool1881 mudhead1882 yob1886 peanut head1891 haggis bag1892 poop1893 gazob1906 mush1906 wump1908 zob1911 gorm1912 goof1916 goofus1916 gubbins1916 dumb cluck1922 twat1922 B.F.1925 goofer1925 bird brain1926 berk1929 Berkeley1929 Berkeley Hunt1929 ding1929 loogan1929 stupido1929 poop-stick1930 nelly1931 droop1932 diddy1933 slappy1937 goof ball1938 get1940 poon1940 tonk1941 clot1942 yuck1943 possum1945 gobdaw1947 momo1953 nig-nog1953 plonker1955 weenie1956 nong-nong1959 Berkshire Hunt1960 balloon1965 doofus1965 dork1965 nana1965 shit-for-brains1966 schmoll1967 tosspot1967 lunchbox1969 doof1971 tonto1973 dorkus1979 motorhead1979 mouth-breather1979 wally1980 wally brain1981 der-brain1983 langer1983 numpty1985 sotong1988 fanny1995 fannybaws2000 1940 Daily Mail 7 Sept. 3/8 Here are some current military phrases interpreted:..get, chump, fool. 1956 B. Behan Quare Fellow i. 15 Here's these noisy little gets again. 1965 Listener 24 June 949/1 I would..define him as a daft old get. 1967 ‘H. Calvin’ Nice Friendly Town viii. 101 Put something on him, the stupid get! 1987 J. A. McArdle Sin Embargo 569 You were always a stuck-up get but I always liked you. 2005 R. Douglas Night Song Last Tram 79 I wanted to see this bad little get that had caused me so much trouble. †3. Begetting, procreation. Formerly also: birth, hereditary right. Obsolete.In later use chiefly (among sportspeople) of animals. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [noun] > generation of animals zoogony1675 get1807 zoogeny1826 c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 435 (MED) Þi fere is with childe, And with no gett of na gome, bot of god selfe. c1480 (a1400) St. John Baptist 915 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 249 Ȝet ware herodis ma þan he, þat be get cane til hym succede. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. x. 95 I cam neuer by mans syde, Bot has avowed my madynhede From fleshly gett. 1562 in J. S. Clouston Rec. Earldom of Orkney (1914) 115 Swa ar the ayris of the fyrst get cleyrlye owtred of thayre fathyre arff frome the ayris of the last get. 1807 Sporting Mag. 29 149 The foals of Ruzio's get, only one year old, are near fourteen hands high. 1892 Field 18 June 904/3 The dog fox..will cater for all the cubs of his own get. 4. Australian and New Zealand slang. A getaway; a hasty retreat. Chiefly in to do (also make) a get. Cf. get v. 32. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [noun] > as thieves getaway1849 get1897 mope1926 stoppo1974 1897 Worker (Sydney) 11 Sept. 1/2 Now when the shed at last ‘cuts out’ he gets his ‘little bit’ And straps his ‘peter’ on his ‘croc’ and quickly does a get. 1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 28 May 31/2 Their inquisitiveness..compelled Jim to kill his stud-sluts and growing stock, and do a timely ‘get’. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands ix. 117 They thort his jills had done er get. 1914 A. A. Grace Tale of Timber Town v. 32 I must make a git. So-long. 1963 A. Upfield Madman's Bend 55 Musta done a get after bashing up his wife. 1988 D. McGill Dict. Kiwi Slang 37 C'mon, youse jokers, let's do a get before old Musty catches us. 5. Tennis. An act of returning a difficult ball. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > racket games > lawn tennis > [noun] > types of stroke service1611 serving1688 screw1865 cut1874 cutting service1874 boast1878 first serve1878 smash1882 twister1884 cross-shot1889 lob1890 ground stroke1895 lob ball1900 twist service1901 boasting1902 cross-volley1905 get1911 chop1913 forehander1922 kick serve1925 forehand1934 touch shot1936 dink1939 net shot1961 overhead1964 groundie1967 slice1969 moonball1975 moonballing1977 1911 Outing Nov. 194 (caption) But his skill at difficult ‘gets’ made him a dangerous opponent. 1927 Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 15/6 One does not remember seeing Hake play better, and some of his gets were most spectacular. 1927 Daily Express 20 June 3/5 Never applaud a difficult ‘get’ in the middle of a rally. 1969 Sunday Times 6 July 20/1 He was broken only once, in the third game as a result of an amazing ‘get’ by the champion. 2000 N.Y. Times 7 Sept. d4/3 A confident Williams scampered toward every driving ground stroke by Davenport and turned sure winners into amazing gets. 6. With modifying word or phrase of size, as a big (also good, etc.) get: an acquisition considered to be advantageous; a significant achievement.Cf. a big (also huge, etc.) ask at ask n.¹ 3b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > [noun] > one who or that which is successful > that which is successful > an achievement feata1400 wonder-worka1400 exploitc1425 achievance1531 achievement1583 attaining1606 attainment1665 effort1857 get1992 1992 Orange County (Calif.) Register 2 Apr. c4/5 I think it is a great choice by UNLV [= University of Nevada, Las Vegas] and a great get for the conference... He [sc. a new basketball coach] will be an exciting addition. 1998 N.Y. Mag. 20 July 13/4 And for a publicity-driven marketing company like Miramax, Tina, of course, was the Big Get. 2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 30 July iv. 5/1 We're not looking at a .500 football team and we felt to get a quality player in..his prime was a good get for us. 2013 T. Ritter Devil's Night ix. 112 I'm the one who sold the land to Mr. Fanelli... It was a very big get for our firm. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). getn.² Brit. /dʒɛt/, U.S. /dʒɛt/ Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French jet. Etymology: < French jet (see jess n.). rare. The jess of a hawk. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hawking > falconry or hawking equipment > [noun] > jess jess1340 bewet1486 get1607 1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. B2^v Now she hath ceazd the Fowle, and gins to plume hir Rebeck her not, rather stand stil and checke her, So: ceaze her gets, her lesses, and hir bels. 1957 T. Hughes Hawk in Rain 33 Grubbing his get among your lilies. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). getn.³ Brit. /ɡɛt/, U.S. /ɡɛt/ Inflections: Plural gittin, gets. Forms: 1800s– get, 1800s– gett, 1900s– gittin (plural). Origin: Perhaps of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Aramaic. Partly a borrowing from Hebrew. Perhaps also partly a borrowing from Yiddish. Etymons: Aramaic gēṭ; Hebrew gēṭ; Yiddish get. Etymology: < (i) Aramaic gēṭ, and its etymon (ii) post-biblical Hebrew gēṭ letter of divorce (more fully gēṭ 'iššāh, lit. ‘document of a woman’; Babylonian Talmud, especially in the tractate Gittin which deals with matters of divorce), specific sense development of post-biblical Hebrew gēṭ legal document < Akkadian giṭṭu clay tablet containing a receipt or certificate, (in late sources) legal document written on parchment < Sumerian gíd.da long narrow clay tablet. In later use (iii) perhaps also partly via Yiddish get ( < Hebrew).In plural form gittin after the Aramaic plural form giṭṭīn. In the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures, the term for a letter of divorce is sēper kĕrīṯuṯ, lit. ‘certificate of divorce’ (Deuteronomy 24:1). Among Jews: a written bill of divorce prepared according to a prescribed form. Also: the divorce itself. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > divorce or dissolution > [noun] > bill of divorce libel of partising1552 writ of ease1576 get1843 1843 D. A. De Sola & M. J. Raphall tr. 18 Treat. from Mishna 283 The writing of a Get may be done with any material, with ink, paint, ruddle, gum, or with vitriol black, and with every other indelible material, but not with any liquor, the juice of fruit, nor with any delible material. 1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. i. iv. 122 ‘He must give her Gett!’ ‘Of course!..I divorce her at once!’ 1960 L. P. Gartner Jewish Immigrant vi. 168 Social pressure and legal adjustments in the ketubah (marriage document) could force the most recalcitrant of husbands to grant his estranged wife a get (divorce). 1963 Listener 17 Jan. 123/1 The husband delivered a Jewish letter of divorce, called a gett, to his wife. 1980 Jewish Chron. 1 Jan. 3/2 Members of GET [sc. Get Equal Treatment] in pursuit of Gets (bills of divorcement), plan to track down men who refuse to divorce their wives. 1981 Jewish Chron. 6 Nov. 20/5 Reform Gittin are scrupulously executed. 2003 L. Faderman Naked in Promised Land xv. 271 You, Liebe Faderman, got the gett, the divorce, in your own two hands, and you are free to leave from your husband's life. 2010 Independent 19 Feb. 13/1 Under halakha (Jewish law) only men have the power to grant a get. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). getv. Brit. /ɡɛt/, U.S. /ɡɛt/ Inflections: Past tense got, (archaic) gat; past participle got, (chiefly U.S.) gotten; Forms: 1. Present stem α. Middle English geete, Middle English geit, Middle English gest (2nd singular indicative), Middle English gestow (2nd singular indicative, with personal pronoun affixed), Middle English get (3rd singular indicative), Middle English gette (3rd singular indicative), Middle English geyt, Middle English geytt, Middle English ghete, Middle English gite, Middle English gitte, Middle English gyte, Middle English kete (south-western), Middle English–1500s gete, Middle English–1500s gette, Middle English–1500s gytt, Middle English 1600s geet, Middle English–1700s gett, Middle English– get, 1500s gaet, 1500s geat, 1500s geate, 1500s yeat (Irish English), 1500s 1700s gitt, 1500s– git (now regional and nonstandard), 1800s– gid (U.S. regional); English regional (chiefly northern and midlands) 1800s– geet (Cheshire), 1800s– geh, 1800s– get (3rd singular indicative), 1800s– getten (Lincolnshire), 1800s– gos (Cheshire, 3rd singular indicative), 1800s– gy'et (Cheshire); Scottish pre-1700 gaet, pre-1700 gaitt, pre-1700 gaitte, pre-1700 gate, pre-1700 gayt, pre-1700 geatt, pre-1700 gete, pre-1700 gitt, pre-1700 1700s geat, pre-1700 1700s gett, pre-1700 1700s– get, pre-1700 1800s gat, pre-1700 1800s geit, pre-1700 1800s– gait, 1800s geate, 1800s gytt (southern), 1900s– geet, 1900s– gjit (Shetland). β. English regional (chiefly northern and midlands) and nonstandard 1800s ehr, 1800s gir, 1800s– gehr, 1800s– ger, 1800s– gor (Yorkshire), 1900s– gar (Yorkshire); Manx English 1800s gerr. 2. Past tense. α. Middle English gait (northern), Middle English kat (south-western), Middle English 1600s gatt, Middle English–1500s gatte, Middle English–1600s gate, Middle English– gat (now regional and archaic), late Middle English gast (northern, transmission error), late Middle English– got, 1500s goot, 1500s gote, 1500s gotte, 1600s gott (North American), 1800s gotten (U.S. regional), 1800s gut (U.S. regional), 1800s– git (U.S. regional), 1800s– gorr (Manx English, before a vowel), 1900s– gitted (U.S. regional); English regional (northern and midlands) 1800s gar (Yorkshire, before h), 1800s– gaat (Yorkshire), 1800s– gate, 1800s– gotten; Scottish pre-1700 gaet, pre-1700 gat, pre-1700 gatt, pre-1700 gayt, pre-1700 gott, pre-1700 1700s gate, pre-1700 1700s– got, 1700s 1900s– gote, 1800s goot, 1900s– goat. β. Middle English geet, Middle English geete, Middle English get, Middle English gete, Middle English gette, 1800s– gitted (regional); English regional (northern and midlands) 1700s– geet, 1800s geete, 1800s get. 3. Past participle. α. Middle English geete, Middle English get, Middle English getee, Middle English geten, Middle English geteyn, Middle English geth, Middle English getin, Middle English geton, Middle English getone, Middle English getoun, Middle English getton (in a late copy), Middle English gettyn, Middle English getun, Middle English getyn, Middle English getyne, Middle English geyten, Middle English gheten, Middle English giten, Middle English gitin, Middle English gityn, Middle English gyte, Middle English gyten, Middle English gytin, Middle English gytyn, Middle English igete, Middle English igeten, Middle English igette, Middle English ygete, Middle English ygeten, Middle English ygette, Middle English ykete (south-western), Middle English–1500s gete, Middle English–1500s gett, Middle English–1500s gette, Middle English–1700s getten, 1500s gitten, 1800s– gettin (Manx English); English regional (chiefly northern and midlands) 1800s gettin, 1800s– geeten (Cheshire), 1800s– getten, 1800s– gheeten (Cheshire), 1800s– git'n, 1800s– gittan, 1800s– gitten, 1800s– gitten'd; Scottish pre-1700 get, pre-1700 gett, pre-1700 getten, pre-1700 gettine, pre-1700 gettyn, 1800s geatten (southern). β. Middle English gate, Middle English gooten, Middle English gote, Middle English gothen, Middle English gotin, Middle English goton, Middle English gotoun, Middle English gotun, Middle English gotyn, Middle English gotyne, Middle English igoote, Middle English igote, Middle English ygote, Middle English ygoten, Middle English–1500s goten, Middle English–1500s gotte, Middle English–1700s gotton, late Middle English– gotten (now chiefly U.S.), 1500s ygot (archaic), 1500s–1600s gott, 1500s– got, 1600s gottun, 1800s godth (Irish English (Wexford)), 1800s gut (U.S. regional), 1800s– gat (archaic), 1800s– gotta (colloquial with article or to affixed), 1800s– gotter (colloquial with article or to affixed), 1900s– git (U.S. regional), 1900s– godda (colloquial with article or to affixed); English regional 1800s– gat (northern), 1800s– gatten (northern), 1800s– gottan, 1800s– gotten, 1800s– gotton, 1800s– gut (Essex); Scottish pre-1700 gaitten, pre-1700 gattyn, pre-1700 goten, pre-1700 gotine, pre-1700 gott, pre-1700 gottine, pre-1700 gottne, pre-1700 gottyn, pre-1700 gottyne, pre-1700 gotyn, pre-1700 gotyne, pre-1700 1700s got, pre-1700 1800s– gotten, pre-1700 1800s– gottin, 1700s 1900s– gote, 1800s gat, 1800s– gotton (now Shetland), 1900s– goat. Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymology: < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic geta to obtain, to be able or have the opportunity (to do something), to beget, to learn, to guess or suppose, to mention, Old Swedish gäta to be able (to do something), to beget, to guess, to mention (Swedish regional gäta to guess, to mention), Old Swedish gita to be able (to do something) (Swedish gitta to take the trouble or feel inclined (to do something)), Old Danish getæ , gitæ to be able (to do something) (Danish gide to take the trouble or feel inclined (to do something))), cognate with Old English gietan (rare: see below) and Old High German gezzan (rare), and with the second element of a number of prefixed verbs in West Germanic languages, e.g. Old English begietan (see beget v.), forgietan (see forget v.), ofergietan (see overyete v.), ongietan (see anyete v. and compare also agietan ayete v.²), undergietan (see underyete v.), and also Old Frisian forjeta (see forget v.), urjeta to forget (see ayete v.²), Old Dutch fargetan (see forget v.), Old Saxon bigetan (see beget v.), fargetan (see forget v.), Old High German bigezzan (see beget v.), firgezzan (see forget v.), intgezzan (see anyete v.), irgezzan to forget, neglect (see ayete v.²), and also with the second element of Gothic bigitan (see beget v.); probably < the same Indo-European base as (the second element of) classical Latin praeda plunder, booty (see prede n.), and also (with nasal infix) ancient Greek χανδάνειν (aorist ἔχαδον ) to hold, contain, to be able, Albanian gjej , (regional) gjenj (aorist gjeta ) to find, (in passive, gjendem ) to be situated, to be present, and the second element of classical Latin praehendere to grasp, seize, catch (see prehend v.) and of Early Irish rogeinn he finds place in.Form history. In early Scandinavian the verb is a strong verb of Class V, as is Old English gietan (with various changes to the stem vowel caused by a preceding palatalized consonant). The verb appears originally in Middle English to have shown the same paradigm as strong verbs historically of Class V such as speak v. or meet v., hence with past tense singular in -a- and past tense plural and past participle in -e- (with considerable variation in vowel length owing to both phonetic environment and analogy); forms in -o- in the past participle (which are common from an early date) probably result (as in many verbs historically of Class V) from influence from the paradigm of verbs historically of strong Class IV such as bear v.¹ or steal v.¹; the (generally later) spread of forms in -o- to the past tense probably also partly reflects analogical influence from the paradigms of other verbs. By the early 17th cent. got had become the usual form of the past tense in the developing standard variety (both gat and got are found in the King James Bible of 1611). The β. forms of the present stem occur chiefly before a vowel. Formal variation in modern English. In modern British standard use (and in many other varieties) got is the invariable form of the past participle. In North America gotten remains common, and a semantic distinction is sometimes found, with gotten implying the process of obtaining something, as in ‘he had gotten us tickets for the show’, and got implying the state of possession or ownership, as in ‘I haven’t got any money’. Evidence for an (unprefixed) native cognate. The unprefixed Old English verb gietan (with initial palatal /j/) occurs in a handful of attestations (none earlier than the 11th cent.), and an apparent reflex is likewise attested very occasionally in Middle English. However, it is very likely that all of these instances in fact show variants of respective prefixed verbs with omission of the prefix (or, in Middle English, analogy between forms of get v. and forms of the prefixed verbs), rather than representing genuine survivals of an unprefixed native cognate of the early Scandinavian verb. Compare:OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) (1888) xxiv. 56 Usque dum satisfactione congrua veniam consequatur : oððæt he be mid dædbote fulre þæslicere forgifennesse gite [OE Corpus Cambr. begyte].lOE Canterbury Psalter xlvii. 4 Deus in gradibus eius dinoscitur dum suscipiet eam : God on stepum his bioð gitende uel cnawen þonne he onfoð hie.c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 330 Of playe ar he wald blinne, Sex haukes he ȝat.c1330 Gregorius (Auch.) (1914) 132 He miȝt se þe sinnes sore, Hou he was ȝeten and of wham.c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 842 If þou lovyez þy lyf, Loth..Ȝete uus out þose ȝong men þat ȝore-whyle here entred.a1450 Ministry & Passion of Christ (St. John's Cambr.) (1984) l. 2783 Þat it was oure lord þei vnderstode it ferst þere; Anon as þei hadde ȝete hym, þei sayȝe hym no more.a1500 (?a1400) Stanzaic Life of Christ (Harl. 3909) (1926) l. 3034 Hir prest had ȝeten him leue to go.Omission of auxiliary have in specialized uses of the perfect. In colloquial, regional, and nonstandard use, omission of auxiliary have is frequent in the specialized uses of the perfect at branch IV. (i.e. where in standard English the perfect construction functions as a present tense); hence in such uses the past participle occurs alone as though it were an (invariable) present tense form. Compare:1777 Downfall of Justice 7 Yesse, Sir, only pity poor fok cause he got no round dollar.1838 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker 2nd Ser. v All they got to do is, to up Hudson like a shot..and home in a liner, and write a book.1849 Knickerbocker 34 12 They got no principles. They got no platform to stand onto.1857 O. W. Wight Quinland I. 1 Got an hour to spare—thought I'd just run in and see what you were all about.1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxviii. 325 We got to dig in like all git-out.1887 M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 370 What you got there, grandma?1911 J. F. Wilson Land Claimers ix. 118 But I got several plans, and I need ye.1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter i. 11 Oh, of course, you got to laugh at me.1929 E. W. Springs Above Bright Blue Sky 176 ‘That oughta be easy,’ the sergeant suggested. ‘You gotta couple of new pilots that could crash an ice wagon on a prairie.’1941 P. F. Webster & D. Ellington (title of song) I got it bad and that ain't good.1955 M. Hastings Cork & Serpent xiv. 210 I gotta little present for you.1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side i. 107 But the fact is I'm plumb fatigued and now I got to rest a spell.1967 L. White Crimshaw Memorandum (1968) v. 93 Gawd knows I got enough problems.2003 Independent 18 Oct. (Review section) 3/5 What is APR? I haven't a clue. What is an annuity? No, you got me there.2006 G. Malkani Londonstani v. 50 Look, she got three brothers an dey well strict.2010 Big Issue 4 Jan. 42/3 You can't expect your wife to just jump in the kitchen all the time, I teach my boys. You got to cook for your lady, too!An inflected form gots is also sometimes found in similar use (especially in African-American usage); the -s apparently shows the standard English 3rd person singular inflection, but may occur for any person in the singular or plural. Compare:1892 A. M. H. Christensen Afro-Amer. Folk Lore 18 I gots no use for dem.1922 A. E. Gonzales Black Border 248 I gots to git anodduh lady.1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses & Other Stories 136 We gots a jug in de bushes.1966 J. J. Phillips Mojo Hand (1987) 20 You know I gots me a nice wife, but she be going on in what they call the change.1976 L. Bangs in Creem Feb. 31/1 Let's not jump the groove, we gots to hear it all.1989 S. Sucharitkul Moon Dance iii. viii. 361 He gots his leapin' wild Injuns, his rodeo riders, his gunslingers o' the feminine persuasion, his dancin' grizzlies.1993 J. Mowry Six out Seven i. xiv. 221 I gots to show you this, Tam.2002 S. Holmes B-More Careful ii. 18 She gots to come home.2002 Esquire Aug. 126/2 All them poor shot-to-shit buddies of yours, they gots scads of time on their hands.2006 G. Malkani Londonstani v. 45 It gettin late an we gots twenty fuckin fones in da bag.Compare also slightly earlier uses in representations of German-American speech:1872 Harper's New Monthly Mag. Oct. 797/2 Mein Gott, Katrine... Petter you shtop dis pizness [i.e. continuing to have children] 'fore der come more ash a village full. I gots nuff mit such foolishness.1884 Admiral Porter Allan Dare & Robert le Diable xlix. 622 I never knosh ven I gots ash blenty ash I liksh.Specific senses. With sense 33a (i.e. use of the perfect and past perfect expressing possession) compare ancient Greek κεκτῆσθαι to possess, lit. ‘to have acquired’. I. To obtain, procure. 1. a. transitive. To obtain possession of (property, etc.) as the result of effort or (esp.) contrivance.Now largely merged in sense 4b. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by care or effort begeteOE findOE bewinc1175 getc1175 conquerc1230 reachc1275 procurec1325 makec1350 fishc1374 catchc1384 furneya1400 attainc1405 tillc1440 to pick out1577 to get a gripe ofa1586 secure1743 raise1838 to get one's hooks on (also into)1926 c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10219 Forr wha setitt iss þatt grediȝ iss. To winnenn erþlic ahhte Aȝȝ alls he mare. & mare gett Aȝȝ lisste himm affterr mare. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 276 Þider ȝe alle salle ride, a faire pray salle ȝe gete. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 149 On þis wyse þai get grete plentee of þis gold. c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 74 Litel is woorth thing ygoten if after the getinge it ne be kept. 1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes iii. xxi. sig. Ov^v Noo good euyl goten can not be longe..kept of hym that geteth hit. 1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. nn.i He caused the ryghtwyse man Naboth to be slayne & by gyle gate his vyneyarde. 1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates James I. iii He false traytour..To get the crowne, began to fetch a fetch. 1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 252 After so many difficulties of getting, what he so greatly desired, hee enjoyed it..surpassing expression. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World v. ii. §61. 471/2 Andronicus Comnenus by ambitious practices and pretence of reformation, got the Empire. 1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. i. 79 Get Mony, Mony still! And then let Virtue follow, if she will. 1797 T. Bernard Acct. Cottage & Garden 5 ‘Could you get land, if you had a cow?’—He thought he could. 1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes 3 Perhaps I was to find only the records of lands and moneys, how gotten and how secured. 1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 103 Men are not born rich; and in getting wealth, the man is generally sacrificed. 1925 N. Lucas Autobiogr. Crook vii. 98 My pals went in for every known form of getting other people's property. 1977 J. D. MacDonald Condominium xxxvii. 364 I hope most of you have gone through the hurricane checklist in the paper and gotten what you need. 2011 Windsor (Ont.) Star (Nexis) 10 Nov. a5 We have had owners of businesses set fire to their businesses to get the insurance money. It's tough financial times. b. transitive. With adverbs: to acquire or obtain in a certain way.Esp. with past participles. ill-gotten, well-gotten: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way getc1450 to come to ——1607 c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 209 A ryche man wyth fals gotyn good seyde to a preest þat he wolde ȝyue all þat he had falsely gett to pore folk. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Prov. x. A Treasures that are wickedly gotten, profit nothinge. 1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes ii. §7. 142 What is violently or fraudulently gotten, wilbe lavishly spent. c1680 W. Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 535 That which ye have unlawfully gotten..will be a moth in your estates, which will..eat them up. 1776 A. M. Refl. Amer. Contest 16 Where lands are so easily got, that rigid industry does not last to the third generation. 1838 J. H. Ingraham Burton I. i. iv. 63 Practise, if thou wilt, thy magic oath a little on the inmates of yonder hostelry, that we may speedily get food and fresh horses. 1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xvii. 79 We are assured that it was all honourably gotten and was designed to be honourably spent. 1920 Scouting for Girls (Girl Scouts U.S.A.) 124 The fireplace is almost a luxury. It is found oftenest in country houses where wood can be easily got. 2008 N. Burleigh Unholy Business x. 229 Museums are also on the defensive because nations..have begun asking for the return of items.., claiming even pieces in long-term collections were illegally gotten. †c. intransitive. To acquire wealth or property. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (intransitive)] findOE covera1375 to come therebyc1386 obtain1477 get?1505 draw1755 ?1505 tr. P. Gringore Castell of Laboure (new ed.) sig. D.ii^v They tende nat but to get and saue With couetyse is theyr herte so brent That they thynke neuer youghe [read ynoughe] to haue. 1573 J. Sanford tr. L. Guicciardini Hours Recreat. (1576) 129 They are suspected to tende rather to get than to give. 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes iv. xii. Epigr. 231 Wisdome not onely gets, but got, retaines. a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1677 (1955) IV. 119 Whilst he was secretary of state..he had gotten vastly, but spent it as hastily. 1729 B. Mandeville Fable Bees ii. vi. 428 How difficult it is to find out those noble Minds that despise Lucre, when there is a Prospect of getting vastly. 1736 T. C. Paget Ess. Human Life (new ed.) 26 A Wretch made up of Folly, Guilt and Pride? Greedy to get, as he's profuse to spend. 1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. ii. 28 What I have is my own, if labour in getting, and care in augmenting, can make a right of property. 1856 A. McLachlan Poems 88 Their creed is a short ane—‘To get and to keep.’ 1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad I. iv. 213 The Church..ever getting and never giving up, was eating away the territorial wealth of the temporal barons. d. transitive. With reinforcing prepositional phrase, as to get into one's hand, to get into one's possession. Now somewhat rare. ΚΠ a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. lxxxi. f. xxxii^v In this whyle Uortiger gatte into his possession the kynges treasour. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxj He..determined to get into his possession, the duchie of Acquitayne. 1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxvii. 60 The Newhawin thay gatt into þair hand. 1643 A. Wilson Five Yeares King Iames 44 He gets into his hands certaine Poysons, viz. Rosacre, white Arsnick, Mercury sublimate, Cantarides, red Mercury. 1647 Moderate Intelligencer No. 96. 838 Assoon as the Bassa had gotten the town gates into his possession, he put into it a thousand Janisaries. 1744 R. North & M. North Life Sir D. North & Rev. J. North 241 Two or three Persons, who, to make good their Monopoly,..send abroad their Circulators, and in that Manner get into their Hands all that is valuable. 1795 G. Haldane Let. 5 July in J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth (1799) 532 Young sheep..which might have been more speedily and effectually improven in various qualities, by getting better rams into their possession. 1854 C. Dickens Hard Times ii. vii. 198 The only pictures in my possession, or that I could have got into my possession by any means, unless I stole, 'em, were the engravings of a man shaving himself in a boot. 1914 Irish Law Rep. (Annotated Reprint) X. 276 If there had been a lease, and if they had not insisted on getting it into their possession.., the case would..be different. 1966 J. H. Parry Spanish Seaborne Empire (1990) xv. 302 Their skill in getting Mexican silver into their hands. 2. a. transitive. To bring in, gather, secure (a crop). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)] gatherc950 getc1250 harvestc1400 in?1407 win1487 ingatherc1575 crop1602 enda1616 to get in1699 to get up1764 secure1842 c1250 in Stud. Philol. (1931) 28 597 Þe asse is preked corn to geten ant þan ne scal hoe þrof nout heten. ?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xv^v Short hay & ley hay is good for shepe and all maner of catell if it be well gete. 1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 5 From the time that fruits come to be worth getting, till they be ripe. 1749 T. Short Gen. Chronol. Hist. Air I. 151 In the End of Harvest, the Weather took up, and so much of this rotten Crop was got very late. 1774 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 63 222 The crop of wheat where it was well gotten was tolerable good. 1858 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 19 i. 230 Hay secured before the 27th of June was got without a drop of rain. 1891 Blackwood's Mag. 149 817/1 I remember well the fustiness of that haystack (it must have been ‘got’ after oceans of rain). 1932 A. Bell Cherry Tree xi. 160 In the lull after getting the corn, and before the root harvest, I would sometimes accompany her. 1982 N.Y. Times 2 Sept. c12/4 Plants must be checked daily to be sure of getting the crop when it is at peak flavor. b. transitive. To procure by hunting or fishing; to catch. Now somewhat rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hunt [verb (transitive)] > take or catch game takec1175 getc1300 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1393 He wore yare..for to fare In-to þe se, fishes to gete. c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1171 Þe gre-houndeȝ so grete, þat geten hem [the deer] bylyue. ?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 4345 Elfride men fared fyssh[e] to gete. a1598 D. Fergusson Sc. Prov. (1641) sig. C2 He that fishes afore the net, lang or he fish get. 1662 T. Allin Jrnl. 14 June (1939) (modernized text) I. 88 We put our trawl over in 32 fathoms..but got no fish at two hauls, so we took in our net. 1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 12 On the 9th we got another male whale, being the eighth. 1735 Lives Most Remarkable Criminals I. 335 Making small Insurrections for the Sake only of getting a few Deer. 1830 Amer. Turf Reg. & Sporting Mag. May 445 We changed our hunting ground and were more successful than on any former day: we this day got eight deer. 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads (1884) xix. 143 The wherrymen seize the opportunity..to plunge the spears into the mud, and so get a good many eels. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent xvi. 261 A boy was prowling with a sling, prowling like a cat, to get the little birds. 1943 M. McLaverty White Mare & Other Stories 85 It was a night like this, only calmer, when I came out my lone to get a rabbit or two. 1999 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) 20 Oct. 45/4 Blaze switched to a fly rod popper and started getting larger fish. c. transitive. To obtain (coal, ore, etc.) by mining. ΚΠ 1457 in C. T. Clay Yorks. Deeds (1940) VIII. 25 It shall be lefull to the seid John & Jenet..to gete & haue fuell uppon the seid ground for the fyre. 1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng xxxv. f. xlix Than must you make a sough vnderneth therthe as men do to gette cole, yron, stonne, leed, ore, or tyn. 1631 in R. S. France Thieveley Lead Mines (1951) 116 That you now Cause all the lead oare that is allreadye gotten to bee presentlie smelted. 1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. iv. 172 The Roof and Seat is the Top and Bottom of the Works, wherein they get Coles. 1671 J. Webster Metallographia i. 18 The Pits or Shafts where Ores are usually gotten. 1780 J. T. Dillon Trav. Spain i. xxiii. 216 After they had, in a manner deflowered the mine, and got as much ore as they could easily extract. 1841 Collieries & Coal Trade (ed. 2) 244 In proceeding to get the coal, the collier, whenever he can do so, works upon the face of the bed. 1885 Law Times 79 119/2 The ‘butties’..paid him his wages out of the 2s. 3d. per ton which they received for getting the coal. 1901 W. Virginia School Jrnl. Sept. 222/1 There are great mines in this country where workmen can get diamonds. 1982 R. Hall Just Relations 41 A digger, he was, no sooner had he got enough gold than he was off to have it fashioned into teeth. 2010 South China Morning Post (Nexis) 25 Jan. (Business section) 2 Miners have to dig deeper to get the ore. 3. a. transitive. Originally: (of a man) to secure the affections of (a woman), esp. with a view to marriage; to win. Subsequently also of a woman. Now chiefly: to obtain (a partner) for a romantic or sexual relationship; (occasionally) to have sexual intercourse with. ΚΠ ?a1300 Dame Sirith l. 15 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 1 (MED) Wel ȝerne he him biþoute Hou he hire gete moute In ani cunnes wise. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1753 Ffor he woste wel she wolde nat ben geten. 1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxi. 138 Thinke not thy greatnesse, or thy giftes, or gracious eyes may get her... If she determine Chastitie, then falls thy sute to ground. 1606 S. Daniel Queenes Arcadia iii. iii. sig. F3 Yes sir, she may be got. 1664 R. Flecknoe Love's Kingdom iv. 53 This is a strange Countrey, where a man can't get a wench neither for love nor money? 1720 J. Leigh Kensington-Gardens iv. 64 'Tis much easier to gain the Reputation of having a fine Woman, than to get the Woman herself. ?1775 S. Foote Maid of Bath ii. 56 Dos't think one could not get her on easier terms than marriage? 1831 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 10 Dec. 1/4 All the ladies tell me so—And, giggling, think they'll get me. 1852 W. G. Simms As Good Comedy ii. 42 Fair play between us will always keep us friends, let who will get the lady. c1890 My Secret Life I. vii. 206 Fred returned, and I had difficulty in getting her often. 1925 J. Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer i. v. 114 That's the kid gits me for the askin any night. 1974 D. Ireland Burn 50 I can't tell 'em about the farmer's wife I did get, proper slut. 1975 S. Selvon Moses Ascending 31 ‘I can get a man any time.’ ‘I don't doubt.’ 1984 A. Brookner Hotel du Lac (1985) ii. 27 In my books it is the mouse-like unassuming girl who gets the hero. 1990 New Age Dec. 110/2 In commercials, you drink the right beer and you get the girl. Easy! So why should real life be a grind? 2008 R. Blandford Flying Saucer Rock & Roll 93 Our main objective for that summer was to get girls and go as far as we could with them. †b. transitive. To gain the allegiance of; to bring over to one's side. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 43 Þanne þe Affres gat wiþ hem Ȝanȝippus [L. attracto Xanthippo]..and overcome Marcus Regulus. 1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iii. l. 31 It war the best for king Eduuardis awaill Mycht he him get to be his steidfast man, For gold or land..Me think beforce he may nocht gottyn be. 1562 tr. Duc de Guise et al. Requestes vnto Frenche Kinge sig. Bviii Their religion serueth them to gette folowers and partakers and to sowe strife and diuision amongest the kynges subiectes. 1653 H. Holcroft tr. Procopius War with Vandals ii. 46 in tr. Procopius Hist. Warres Justinian Maximinus..had gotten many of those mutiners with a design to usurp. 1702 C. Davenant Tom Double return'd out of Country 14 You may plainly see what a Party we have got among the Clergy. c. transitive. To obtain in marriage, to marry. Now Scottish and Irish English (northern). ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (transitive)] bewedc1000 bespousec1175 wieldc1275 marrish1340 wedc1380 geta1393 takea1400 espouse?1435 marry1441 couplec1540 contract1599 to take on1611 consort?1615 to take to one's bosom1881 nuptial1887 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 2431 Sche moste thanne algate faile To geten him, whan he were ded. 1599 W. Shakespeare et al. Passionate Pilgrime (new ed.) sig. C4 The learned man hath got the Lady gay. a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iii. 8 If I could get this foolish Imogen, I should haue Gold enough. View more context for this quotation 1672 E. Ravenscroft Citizen turn'd Gentleman 97 Could you but get this Girl, Sir Simon, you would not lose your labour of coming to Town. 1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 82 I wonder why such a handsome..young Gentleman as you, do not get some rich Widow. 1789 R. Burns Tam Glen v. But if it's ordain'd I maun take him, O' wha will I get but Tam Glen? 1889 J. M. Barrie Window in Thrums iii. ‘She was mairit..no lang syne’..‘And who did Tibbie get?’ I asked; for in Thrums they say, ‘Wha did she get?’ and ‘Wha did he tak?’ 1952 B. Holman Diamond Panes 61 Losh, Wull never proposed tae me. I kent fine efter the Forrester's Ball that I was gettin' him and he was as shair that he was getting' me. 1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 143/2 Get, marry (a woman). 4. To cause or enable a person to have (someone or something required); to procure or obtain; to seek out and take, to cause to come or be supplied. (Now the principal sense.) a. With indirect object or prepositional phrase indicating the person for whom the specified object is obtained or procured. (a) transitive. With objective reflexive pronoun (†occasionally with to or unto). To obtain, procure for oneself.With the use in quots. 1600 and 1797 cf. sense 3c. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > something needed getc1300 c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 39 (MED) Wenestou nou gete þe griþ, Þer þouȝ list roten in þe clay? a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1808 We schul..gete vs sumwat elles, bolaces & balk-beries. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 21094 Thomas..preiched..for to gite him heiuen to mede. c1480 (a1400) St. Christopher 517 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 355 Gais & gettis ȝou lechis fele, ȝoure brokine godis fore to hele. a1500 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Trin. Dublin) l. 794 Kest hym on þis yong knyght to gett hym a name. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxvii^v You..by your..noble feates have gotten to you, in maner an immortall fame. 1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 6 This Water grasse doth get vnto it selfe some new rootes. 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 16 Thou wilt neuer get thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue. View more context for this quotation 1628 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Peloponnesian War (1629) 70 A man of Argilus..got him a Seale like to the Seale of Pausanias. 1690 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 315 I have now gotten me a pair of new horses. 1726 Philos. Trans. 1725 (Royal Soc.) 33 319 He thought it good for nothing, but to get himself a little Credit. 1797 H. More Let. 2 May in Lady Chatterton Mem. Ld. Gambier (1861) I. 320 This young lady has got her a husband. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Locksley Hall in Poems (new ed.) II. 94 In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest. 1871 H. B. Stowe My Wife & I vii. 73 I got myself a dark sombrero hat, which I slouched down over my eyes in bandit style when I walked the street. 1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song i. 60 John Guthrie got himself a gun, a second-hand thing he picked up in Stonehaven. 1978 I. Murdoch Sea i. 62 I got myself a reasonably sound education, and especially I got Shakespeare. 1996 T. Parker Violence of our Lives v. 187 I got me a chest full of medals. (b) transitive. Chiefly with objective personal pronoun, but also (in later use) with †to or for. To obtain or procure for another person. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > get for a person geta1375 a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 644 Melior..preide hire priueli..to gete hire þat gode gras as sone as sche miȝt. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 3502 Ay was he bone, To gete [Vesp. fete] his fadir venisun. a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 454 (MED) A norse they gatt hyt [sc. a child] vntyll. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 1 This was it which gat him so many victories. 1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 249 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 268 Ga gait me cheiss & breid. 1600 in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 36 Promysyng to gete them xls. more then their ordynary to play yt. a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. i. 119 Gre. What's that I pray? Hor. Marrie sir to get a husband for her Sister. View more context for this quotation 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. ii. 8 They are lodged in the Memory, and Names got to them. 1742 Further Rep. Comm. Secrecy Conduct Earl of Orford (House of Commons) 27 The said Captain enquir'd of the Examinant how he should get a Passage for him. 1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 5 Oct. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (1785) 361 Now Col, if you could get us a dish of tea. 1842 Bentley's Misc. 12 24 ‘Now, Mrs. Thingumty,’ said she,—‘stewardess, get me a glass of brandy and water, hot, with one lump of sugar.’ 1890 Sir A. Kekewich in Law Times Rep. 63 683/2 The landowner requires a carriage for his own use, and he asks the estate agent to get it for him. 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life vii. 189 If you want to have your son educated à la carte, you must get a private tutor for him. 1968 S. E. Whitfield in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ iv. i. 329 You get me a horned koala creature that has been trained and won't excrete on the actor's shoulder, and I will be pleased to use it in the show. 2001 A. Dangor Bitter Fruit (2004) vi. 73 I had to go out into the jungle to get this dinner for you and St Francis over there. b. transitive. With simple direct object. To obtain or procure. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] wieldeOE haveeOE ofgoOE oweOE addlec1175 winc1175 avela1200 to come by ——a1225 covera1250 oughtc1275 reachc1275 hentc1300 purchasec1300 to come to ——c1330 getc1330 pickc1330 chevise1340 fang1340 umbracec1350 chacche1362 perceivea1382 accroacha1393 achievea1393 to come at ——a1393 areach1393 recovera1398 encroach?a1400 chevec1400 enquilec1400 obtainc1422 recurec1425 to take upc1425 acquirea1450 encheve1470 sortise1474 conques?a1500 tain1501 report1508 conquest1513 possess1526 compare1532 cough1550 coff1559 fall1568 reap1581 acquist1592 accrue1594 appurchasec1600 recoil1632 to get at ——1666 to come into ——1672 rise1754 net1765 to fall in for1788 to scare up1846 access1953 c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 3315 (MED) Y gete hir neuer mare, Ȝif y tine hir þis tide. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 26129 If he in suilk a nede be tan, þat he ne get man bot curst an..He agh him ar to drau awai. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1123 There nas courser..That in the land of libie may be gete. 1465 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 295 I haue gyte a replevyn. ?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxviii^v Gette thy quic-settes in the wode countre. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 193 Two spies full spedely he sped hym to gete. 1558–9 Act 1 Elizabeth I c. 2 in Statutes of Realm (1819) IV. 357 The Bookes concerning the sayd Services shall..bee attained and gotten before the said Feast of..S^t John Baptist. 1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 241 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 268 Scho stertis vp and gettis licht in hy. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xxii. 29 Moreover, we got a pilote being of the yle of Chio, in place of him that was dead. 1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. A2^v Then can you blame me to be hunter like, When I must get a wife? a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 37 And you vse these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head. 1647 C. Cotterell & W. Aylesbury tr. E. C. Davila Hist. Civill Warres France i. 47 Few people that were to be gotten thereabouts. 1656 R. Baxter Gildas Salvianus: 1st Pt. 84 Be sure if we can, to get their promise, and engage them to amendment. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 197 So I went up to the Village, and got a Praw, which I sent to bring him over to me. 1712 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 17 June (2013) xlviii. 429 I generally get a lift in a Coach to Town. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. xiv. 288 We could not have failed of getting whatever numbers [of sailors] we pleased. 1814 D. H. O'Brien Narr. Captiv. & Escape 179 Dr. B. got a lift in a waggon for three or four miles. 1818 J. W. Croker in L. J. Jennings Croker Papers (1884) I. iv. 113 At last I have gotten the warrant for searching for the old regalia of the Scottish Crown. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 380 The coach sometimes reached the inn so late that it was impossible to get supper. 1879 London Society Christmas No. 61/1 I went into a little shop to get a shave. 1892 H. R. Mill Realm of Nature xi. 61 To get Greenwich time in remote places is more difficult. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 488 He couldn't get a connection. Only, you know, sensation. A dry rush. 1933 S. Walker Night Club Era 101 They would raise a terrible ruckus in a futile attempt to get ringside seats at a place that already was full. 1947 J. Van Druten Voice of Turtle ii. i. 75 You see, the leading man isn't very good, but he was all they could get, because of the draft. 2007 C. Stross Halting State (2008) 283 People used to avoid the place—they couldn't get a phone signal inside. c. transitive. To go for and bring back, to take from a place at some distance and convey or conduct back, to fetch. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > transference > bringing > bring [verb (transitive)] > fetch fetchc1000 fet1297 to go for ——c1405 get1594 to round up1873 1594 Taming of a Shrew sig. A3^v Go get a dishclout to make cleane your shooes. 1678 J. Phillips Maronides v. 83 Go get a Surgeon, Noble Festus. 1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. i. 21 Gae get my Sunday's Coat. 1776 G. Washington Let. 10 Dec. in Papers (1997) Revolutionary War Ser. VII. 290 A party of light Horse seiz'd him..not even suffering him to get his Hat, or Sartout Coat. 1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast vi. 14 When I went to the galley to get a light, I found the cook inclined to be talkative. 1857 Harper's Mag. Dec. 99/2 Put on thy pattens, and get a lantern, and go fetch the Virginian. 1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly May 569/1 You can go and get the sounding-pole. 1885 W. T. Hornaday Two Yrs. in Jungle (1910) xxxii. 378 I got my rifle and returned with him. 1912 J. Conrad Smile of Fortune v in 'Twixt Land & Sea 67 I ran back on the verandah to get my hat. 1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse iii. v. 528 He got the poker in case of burglars. 1975 R. Stout Family Affair i. 4 I had got my pajamas from the closet. 2004 D. Peace GB 84 362/1 Barry shook his head. I got my coat and we walked up to Pit. d. transitive. To prepare (a meal, usually an informal one). Compare sense 23. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > prepare food [verb (transitive)] makeOE dightc1320 dressa1325 array1366 prepare1490 guise1604 catea1617 trick1824 fix1839 get1873 nap1961 1873 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 421/1 ‘Perhaps you'll entertain the ladies while I get supper,’ quoth Mrs. Bangs. 1882 Cent. Mag. July 340/2 I've got to stir around early in the mornin' to get the washin' and ironin' both out the way to-morrow, so's I can get dinner for the thrashers Tuesday. 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iii. 35 Anne Marie had got breakfast, but no one was down. e. transitive. To take (a train, bus, etc.) as transport; to catch. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > public passenger transport > travel on (public vehicle) [verb (transitive)] ride1926 get1943 1943 S. H. Bell Summer Loanen 56 This is just a hop, and I promise you'll get the last bus home. 1958 F. O'Connor Let. 21 Mar. (1979) 273 It appears that we cannot get a plane direct for Milan but will have to spend the night in London. 1965 M. Forster Bogeyman (1970) iv She went to get the last train home and missed it. 1988 R. Langford Don't take your Love to Town v. 73 I hitched to town and got a taxi back with the groceries. 2004 Time Out 25 Aug. 112/2 I got a bus to a bookstore and took the subway back to the hotel. 5. a. transitive. Without reference to agency on the part of the subject: to become possessed of; to receive, e.g. as one's share in a division, as a gift, in wages, or as a payment of any kind. Also intransitive with implied object. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > receiving > receive [verb (transitive)] > be given underfoc888 afangOE underfongc1175 getc1300 latchc1300 undertake1393 receivea1400 to take up1639 to come into ——1672 to fall in for1788 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 908 Wel is set þe mete þu etes And þe hire þat þu getes. c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 545 Wheþer hem leuer ware Win or ale to gete. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 159 Loke ȝe be me nehi, fulle gode giftes gete [printed ȝete] ȝe. a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 219 Quhen vthair hors hed brane to byt, I gat bot gris. 1567 R. Sempill Deeclaratioun Lordis Iust Quarrell (single sheet) Donald the fyft, he gat the same reuaird. 1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 iv. ix. 26 Thou wilt betraie mee..and get a thousand crownes. 1636 H. Finch Law ii. xvii. 177 If..within the yeare it [a stray] strayeth againe, and another Lord getteth it, the first Lord cannot take it againe. a1639 W. Whately Prototypes (1640) i. xix. 189 Julius, by being courteous to Paul..gate his life and the life of his soldiers for a reward. 1726 S. Knight Life of Erasmus 327 The Physician never got his Money. 1791 Gentleman's Mag Dec. 1111/1 It was eleven o'clock at night before I got this letter. 1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton (1854) II. x. 26 She told me she had got a note from Henry. 1850 H. Miller Scenes & Legends N. Scotl. (ed. 2) xv. 230 Pictures of little boys and girls, which, in every case, the little boys and girls got to themselves. 1890 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 148 717/2 They get from 10s. to 12s. a-week for their eggs alone. 1892 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 Oct. 625/2 As to salaries, an officer..usually gets sixty pounds. 1910 H. G. Wells New Machiavelli ii. i. in Forum Oct. 502 My cousins were always getting and giving, my uncle caressed them with parcels and cheques. 1920 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 4 Apr. (1993) III. 271 I got lovely presents. 1948 M. Sharp Foolish Gentlewoman xviii. 190 ‘I'm going to be a Beautician.’..‘They get good money..and it's nice work.’ 1962 F. O'Connor Let. 21 Dec. in Habit of Being (1979) 502 I didn't open the package until I got your letter saying what was in it. 1982 J. Krantz Mistral's Daughter (1983) vi. 66 The Bernheims had gotten twenty thousand dollars for a Matisse. 2010 F. Eostre Manifesting Mister Wonderful v. 177 Many people, especially in Britain, grew up hearing things like ‘I want doesn't get’. b. transitive. To obtain (a name). Now frequently in present tense in to get one's name from: to be so called after. ΚΠ ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 32^v Nacta also is..of diuersez shappez & quantitez as a melon or a cucurbit, taking or getyng diuerse namez after fourme & membrez. 1538 T. Elyot Dict. Suffibulum, was an attyre, whiche the nunnes of Vesta dydde weare on theyr heedes,..wherwith they mocke ladyes..and thereby onely doo gette the name to be callydde Maskynge ladyes. 1634 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World (new ed.) I. xxxvii. x. 623 The Agat..is full of varietie in colours, whereby it hath gotten many names, for called it is Phassachates, Cerachates, Sardachates, Hæmachates, Leucachates, and Dendrachates. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 89 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors Cuncam, for so it is more commonly called, though from its Metropolis it somtimes gets the name of Visiapour. 1741 A. Monro Anat. Human Bones (ed. 3) 17 The first [Vertebra], from its Use of supporting the globular Head, has got the Name of Atlas. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds ix. 133 The ‘bull-snake’..an immense thing of four or five feet in length, which gets its name from its blunt head and thick clumsy body. 1954 R. Wailes Eng. Windmill iv. 50 The smock mill is said to get its name from a fancied resemblance to the obsolete smock frock of the countryman. 2008 Review (Rio Tinto) Mar. (Profile Suppl.) 15/2 Bauxite actually gets its name from a delightful and gastronomically noted village in southern France, Les Baux-de-Provence. c. transitive. To experience the presence, activity, or impact of (someone or something) in a place or part of the body; usually with prepositional phrase or adverb as complement.Sometimes (esp. in you get) with predominantly existential meaning, approaching ‘there are’. ΚΠ 1831 Mechanic's Free Press 19 Feb. One poor fellow got a musquet ball in his leg. 1882 Harper's Mag. July 302/1 And then you get a lot of low trades-unionists and Radicals trying to stir up discontent. 1948 E. Waugh Loved One v. 67 It's mostly the good-style Jews we get here. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 28 Knos..was always getting bees in her hair. 1986 R. Sproat Stunning the Punters 80 You get a lot of foreign behind the bar these days. 1999 New Yorker 29 Nov. 111 Mammy ran her fingers over a couple of the poles, and when she got a splinter in her hands she said, Oh, sugar. 2011 Sphere Spring 108/2 We get a lot of Scandinavians, Dutch and, increasingly, Canadians..coming here to play golf. 6. a. (a) transitive. To obtain as the proceeds of one's business or employment; to earn.to get a livelihood: see livelihood n.¹ 2a. to get a living: see living n.² 1a. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (transitive)] > earn earneOE fangOE i-earnOE winc1175 getc1300 betravail1393 to knock out1873 to pull downa1902 to knock down1929 pull1937 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 792 Ich am wel waxen, and wel may eten More þan euere Grim may geten. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vii. 238 He þat get his fode her with trauaylinge in Treuþe, God ȝiueþ him his blessyng þat his lyflode so swynkeþ. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) liii. 177 Thy mayster hath nothynge but that he geteth with his vyal. 1594 True Trag. Richard III sig. E2 Laie your fingers to worke, and get thereby somewhat to maintaine you. a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. ii. 77 I earne that I eate: get that I weare. View more context for this quotation 1699 Royal Sufferer: Man. of Medit. & Devotions 32 If thy Labour got it, let thy Wisdom keep it. 1701 D. Defoe True-born Englishman ii. 27 And what they get by Day, they spend by Night. 1781 S. Johnson Pope in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VII. 113 If the money with which he retired was all gotten by himself. 1839 J. L. Motley Morton's Hope II. iv. iii. 137 He is now engaged by a bookseller to write fashionable novels. In that way he gets higher wages than I could afford to give him. 1879 H. George Progress & Poverty (1881) v. ii. 263 To get four dollars a day for parboiling themselves two thousand feet underground. 1927 E. Wallace Feathered Serpent xvii. 218 I was getting a hundred quid for this job..and I couldn't turn him down. 1976 L. Bangs in Creem July 32/1 I lean over and shout in his ear over the booming dub beat: ‘How much money did you get for making this?’ 2011 Daily Tel. 22 July 34/2 Not long after, Johan had tracked down a local art dealer and got £800 for his five minutes' work. (b) intransitive. To earn money, to earn a living. Frequently coupled with spend. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (intransitive)] > earn one's living liveeOE get?1529 to earn (also get, make, etc.) a (also one's) living1632 to cut one's own grass1863 ?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. viii. sig. g.iij They compell theyr husbandes vnto shamfull craftes to get by. 1698 W. Pope tr. I. Catts in Moral & Polit. Fables 78 Who will get, must Sweat. 1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 205 The Alderman, who gets and spends, And grudges him the Vital Air, Who drives no Trade, and takes no Care. 1807 W. Wordsworth World is too much with Us in Poems I. 122 Late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. 1829 J. K. Paulding Tales of Good Woman ix. 95 He received a liberal education, that is at the expense of other people, and got rich by getting and saving. 1921 Christian Cent. 16 June 7/1 Who gets and never gives..breeds A pauper soul. 1974 J. Sochen Herstory xi. 288 Charge accounts, installment buying, easy credit payments, and loans from finance companies led city dwellers into a ceaseless round of getting and spending. 2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 June c20/1 Among the pieces offered at the four-day event, a feverish orgy of getting and spending, were Ms. Herrera's chalk-striped gray flannel suit. b. transitive. To obtain (an academic or sporting award, or a specified mark or grade). Cf. sense 11b.to get one's colours: see colour n.¹ 19b(a). ΘΚΠ society > education > educational administration > examination > examine a candidate [verb (transitive)] > attain a mark get1857 make1870 the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > token of victory or supreme excellence > award token of victory or supreme excellence [verb (transitive)] > receive (a prize) get1857 to take out1976 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 136 I know I'd sooner win two School-house matches running than get the Balliol scholarship any day. 1869 Malburian 29 Oct. 150/2 Copleston got his colours for his play soon after the match. 1870 C. Dickens Let. 14 Jan. (2002) XII. 466 If he don't get a fellowship at Trinity Hall when his time comes, I shall be disappointed. 1879 Rec. U.S. Naval Inst. 10 Apr. 386 In the 3d class year 46 per cent. cad. mids. got a 3. 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. xi. 323 You'll get your Third Fifteen cap for a snip. 1919 H. O. Rugg & J. R. Clark Fund. High School Math. (new ed.) vii. 118 4 pupils got F (that is, they failed). 1933 B. Johnston Let. 26 Feb. in Lett. Home 1926–45 (1998) 110 He used to row for New College, but didn't get his blue. 1977 Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. 8/4 The superb Bunner Travers, getting his ninth cap after an interval of 10 years! 1991 Entertainm. Weekly 14 June 41/3 He seems more like that nebbishy guy who got an A in high school calculus. 1992 Face Apr. 46/1 I got a scholarship to a dead posh grammar school and then a degree and all that. 2006 Time Out N.Y. 27 July 70/4 After getting an NEA fellowship to work at the Walker Art Center in 1987. 7. a. transitive. To obtain as a concession or favour, or by means of pressure, insistence, or entreaty; e.g. to get forgiveness, to get grace, to get leave, to get mercy, to get permission; to get an answer, to get information, etc. Frequently with from, of, out of. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by asking, entreaty, or importunity getc1330 emprent?c1400 impetrea1450 impetrate1533 importunate1605 to worm (a person) out of1617 exorate1623 wheedle1670 stout1812 c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) l. 545 (MED) Merci getestu [a1450 Cambr. gestow] neuere non Off trespas. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 145 And prayed for to haue a place to wonye inne, and myȝte none gete. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Manciple's Tale (Ellesmere) (1875) Prol. l. 102 Of that mateere ye gete namoore of [c1405 Hengwrt for] me. ?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 5042 He gettes here forgifnes. c1480 (a1400) St. Bartholomew 24 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 180 Of þare god gat þai nan answere. 1535 J. ap Rice in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1881) 33 As touching the convent, we coulde geate litle or no reportes. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 209 Who with muche adoe gate leaue to depart from his brother the Erle. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. iii. 13 Where the dead body is bestowd..We cannot get from him. View more context for this quotation 1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus iii. 2 Is there no iustice to be gotten at the Magistrats hand? 1651 in T. Fuller Abel Redevivus 578 At last through Gods mercy, by importunity he gat his fathers consent. 1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 194. ⁋3 I knocked and called, but could get no Answer. 1738 S. Berington tr. Mem. G. di Lucca 17 Examining the Woman first, to get what we could from her. 1804 W. Tennant Indian Recreat. (ed. 2) I. 280 To..get permission to enter into [his] service. 1814 D. H. O'Brien Narr. Captiv. & Escape 119 Asked if I could have a bed? I could get no answer. 1839 36 Yrs. Seafaring Life 263 A Frenchman never gets a word of French from me..till I see it serves my purpose. 1908 J. Royce Race Questions, Provincialism & other Amer. Probl. i. 28 You complain that such criminals, when they flee from justice, get sympathy from some portion of their ignorant fellows and so are aided to get away. 1964 S. O'Faoláin Vive Moi! 37 A few of us got permission..to leave class..to steal a quick peep through the eyelet hole to see what was going on. 1989 Los Angeles Times 13 Aug. (Calendar section) 70/3 Though the Irish flutist has..offered a reward..he has gotten no response. 2007 S. Dunne Reaper (2009) v. 83 Where has that hack got his information? †b. transitive. With that-clause as object. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. ccxxiij^v/1 Seynt James..gate that he shold be restored to his lyf. 1556 tr. J. de Flores Histoire de Aurelio & Isabelle sig. N At that tyme was it easey inoughe to gette that the deathe was not geuen vnto Isabell. 8. a. transitive. To obtain, come to have, attain (something immaterial desired or aimed for); e.g. to get comfort, to get rest, to get sleep; to get one's health, to get one's liberty, to get one's sight, etc.; also to get one's end, to get one's will, etc.to get one's (own) way: see way n.¹ 18b(a). ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > as something desired or advantageous findOE winc1000 betellc1275 getc1330 reapa1350 craftc1350 attainc1374 achievea1393 embrace?c1475 conquer1477 consecute1536 gain1570 lucrify1570 compass1609 raise1611 lucrate1623 reconcile1665 engage1725 to pull off1860 c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2997 Mi wille ȝif y miȝt gete, Þat leuedi wold y se. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 61 Whan he hadde y-gete his axynge. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 13553 He went and weisse his eien þare, And gat [Vesp. tok] his sight. c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew 412 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 202 [He] cessis nocht to threte ws al bot gyf his wil he gate. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/1 I trust in God I shall get my desyre of hym. a1547 H. Latimer in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. App. xcviii. 262 What rest hath he gotten, that is removed from the Stocks in Newgate to the Rack in the Tower? 1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 565 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 277 Alesone on na wayiss gat hir will. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 19 Pittie..got in her breast such place, As [etc.]. 1618 W. Raleigh in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1880) 38 When I had gotten my libertye. 1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) i. 19 Killing some of the people when they had got their ends. 1671 Lady M. Bertie Let. in Hist. MSS Comm.: 12th Rep. App. Pt. V: MSS Duke of Rutland (1889) 22 in Parl. Papers (C. 5889–II) XLIV. 393 It was so hard to get room that wee were forced to goe by four a clocke. 1674 S. Vincent Young Gallant's Acad. Ep. Ded. sig. A2^v The other laughs at us when he hath got his ends. 1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 2 I could scarce get one sound nap. 1735 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. V. 83 In what manner this passion..got such footing upon our stage. 1792 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 12/1 I got a very comfortable nap between London and St. Albans. 1809 European Mag. 60 20 He could not get a wink of sleep. 1860 R. C. Trench Synonyms New Test. 1st Ser. (ed. 5) 75 Any benefit which he could have gotten from his books. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ii. 74 All it exists for, is to get its ends, to make its points. 1945 P. White Let. 24 Oct. (1994) iii. 63 I expect to return to England at the end of the year, and get my freedom about January. 1964 W. Golding Spire v. 101 He felt his heart hitting his ribs and he rested a while to slow it and get his breath. 2008 New Yorker 23 June 43/2 You're badly upset. Why don't you take a stress pill and get some rest? b. transitive. With noun of action as object: to succeed in doing, obtain opportunity to do (what the noun implies). Also to get (a) sight of, to get a glance of, to get a glimpse of, to get a peep of; to get (a) hold of (on, upon), to get possession of, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > seizing > seize [verb (transitive)] gripea900 afangOE to lay hands (or hand) on or upon (also in, to)OE repeOE atfonga1000 keepc1000 fang1016 kip1297 seize1338 to seize on or upon1399 to grip toc1400 rapc1415 to rap and rendc1415 comprise1423 forsetc1430 grip1488 to put (one's) hand(s) on (also in, to, unto, upon)1495 compass1509 to catch hold1520 hap1528 to lay hold (up)on, of1535 seisin?c1550 cly1567 scratch1582 attach1590 asseizea1593 grasp1642 to grasp at1677 collar1728 smuss1736 get1763 pin1768 grabble1796 bag1818 puckerow1843 nobble1877 jump1882 snaffle1902 snag1962 pull1967 c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vi. l. 117 (MED) Hit is ful hard..To gete in-goynge at þat ȝat. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 22570 (MED) Vp to þe lift rise sal þe see, þar wit strenght to get entre. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 785 The discurrouris..Of athir host has gottin sicht. a1547 Earl of Surrey Poems (1964) 25 The palme playe, where, dispoyled for the game, With dased eyes oft we..Haue mist the ball and got sight of our dame. 1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages 253 The Chylde to speik micht scarse get audience. 1580 A. Fleming tr. N. Hemmingsen Epist. Ephesians (vi. 12) 226 We are put in minde, to flie from all and euerie sinne,..least the diuell make claime to his right, and get rule ouer vs againe. 1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 240 You get acquaintance with him by a bare salutation. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. ii. i. 34 And though we followed the Blood a good way, yet did not come up with him..to get a second shot. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical vi. 55 We made hard shift to get now and then a Glance at some of them. 1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Luke iv. 37 Where Satan has once gotten an hold..how unwilling is he to be cast out of Possession. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. viii. 222 We were..in hopes of getting sight of the Gloucester. 1763 D. Hume Hist. Eng. (new ed.) VIII. lxvii. 61 Their enemies, they thought,..had got possession of their Sovereign's confidence. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 202 To the west we got a peep..of Swansea Bay. c1860 H. Stuart Novices or Young Seaman's Catech. (rev. ed.) 47 As soon as the buntlines are bent get a pull of them. 1889 Times (Weekly ed.) 13 Dec. 14/1 Every effort was made..to get speech of the Emperor. 1919 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 9 Dec. (1993) III. 152 Bet I don't get a sniff of that £7. She's furious with me! 1960 Observer 17 Jan. 12/6 I got a taste of his flimflammery the first time I met him. 2004 Vanity Fair June 213/1 She smiles, a sloe-eyed, let's party grin, and I get a glimpse of the girl she was at the time of the crimes. 9. †a. intransitive. With non-referential it as subject. To be of advantage, to profit. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 4025 What gette it al to tellen here? Arthur & Ban..So michel pople..slowe, Þat her enemis hem wiþdrowe. b. intransitive. To derive profit; to gain, be a gainer, esp. by something. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > be advantageous or beneficial [verb (intransitive)] > derive benefit to be the betterOE profit1340 getc1390 advancec1405 gain1575 benefit1623 to have (also get, want, etc.) a run for one's money1874 c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) l. 1072 Ac wolde he of þe appel ete, Þenne þou seidest he hedde igete. 1544 A. Cope Hist. Anniball & Scipio lviii. f. 110^v I hadde leauer to gette by my deedes than by my woordes. 1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations 93 Yet was no man pinched in his goodes, or lost any thing, but rather got by it. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iv. iii. 32 We mourne, France smiles: We loose, they dayly get . View more context for this quotation 1679 W. Penn Addr. Protestants ii. 156 Doing as ill Gamesters are wont to do, get by using false Dice. 1686 E. Waller Poems (ed. 5) 235 Like Jewels to advantage set, Her Beauty by the shade does get. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xxv. 315 Whether our East-india Company got or lost by that War, I know not. 1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. x. 101 People who keep lodgings at public places expect to get by every one who comes into their purlieus. 1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 44 The guardians of the temple, as they got by the self-delusion, were ready to believe him too. a1871 A. Cary in A. Cary & P. Cary Poet. Wks. (1877) 183 He hath no gain who does not get by giving. 1922 H. J. Desmond Short Cuts to Wisdom 10 It is the program of generous and expansive natures. And they seem to get by giving. 2005 C. Logue Cold Calls 29 The Prince: ‘I get by everything I see. Their war is lost.’ c. transitive. To obtain (much, little, nothing, etc.) by way of profit; to be benefited or advantaged to the extent of; to gain. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain by way of profit or benefit get1490 1490 W. Caxton tr. Boke yf Eneydos liii. sig. Kv^v We that dyde fyghte ayenst the Troyens..Gatte nor wanne therby nothynge. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 356 When he had made the best agreement with them that he could, he gate but little by them. 1596 B. Griffin Fidessa xlv. sig. D7 I pray you tell me what doe I get by it? 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. i. 62 They neuer meet but there's a skirmish of wit betweene them. Beat. Alas he gets nothing by that. View more context for this quotation 1677 G. Miege New Dict. French & Eng. ii. sig. V2/3 I got nothing by it, je n'y ai rien gagné. 1750 tr. R.-A. F. de Réaumur Art of hatching Domestick Fowls viii. 336 There is great benefit to be got by feeding hens rather with boiled than with dry barley. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia V. x. vi. 296 He soon finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading. 1841 T. P. Thompson Exercises (1842) VI. 244 Is it that I have ever gotten anything by taking the manufacturers' side? 1869 A. Trollope He knew he was Right I. xxv. 194 It was little enough she got by marrying him... But it was a love-match. 1923 T. Veblen Absentee Ownership ii. 29 Civilised mankind is divided against itself in a predator scramble to get something for nothing. 1955 ‘P. Wentworth’ Listening Eye xxxv. 266 What—he was to be the dogsbody, to do what he was told, to take the most damnable risks, and to get nothing—nothing after all! 2004 Business Rev. Weekly 17 June 58/3 They begin suing the alleged infringers, hoping to get a big return on their investment through damages for patent infringement. †d. transitive. Of a clock or watch: to run fast by the amount of (a specified period). Also intransitive: to gain, become fast. Obsolete (English regional (midlands) in later use.) ΘΚΠ the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [verb (transitive)] > lose or gain time get1675 lose1955 1675 J. Smith Horol. Dialogues iii. 67 If it [sc. a pendulum of a clock] be let go the year round, it shall in one half year gain or lose what it lost or got in the other. 1736 E. Purefoy in Let. 15 June in Purefoy Lett. (1931) II. 242 Its fault is it gets above an hour in 24 tho' you turn the spring as backward as may be. 1763 N. Maskelyne in Philos. Trans. 1762 (Royal Soc.) 52 440 The clock got 4^m 1^s, upon mean time, in two days. 1879 Norfolk Archaeol. 8 170 My watch get wonderfully. a1895 E. Smith MS Coll. Warwicks. Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 601/2 This clock gets more than half an hour in a week. 1896 G. F. Northall Warwickshire Word-bk. 91 This watch begins to get. 10. a. transitive. To win (a victory), to gain the favourable issue of (a battle, a field of combat, a match, etc.). Also: †to win (a bet) (obsolete).to get the day: see day n. 13. to get the gree: see gree n.¹ 5. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > win (a victory or battle) overcomec1275 getc1330 win1338 vanquisha1400 conquerc1475 conquest1485 obtain1530 import1598 gain1725 the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > win (any contest or prize) > win (a prize, etc.) to bear awayc1325 getc1330 winc1330 to go away with1489 to carry away1565 carry1570 to bear off?1615 to carry off1680 to take out1976 c1330 Horn Child l. 462 in J. Hall King Horn (1901) 184 At iustes & at turnament..euer þai gat þe gre. a1425 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Galba) l. 25367 (MED) He þat victori may gete Sall be corond [with] wirschippes grete. 1520 Chron. Eng. i. f. 7/1 Y^e chyldren of Israel gate ye victory agaynst Jabyn. 1578 W. B. tr. Appian of Alexandria Aunc. Hist. Romanes Warres ii. 109 They..sware..neuer to returne from the fielde, vnlesse they gette the fyghte. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) i. iv. 1 The Army of the Queene hath got the field. View more context for this quotation 1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. x. 259 Had Charles gotten the Battail, it is very probable, that England had been the price of the victory. 1737 L. Clarke Compl. Hist. Bible I. ix. 580 For Lathyrus having gotten the Victory, pursued it to the utmost. 1766 H. Lloyd Hist. Late War Germany I. 81 (note) His lordship..advanced, and broke the enemy's line, which got the battle. 1800 J. Woodforde Diary 11 Mar. (1931) V. 243 I got my bet with my Niece. 1838 J. F. Cooper Home as Found II. ii. 29 One who is full of fight can never get the battle on his own terms. a1859 W. Irving Chron. Fernan Gonzalez viii. in Span. Papers (1866) I. 305 If we attack them and close manfully, we shall get the field of them before they have time to hurl their darts and wound us. 1905 Washington Post 18 Apr. 9/2 Fred Beel, of Wisconsin, to-night got the match on a foul. 1966 Black Belt Apr. 38/2 The player who has made 10 kicks might get the match. 2011 C. Kultgen Men, Women & Children 293 Even though we didn't get the win tonight, you guys should all be proud of a great season and a great last game. b. transitive. To obtain (a position of superiority or advantage over another person). Cf. to get of —— at Phrasal verbs 2.to get the better of: see better n.¹ 3. to get the better hand: see hand n. Phrases 2i(a). to get a good hand against: see hand n. Phrases 2i(b). to get the over hand (of): see overhand n. to get the start of: see start n.² Phrases 3. to get the sun of: see sun n.¹ Phrases 2c(b). to get the upper hand (of): see upper hand n. 1. to get the wind of: see wind n.¹ 3b. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military operations > manoeuvre > [verb (transitive)] > other manoeuvres geta1400 to get the sun of1598 to get the back of1653 attenda1674 unmask1779 the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > [verb (transitive)] > track or perceive using sense of smell i-stinkc1000 smellc1175 smakec1220 feelc1225 asmellc1320 savoura1382 scenta1425 winda1425 get1530 vent1575 nose1577 smell1608 resent1614 snuff1697 to get (also take, pick up) the scent1723 to carry scent1753 find1827 snuffle1871 flair1919 the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] overcomeeOE forecomec1000 overwieldlOE masterc1225 overmaistrie1340 overmatcha1375 overpassa1382 surmount1390 to have the fairer (of)c1400 maistriec1400 overmasterc1425 winc1440 overc1485 bestride1526 rixlec1540 overreach1555 control1567 overmate1567 govern1593 to give (a person) the lurch1598 get1600 to gain cope of1614 top1633 to fetch overa1640 down1641 to have the whip hand (of)1680 carberry1692 to cut down1713 to be more than a match for1762 outflank1773 outmaster1799 outgeneral1831 weather1834 best1839 fore-reach1845 to beat a person at his (also her, etc.) own game1849 scoop1850 euchrec1866 bemaster1871 negotiate1888 to do down1900 to get (someone) wetc1926 lick1946 society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > get into the current of the wind [verb (transitive)] > get or keep weather gauge of to have the weather of1526 to gain, get, or take the wind of1563 get1600 to give, have the wind of1600 to recover the wind of1604 weather-gauge1892 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2508 (MED) Þai lete þairs was þe land Fra þai had geten þe ouer-hand. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 2236 Þer was noon so manly nor so sage, Þat koude on hir geten avauntage. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/2 I get the upper hande of one, I overcome hym, je vaincs. 1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Resurrection, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 434 He [Christ] hath..overcome the devil, death, and hell, and hath victoriously gotten the better hand of them all. 1568 E. Tilney Brief Disc. Mariage (new ed.) sig. Dv^v By conquest getting y^e upper hande. ?1574 C. Vitell tr. H. Niclaes Dicta iv. 10 In that thou hast gotten the Dominion ouer mee, therto hast thou begyled mee with thy Falshod. 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. vii. vii. 253 The other armie..got a good hand against their enemies. 1618 T. Gainsford True Hist. P. Warbeck 8 Where the imposturing of Priests hath got the vpper hand of all religion and piety. 1682 E. Hickeringill Black Non-Conformist Postscr. sig. Y You have got the whipping hand of him. 1684 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 316 Haveing gott the ascendant of him. 1712 A. Pope in Spectator No. 408 If a Man suffers them [sc. the passions] to get the upper Hand. 1718 Mem. Life J. Kettlewell iii. cx. 464 He got the Mastery of his Passions. 1727 tr. A. Dacier in tr. Plutarch Lives VII. 295 Libertinism and Vice must be very predominant indeed to get the better Hand of such powerful Rivals. 1837 E. Colthurst Futurity 80 The tempter won't be let to get the better hand of any one that God has an order over. 1883 Morning Post 20 June 2/5 If they did not take care America would get the superiority. 1926 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Nov. 129 There was no competition except the scenery. After all, almost any woman's got it on a mountain. 1999 M. Frayn Headlong (2000) 290 Slowly my fears begin to recede, and my hopes once again get the upper hand. Everything's possible! 2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Nov. c3/4 But in 2002, ‘retailers panicked and felt if they started earlier they might get first-mover advantage over competitors’, he said. c. transitive. Horse Racing. To hold out for, to stay (a specified distance). ΚΠ 1857 Observer 24 May 3/3 Loyola, of whom such great hopes were entertained after his Cherwell race, has given too convincing a proof of his inability to get over a mile. 1898 A. E. T. Watson Turf vii. 148 There are not a few horses that cannot fairly ‘get’ even five furlongs. 1898 Daily News 17 Oct. 3/3 He will..be opposed by plenty of candidates who can get the Cambridgeshire course. 1907 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 3/3 Only a wonder of a horse can ‘get’ those four miles and a half of ditches and fences. 1975 Guardian 29 Sept. 19/3 Jeremy expects the horse to get the Cesarewitch course and in that case, it is going to prove very hard to find one to beat him. 2013 Northern Echo 4 May 58 You can't be too confident, but the horse is bred to get a mile and I am convinced he can. 11. a. transitive. To earn, win, or acquire (something immaterial arising in the minds or hearts of other people, such as credit, fame, favour, glory, love, renown, etc.).to get oneself a name: see name n. 8b. ΚΠ a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 340 (MED) So schaltow gete goddes loue. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. x. 206 Fyndlynges and lyȝers, Vn-Gracios to gete loue or eni good elles. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2546 Mikel it was þat luffeword þan þat abram gat o mani man. c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew 415 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 202 He fawndyt myn wil for to gate. 1485 W. Caxton tr. Paris & Vienne (1957) 2 Bothe..wente euer to gyder there as they knewe ony Ioustyng..for to gete honour. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 40 He gat himselfe thereby small or little fauour. a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 119 If I get your daughters loue, What dowrie shall I haue. View more context for this quotation 1622 (?a1513) W. Dunbar Poems (Reidpeth) (1998) I. 176 That ȝe may gett ane bettir name. 1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 188 No more approach her..much lesse get the good will of her friends. 1680 T. Otway Orphan i. 3 To send them forth where Glory's to be gotten. 1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 36 By large Quotations..borrowed from Burton's Melancholy..get the Reputation of profound Scholars. 1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison VI. lvi. 372 I had much rather have been in the company..than grubbing pens in my closet; and all to get nothing but discommendation. 1772 S. Paterson Joineriana II. 116 A skilful master in the science of defence—who gets fame, in getting himself in wind, before he mounts in earnest. 1822 J. Galt Provost xxv. 188 By this method,..I got great praise and laud from all reflecting people. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley's Secret I. viii. 127 The prettiest woman in Essex would have a poor chance of getting much admiration out of my friend, George Talboys. a1871 A. Cary in A. Cary & P. Cary Poet. Wks. (1877) 158/1 We must love our neighbor to get his love. 1908 Lit. Guide 1 Aug. 121/1 A Rationalist or an Ethicist can seldom get credit for what he does, however good his intentions. 1964 Guardian 19 June 10/3 What is so strange about young people breaking chairs at rock concerts or fighting in public to get attention? 2013 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 10 Jan. (Sports section) 56 Clemens barked that he couldn't care less about the Hall of Fame. ‘I didn't play my career to get fame.’ b. transitive. In various games: to make (a certain score); to score (so many points, runs, goals, etc.); in Cards, to take (so many tricks). Also: (Cricket) to take (a wicket), to take the wicket of.Early examples of to get the goal may be in the sense of gaining the object of the game: see goal n. 3, 4. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > score get1634 make1680 score1742 notch1836 steal1836 to put up1860 rattle1860 to put on1865 tally1875 net1907 to rack up1921 slam1959 1634 W. Wood New Englands Prospect ii. xiv. 86 Sometimes also it is two dayes before they get a Goale, then they marke the ground they winne, and beginne there the next day. 1645 W. Bagwell Distressed Merchant xiii. 24 When thou a good game hast, thou bend'st thy wits Thy game to play well, to get many trickes. a1672 F. Willughby Bk. of Games (2003) 151 Hee that gets 3, or the 2 first, is said to Beast him that plaies. 1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Slam, a Trick; also a Game entirely lost without getting one on that side. 1710 Brit. Apollo 13–15 Feb. The Party..got..the Odd Trick. 1731 London Evening-post 24 Aug. The Duke's Hands came in first, and got 79 before they were out. 1800 Sporting Mag. 16 186/1 The eldest hand..if he thinks..that he can get five tricks or more, played as at Whist, says Boston. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 387 We have'nt got the best wicket yet. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 397 Only seventeen runs to get with four wickets—the game is all but ours! 1882 Daily Tel. 24 June Play was very slow,..twenty minutes being consumed in getting ten runs. 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 231/2 Many a bad ball gets a wicket. 1907 W. S. Maugham Explorer (1909) iii. 50 ‘I can't make it out,’ he cried. ‘I play much better than you, and I hold better hands, and yet you get the tricks.’ 1912 A. A. Lilley Twenty-four Years Cricket (1914) x. 164 The substantial support Trumper received..left us 194 to get to win. 1930 C. V. Grimmett (title) Getting wickets. 1971 Sunday Express 31 Oct. 31/3 He could not get the goal he sought so eagerly. 2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 4 Aug. d8/3 The rules are simple: The first wrestler to get three points wins. †12. transitive. With double object. To give or provide (something) to a person. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 5238 (MED) Sonis tuin..his wijf him bare, þat þe king had getin [a1400 Trin. Cambr. geten, a1400 Vesp. gin, a1400 Fairf. gyuyn] him þar. a1425 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Galba) l. 29047 (MED) Oure lord crist..Gat vs ensaumple forto fast. 1607 (?a1425) Chester Plays (Harl. 2124) ii. 388 After that ghost he them geete [v.r. gette], ryse out of their graves he them leet [v.r. lette]. 13. a. transitive. To capture, gain possession of (a fortress, etc.). ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > capture or acquire by conquest i-wina1000 wina1122 fang?c1200 catchc1275 conquer1297 geta1400 stealc1400 conquer1475 conquest1485 conques1488 evict1560 carry1579 intake1646 constrain1700 capture1796 a1400 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Egerton) (1927) l. 1901 Without oure help þou getest it [sc. Troy] neuer. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1453 Þen..Gais him furth to Gasa..& sesis it be-lyue; And quen þis Gasa was geten he graythis him swyth, And Ioynes him toward Ierusalem. 1477 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 502 The Frenshe Kynge hathe gothen many off the townys off the Dukys off Borgoyne. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxj^v Without spedy aide..the whole countrey were like to be gotten from his possession. 1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xiv. viii. 208 Neuerthelesse the Kings fortresse..was not gotten but by fight. 1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 159 And when the city Troy we shall have got. 1727 Magna Britannia IV. 58/2 Some of them he got by Siege, as the Castles of Hereford, Gloucester, &c. 1798 C. Cruttwell New Universal Gazetteer III. at York The walls had suffered so much from the assaults of war, that Osbright..got the city without any difficulty. 1803 Marquess Wellesley Let. 4 Mar. in Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) III. 26 If Darwar is not to be got by force, I shall, at least, try what I can do by fair means and threats. 1886 C. Mair Tecumseh ii. ii. 51 Some thet warn't thar skinned out o' the kentry, end got lands from the British up to the Thames River in Canady. 1905 Rosary Mag. Nov. 481/1 If they could only get Rome, the City of the Emperors..their desires would be satisfied. 1975 K. M. Setton in H. W. Hazard Hist. Crusades III. vii. 251 Any fool could see that his confinement was not helping them to get the city, and there were few fools in the Venetian senate. 2004 D. Tal War in Palestine 1948 v. 201 It was not only the desire to get Jerusalem that led Ben-Gurion to invest huge efforts in the fighting against the Arab Legion. b. transitive. Sport. To secure possession or control of (the ball). ΚΠ 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 399 Arthur gets the ball again, and actually drives it forward for two. 1867 Routledge's Handbk. Football 38 When a player has the ball, any of the opposite side may..get the ball from him. 1891 Manitoba Daily Free Press 31 Aug. 5/4 In the face off Barber got the ball. 1900 A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 257 Supposing..one of the centres on the four side gets the ball. 1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes i. 7 I was a reserve tackle, clearly an inappropriate assignment for a college fullback who could score just about any time he got the ball. 2008 J. Kelman Kieron Smith, Boy (2009) 124 Trying to dribble him, ye could not..He just stuck out his foot and got the ball. 14. a. transitive. To get hold of, capture (a person). ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > seizing > catching or capture > catch or capture [verb (transitive)] i-lecchec1000 fang1016 hentOE takeOE alatchlOE catchc1275 wina1300 to take ina1387 attain1393 geta1400 overhent?a1400 restay?a1400 seizea1400 tachec1400 arrest1481 carrya1500 collara1535 snap1568 overgo1581 surprise1592 nibble1608 incaptivate1611 nicka1640 cop1704 chop1726 nail1735 to give a person the foot1767 capture1796 hooka1800 sniba1801 net1803 nib1819 prehend1831 corral1860 rope1877 a1400 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Egerton) (1927) l. 722 He swereþ he wol ete no meete Til he may hur [sc. Elene] with strengþ gete. a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 25 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Many of them bee such Losells and scatterlings, as that they cannot easily by any Sheriffe..bee gotten. a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. iv. 37 The Plebeians haue got your Fellow Tribune, And hale him vp and downe. View more context for this quotation 1742 Proc. Old Bailey 3 June 103/1 A Gentleman came to me about 9 at Night, and desired I would go and fetch a Constable, for he had got the Thief. 1893 W. L. Chittenden Ranch Verses 132 Our Sheriff gets the drop, sir, and he likewise gets his man. 1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xi. 123 ‘There's one thing: they might have written something worse.’ ‘They wrote the worst insult they knew,’ said Robert wryly. ‘I suppose you haven't got the culprits?’ 1981 M. King Framework of Criminal Justice i. 1 The detective who always ‘gets his man’ and the defence lawyer who always ‘wins his case’ have become part of the mythology of criminal justice. b. To have a physically damaging or destructive effect on (a person).See also to be out to get (a person) at Phrases 2i. (a) transitive. Of a natural force, a predator, etc.: to obtain as a victim; to consume, destroy, or defeat. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > absence of movement > hold or holding > hold [verb (transitive)] > lay hold of or grasp > suddenly or forcibly catcha1250 titc1330 beclapc1386 clutch1393 clitcha1400 cleekc1440 cletch1612 click1651 get1831 to seize hold of1839 1831 Englishman's Mag. June 342 Down he went—the d—d shirk [= shark] had got him at last. 1858 R. T. S. Lowell New Priest in Conception Bay xxii. 214 The sea, that had had so much wickedness done on it, got that boy. 1908 Daily Chron. 16 Sept. 7/5 This climate is sure to get a white man sooner or later. 1948 H. E. Bates Purple Plain (new ed.) v The sort of look people gave you when they thought that at last the sun had got you. 1950 Life 17 July 101/1/ If..you ran for half an hour and then it [sc. an atomic bomb] went off, it would still get you. 1967 M. Meyer Ibsen (1974) i. ii. 75 Whatever you turn your back on gets you in the end. 1988 New Scientist 21 July 24/2 It is the fatigue caused by the relentless battering of waves that gets them in the end. (b) transitive. Originally U.S. Of a person: to succeed in killing; to kill, esp. by shooting or stabbing. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > manage to secure (a result) > succeed in taking, catching, or killing get1839 1839 D. P. Thompson Green Mountain Boys I. i. 24 Wolf jump high, catch um away—now rifle all gone—no get um. 1853 ‘P. Paxton’ Stray Yankee in Texas 118 [A Texan] does not kill his game, he saves or gets it, or makes it come. 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin vii. 138 They'll get you one of these days, Colonel, when you are driving around in your wagon. 1907 C. E. Mulford Bar-20 iii. 33 The man..was dead. Buck got him immediately after he had shot Johnny. 1917 ‘S. Rohmer’ Hand of FuManchu (1920) viii. 65 I turned, dizzily, to see Fletcher sinking to his knees, one hand clutching his breast. ‘She got me…with the knife,’ he whispered. 1932 W. H. Auden Orators iii. 108 The agent clutching his side collapsed at our feet, ‘Sorry! They got me!’ 1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse xxiii. 334 He never told me whether he was implicated in the attempt to ‘get’ Guillermo, or not. 1998 P. Jooste Dance with Poor Man's Daughter (1999) xii. 210 They're coming with sticks and knives to get his killers. (c) transitive. To injure, harm, or cause trouble to (a person), esp. in retribution for an injury or wrong; to ‘get even’ with. Chiefly in threats.See also to be out to get (a person) at Phrases 2i. ΚΠ 1896 J. Fox in Cent. Mag. June 320/1 The boys was a-goin' up the river one night to git ole Dave Hall fer trickin' Rosie Branham into evil. 1907 Indianapolis Sun 14 Nov. 7/3 ‘I'll get you for that!’ threatened Bill Coughlin, as he was given the bump in rounding first base and knocked out of his stride. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt x. 141 Of all the rotten dumps that pass 'emselves off as first-class hotels, that's the worst. I'm going to get those guys, one of these days. 1939 N. Langley et al. Wizard of Oz (film script) (1989) 58 I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too! 1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys E. London 152 I heard this fellow was calling me names... My mates said, ‘You going to get him?’ 1987 Washington Post 18 Sept. b4/3 Cal Jr...flipped the whole plate on his old man's shirt. And Cal Sr., covered with ick.., vowed, as all fathers do, ‘Someday I'll get you for this.’ 2001 S. Cowley Getting Buggers to Behave v. xiii. 157 I'm gonna get you after school, you ***. (d) transitive. To hit or injure with a weapon or bullet; to disable, defeat, or overcome in a struggle. ΚΠ 1900 E. Glyn Visits of Elizabeth* 50 She did not hit any rabbits, but she got a gardener in the leg. 1914 J. Driscoll Out-fighting iii. 52 He will..assuredly attempt to ‘get you’ with a mighty swing. 1918 Stars & Stripes 1 Mar. 1/2 Instructors in those two manly arts [sc. boxing and wrestling] are going to travel round to every unit.., putting the men hep who are not hep to the best way in which to get the other fellow. 1962 Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 28 May a21/2 He wanted to get somebody... He gave me a spike, so I hit him. 1979 A. Sillitoe Storyteller i. i. 16 His foot ached where a piece of shrapnel had got it during the war. 1992 R. Kenan Let Dead bury their Dead ii. 39 He just fell over on his side like a spent toy. Mr. John Edgar got him square in the head. c. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To concern, worry, or annoy.Frequently in what gets me and variants. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > be annoyed or vexed by [verb (transitive)] > annoy or vex gremec893 dretchc900 awhenec1000 teenOE fretc1290 annoyc1300 atrayc1320 encumberc1330 diseasec1340 grindc1350 distemperc1386 offenda1387 arra1400 avexa1400 derea1400 miscomforta1400 angerc1400 engrievec1400 vex1418 molesta1425 entrouble?1435 destroublea1450 poina1450 rubc1450 to wring (a person) on the mailsc1450 disprofit1483 agrea1492 trouble1515 grig1553 mis-set?1553 nip?1553 grate1555 gripe1559 spitec1563 fike?1572 gall1573 corsie1574 corrosive1581 touch1581 disaccommodate1586 macerate1588 perplex1590 thorn1592 exulcerate1593 plague1595 incommode1598 affret1600 brier1601 to gall or tread on (one's) kibes1603 discommodate1606 incommodate1611 to grate on or upon1631 disincommodate1635 shog1636 ulcerate1647 incommodiate1650 to put (a person) out of his (her, etc.) way1653 discommodiate1654 discommode1657 ruffle1659 regrate1661 disoblige1668 torment1718 pesta1729 chagrin1734 pingle1740 bothera1745 potter1747 wherrit1762 to tweak the nose of1784 to play up1803 tout1808 rasp1810 outrage1818 worrit1818 werrit1825 buggerlug1850 taigle1865 get1867 to give a person the pip1881 to get across ——1888 nark1888 eat1893 to twist the tail1895 dudgeon1906 to tweak the tail of1909 sore1929 to put up1930 wouldn't it rip you!1941 sheg1943 to dick around1944 cheese1946 to pee off1946 to honk off1970 to fuck off1973 to tweak (a person's or thing's) tail1977 to tweak (a person's or thing's) nose1983 to wind up1984 to dick about1996 to-teen- 1867 B. Harte Condensed Novels 280 To have let bigger things go by, and to be taken in by this cheap trick..is what gets me. 1884 A. E. Sweet & J. A. Knox On Mexican Mustang through Texas xxvii. 356 Well, it just gets me, it do! 1890 Congress. Rec. 4933/2 That is what gets me; I can not stand that. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters xii. 190 I wish to the Lord he hadn't been so quick about it. That's what gets me. 1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. xvii. 103 What do you know about that..? Wouldn't it come and get you? 1925 W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xxix. 286 ‘Do you think he minds?’ ‘I know he doesn't. But it gets me.’ 1960 B. Cobb Don't lie to Police ix. 149 It got me—her talking that way. 2005 Big Issue (S. Afr.) Feb. 42/5 What gets me is how much all this pomp and circumstance is costing us! d. transitive. Cricket. To dismiss (a batter). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > dismissal of batsman > put out [verb (transitive)] to put out1735 take1828 to get out1833 remove1843 to send back1870 dismiss1875 out1899 get1901 1901 Daily Chron. 7 June 8/4 Jones getting Bland at square-leg. 1911 E. W. Ballantine in Evening News 18 Dec. 1/3 I see Hordern got Woolley with a ‘wrong 'un’. 2013 Sunday Herald (Nexis) 19 May (Sport section) 14 But Southee bowled Bairstow with an inswinger, then got Prior for the second time in the match. e. transitive. colloquial. To arouse deep emotions in (a person); to enthral, attract, appeal to. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > attention > attracting attention > engage the attention [verb (transitive)] > hold attention, absorb swallowc1330 deepc1380 dare1547 suspend1561 preoccupy1567 devour1568 to swallow up1581 enwrap1589 invest1601 steep1603 to take up1603 spell1646 possess1653 enchain1658 engross1661 absorb1749 fix1752 rivet1762 fascinate1782 spell-bind1808 arrest1814 mesmerize1862 to turn on1903 get1913 consume1999 1913 R. Brooke Let. 20 Nov. (1968) 532 It's the Rhythm that gets you. 1916 To-Day 11 Nov. 50/3 The ‘curtain’ on that dog walking across the stage and sticking his cold nose into the hand of his lonely master always used to get me. 1928 F. N. Hart Bellamy Trial i. 6 ‘It [sc. murder]'s always interested me more than anything else.’.. ‘Well, don't let it get you. I'd just keep it as a hobby.’ 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock ii. i. 68 ‘It gets you,’ the Boy said, ‘it gets you,’ surrendering himself to the huge brazen suggestion. 1958 B. Hamilton Too Much of Water xi. 243 ‘How was it that the 'Dichterliebe' made you cry?’ ‘I can't answer that. Somehow it got me.’ 2013 Evening Standard (Palmerston North, N.Z.) (Nexis) 3 Aug. 20 There's something about Martinborough sauvignon blanc which gets me every time. 15. a. transitive. To acquire (knowledge, etc.) by study or experience. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > [verb (transitive)] learnc900 undernimc1000 lerec1220 knowc1390 apprehenda1398 geta1400 learna1400 to take forth1530 to take out1550 a1400 Cato's Distichs (Fairf.) l. 209 in R. Morris Cursor Mundi (1878) III. App. iv. 1672 Þe man þat is harde witte gode clergis mai gitte, wiþ-in lite ȝeres. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. iv. 7 In al thi possessioun gete thou [a1382 E.V. purchace thou] prudence. 1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xiii. f. 48^v A man may nat be an oratour heaped with praise, but if he haue gotten the knowlege of all thynge. 1577 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) Pref. i. p. cx I gat some knowledge of things by letters and pamphlets. 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. v. 21 Reason is not..gotten by Experience onely. 1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xxvii. 360 Solomon..bids us get wisdom rather then gold. 1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vii. xi. 155 Some old Ideas may be lost, and some new ones got. 1796 F. Burney Camilla I. i. v. 94 I shan't so much mind her getting a little learning, because she's not likely to make much hand of it. 1864 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta 297 In such wise I gat knowledge of the Gods. 1868 C. Clarke Relig. & Duty 255 That knowledge which is gotten at school. 1925 Rotarian Feb. 38 Wherever you find them they are busy proving that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing—but not making any effort to get more understanding. 1959 N. M. Taylor Early Travellers N.Z. 350 He was one of the few collectors of Maori lore..who got their knowledge direct from the Maori. 2009 Jrnl. Relig. & Health 48 537 ‘You know, you get wisdom three ways,’ he mused. ‘By meditation; by drugs; and by just getting fucking old.’ b. transitive. to get knowledge (intelligence, †wit, etc.) of: to learn of, receive information of. Cf. to get wind of at wind n.¹ 17b. ΚΠ c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 54 (MED) Þay went & helde þam in hidils ay till þay myȝte gete knaweynge of Alexander will. 1577 R. Willes in R. Willes & R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Hist. Trauayle W. & E. Indies Epist. sig. (.).iiii You shal neyther be able to get intelligences of the situation and strength of any citie, nor of the limites and boundes of any countrey. 1591 W. Raleigh Let. 16 Oct. (1999) 57 This is the very trewth I asure your lordship before the livinge God as nire as wee can sett down or gett knowledge of. c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 45 The governour gettand witt therof, past with his cumpany and saigit the samyn. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 128 His wife had already gotten some small knowledge of this matter. 1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. II. xlii. 461 The duke of Parma, who had gotten intelligence of their approach. 1816 Catholicon 3 63/2 Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Stillingfleet had got knowledge of his lodging, and resolv'd to have him taken up (and persecuted as a priest) the very next morning. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights II. ii. 26 When I first looked into his face I perceived that he had got intelligence of the catastrophe. 1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 633/2 I thought if you had been sending for money, and thae burglars had got wit of it—. 1916 J. O. Evjen Scand. Immigrants N.Y. ii. 156 The city authorities got knowledge of the matter. 1967 N.Y. Times 11 June (Mag.) If we got intelligence of V.C. at Buon Ya Soup, about 30 clicks..away, it would take us a day and a half to get there. 2010 Classical Q. 60 251 The Phoenicians used the Little Bear for navigation before the Greeks got knowledge of it from Thales. c. transitive. To learn, ascertain. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > be informed of hearc950 witc1000 haveOE learnc1175 undergoc1290 takea1333 receivec1400 aherec1450 partakea1593 get1608 intelligence1637 to get wind of1809 to take away1839 1608 T. Middleton Mad World, my Masters ii. sig. E4 Faith from discourse, yet all the pollicie That I could vse, I could not get her name. 1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 122 He findeth that the unlearned and carelesse multitude hath got his name. 1737 L. Clarke Compl. Hist. Bible I. i. 51 Abraham having got the Price, never offers to beat it down. 1765 L. Sterne Let. 23 Aug. in Lett. 1765–8 (2009) 450 Having got my direction from my wife's banker..he wrote me word that he was in love with my daughter. 1845 J. H. Ingraham Cruiser of Mist vii. 35 He resolved, if tact and art could do it, to possess himself of the confidence of the commander and get the secret. 1866 B. Taylor Story of Kennett xxxii. 384 Says I to him, The door 's open, even accordin' to the Doctor's words; and so it is, for he 's got his true name. 1922 C. K. Scott-Moncrieff tr. M. Proust Swann's Way I. 21 Francoise told us after he had left that she had got it from his coachman that he had been dining ‘with a princess’. 1979 Observer 2 Sept. 10 You cannot get the Arab opinion by sitting and talking to Jews. 1995 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 18 Jan. 35 For older cars it was pretty simple. You rang the dealer or the maker, got the key code, and trotted down to your friendly key cutter. d. (a) transitive. colloquial. To understand (a person, the meaning of something). See also get it? at Phrases 2d(d).Frequently (originally U.S.) with a pronoun as object. ΚΠ 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vi. 347 Arthur saw that he had got his point. 1907 M. C. Harris Tents of Wickedness i. iii. 33 ‘I don't get her,’ she murmured, as if Leonora was a telephone number. 1911 Postville (Iowa) Rev. 24 Nov. 3/4 Here is a fine new word, ‘motorcade’. Do you get it? 1913 J. London Valley of Moon i. vii When I go after anything I get it, an' if anything gets in between it gets hurt. D'ye get that? 1915 H. L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap (1917) viii. 149 ‘I want all parties here to get that.’ ‘Say no more please. It's quite understood.’ 1918 P. G. Wodehouse Piccadilly Jim xi. 114 I get you not, friend. Supply a few footnotes. 1923 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean vi. 106 ‘I get you, sir,’ respectfully answered Judson. 1928 F. N. Hart Bellamy Trial v. 166 I have a first-class opportunity..if you get what I mean. 1937 ‘J. Bell’ Murder in Hosp. vii. 136 ‘I'd go about it rather quietly if I were you...’ ‘I get you,’ said Thornton. 1956 I. Bromige Enchanted Garden II. ii. 93 Fiona broke into peals of laughter and became quite helpless for a few moments. ‘Don't get it,’ said Julian. 1988 D. Waters Heathers (film script) (O.E.D. Archive) 52 I don't get the point of me writing a suicide note. 2003 Attitude Jan. 104/2 ‘Maybe I don't get you,’ she replies, matter-of-factly. ‘You do,’ he explodes. ‘You do get me, you just don't want to get me because I am too intensified for you!’ (b) intransitive in sense 15d(a). ΚΠ 1948 ‘J. Bell’ Wonderful Mrs Marriott xxi. 273 Oh, I get. The Condover Court lady. 1966 ‘M. Innes’ Change of Heir ii. 14 Okay, okay. I get. Norval. My name is Norval. 2009 W. Etheridge Runda 242 Okay, okay, I get. I'll keep my mouth shut. e. transitive. colloquial. To notice, look at (a person, esp. one who is conceited or laughable); usually mockingly in imperative with a pronoun as object. ΚΠ 1912 G. Ade Knocking Neighbors 129 Get me!.. Pipe the lid! 1958 News Chron. 22 May 4/4 If he is conceited the girls mutter get yew! 1967 H. Dalmas Fowler Formula (1968) i. 16 It was almost like hearing himself say, ‘Get me! I had a special invitation to the Universal party this afternoon.’ 2004 J. Burchill Sugar Rush (2005) 79 I believe the words ‘Get her!’, ‘Up-herself bitch!’ and ‘Slag!’ were tossed from some sorely envious quarters, but we didn't stop to argue. 16. a. transitive. To receive, meet with, or suffer (a fall, blow, defeat, etc.). Also intransitive: (with implied object) †to be struck on a specified part of the body (with on, over, etc.).to get upon the finger ends: see finger end n. Phrases 6. to get the worst: see worst adj. and n. Phrases 1c. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > adversity > suffer (adversity or affliction) [verb (transitive)] thave835 i-dreeeOE tholec897 abeareOE underbearc950 adreeOE dreeOE driveOE i-tholeOE throwOE underfoc1000 bearOE bidec1200 suffera1250 abidec1275 drinka1340 endure1340 underfong1382 receivec1384 abyea1393 sustain1398 finda1400 undergoa1400 get?c1430 underganga1470 ponder?a1525 a dog's lifea1528 tolerate1531 to stand to ——1540 to feel the weight of?1553 enjoy1577 carry1583 abrook1594 to stand under ——a1616 to fall a victim to1764 the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > suffer pain [verb (transitive)] acorea1200 suffera1250 get?c1430 insuffer1488 sensea1669 suffer1796 rax1898 ?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 129 Pore men schullen stonde with oute & goo dailes but ȝif þei geten knockis & reprouynge. c1480 (a1400) St. Peter 585 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 24 Sike ane fall þane he gat. 1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 267 Thay gat vpoun the gammis. 1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 698 As he gat ben throw, He gat mony greit schow [shove]. 1597 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 200 I got sik check, that I micht neither muife nor neck. a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. i. 37 I must giue my selfe some hurts, and say I got them in exploit. View more context for this quotation 1689 J. Collier Moral Ess. conc. Pride 77 Many persons..in the Crowd, and Tumult of the Action,..get nothing but Blows for their Pains. 1692 J. Fergusson Brief Refut. Errors i. 22 He must get on the fingers to make him more warry, and to scar all Justified Persons in time coming from doing the like. 1693 Apol. Clergy Scotl. 37 I am afraid I may get upon the Finger-ends, because I did not name my Witnesses. a1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 163 Several of the saints have gotten on the finger ends by this means. 1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 6 I hope you are up for all Day?.. Yes, if I don't get a Fall before Night. 1809 W. Windham Let. 16 Sept. in Speeches Parl. (1812) I. 113 A slight hurt which I got here in riding. 1888 H. R. Haggard Col. Quaritch III. i. 1 Cossey had only got the outside portion of the charge of No. 7. 1906 ‘A. Hope’ Sophy of Kravonia xxiii. 321 I just saw what happened before I got a crack on the crown of the head from the butt-end of a rifle. 1996 D. Brimson & E. Brimson Everywhere we Go vi. 86 We got a bit of a slapping for our pains. 2005 D. Daley-Clarke Lazy Eye 16 I forgot where the outside of my body was so I kept getting bruises from doorframes and table corners. b. transitive. To receive or suffer as a punishment. Also Scottish with plural noun as object, modified by a possessive adjective indicating the recipient. See also to get it at Phrases 2d(a)(i).to get hell: see hell n. and int. Phrases 5i. to get one's licks: see lick n. 4a. to get one's paiks: see paik n. N.E.D. (1899) gives the phrase to get one's rages ‘to get a scolding’ as an example of the Scots use, but other evidence for it has not been found. ΘΚΠ society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)] > submit to or receive punishment underliec960 suffera1250 coupc1300 payc1384 get?a1513 drink1677 to take out1910 a1513 W. Dunbar Flyting in Poems (1998) I. 202 Throw all Bretane it salbe blawin owt, How that thow..gat thy paikis. 1567 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. v. 38 It war weill wairit he gat his quhippis. 1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 144 And thus they get Credit among some, for which at Schoole they should have got a whipping. a1691 R. Boyle Free Disc. Customary Swearing (1695) 103 Nor is it a Prodigy, to see men get most stripes for those offences they get least by. 1786 R. Burns Poems 216 Monie a fallow gat his licks. 1790 R. Burns Tam o' Shanter 201 in Poems & Songs (1968) II. 563 Ah, Tam! Ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin! 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 128 A naughty or saucy boy, at school, often gets a smack on the face. 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 238 We did not want to overdo the thing and get six months. 1913 J. Service Memorables Robin Cummell 14 If they werena' gettin' their paiks for fugiein'..it was for herryin' a robin's nest. 1920 G. Parker No Def. xii. 133 Did you ever think what the life of the sailor is, that swings at the top of a mast with the frost freezin' his very soul, and because he's slow, owin' to the cold, gets twenty lashes for not bein' quicker? 1980 M. Williams Dingo! 76 I got five years' hard labour. Five years!..The big shots said I was lucky. 2001 R. Hill Dialogues of Dead (2002) xxi. 240 He's cheated on his wife and he's cheated on his colleagues. Sounds like just the sort of scumbag who ought to get his comeuppance. 17. transitive. To take hold of (something) in one's hands; to grasp or grab; to gain a hold of. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > absence of movement > hold or holding > hold [verb (transitive)] > lay hold of or grasp i-fangc888 gripc950 repeOE befongOE keepc1000 latchc1000 hentOE begripec1175 becatchc1200 fang?c1200 i-gripea1225 warpa1225 fastenc1225 arepa1250 to set (one's) hand(s onc1290 kip1297 cleach?a1300 hendc1300 fasta1325 reachc1330 seizec1374 beclipc1380 takea1387 span1398 to seize on or upon1399 getc1440 handc1460 to catch hold1520 to take hold1530 to lay hold (up)on, of1535 grasple1553 to have by the backa1555 handfast1562 apprehend1572 grapple1582 to clap hold of1583 comprehend1584 graspa1586 attach1590 gripple1591 engrasp1593 clum1594 to seize of1600 begriple1607 fast hold1611 impalm1611 fista1616 to set (one's) hand to1638 to get one's hands on1649 c1440 (c1350) Octovian (Thornton) l. 1246 When his swerde broken was, A mete forme he gatt. c1480 (a1400) St. John Baptist 1100 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 254 Þis tyrand..in hand a knyfe can gete. 1592 R. Dallington tr. F. Colonna Hypnerotomachia f. 88 Getting him by the winges, she was about to plucke of his fethers. 1676 tr. Josephus Wars of Jews vi. xi, in Wks. 731 They came in, got them by the throat, and took the meat halfe-chewed out of their mouths. 1681 R. Baxter Treat. Episcopacy ii. xxi. 198 The Priscillianists quickly got the handle of the sword. 1763 Proc. Old Bailey 12 Oct. 227/1 He first got him by the arm, then catched him round the middle. 1855 F. Douglass My Bondage & my Freedom xv. 213 As soon as the gate was open, and I let go of it to get the rope, again, off went my oxen..full tilt. 1875 M. H. Catherwood Woman in Armour vii. 63 He got the proprietor by a button—in fact by the whole coat!—and so nagged clerks and waiters that they finally fled before him like wild grouse. 1917 C. Thackeray Goliath Joe 27 One of 'em got it by the gills with a shark 'ook on a chain. 1992 C. McCarthy All Pretty Horses (1993) i. 66 Blevins dropped the reins and reached to get them and almost slid off down the horse's shoulder. 18. a. transitive. To acquire, to come to have (a quality, power, custom, etc.).to get the hang of: see hang n. Phrases 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > something immaterial takeOE get1476 receive1546 contract1691 1476 B. Burgh tr. Cato's Distichs (Caxton) ii Right so is manes soule but a dedly figure Vnto the tyme she be reclaimed with y^e lure Of doctrine and so gete hir a good habit To be expert in cunnyng science & proffit. ?1533 W. Tyndale Expos. Mathew Prol. f. vii And if the fleshe get a custome, then is the spirite none other wise oppressed of the fleshe, then as though she had a mountayne vpon hir backe. c1575 Perfect Bk. Kepinge Sparhawkes (1886) 15 Lest she get a toye of flinginge her head. 1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxviii. sig. F Euery Alien pen hath got my vse. View more context for this quotation 1610 R. Hill Pathway to Prayer (ed. 4) 133 They haue gotten a custome of sinning. a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iv. ii. 237 Let vs..though now our voyces Haue got the mannish cracke, sing him to'th'ground. View more context for this quotation 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §352 After two Nights..it [a root] got a Shining. 1640 T. Fuller Joseph's Coat 55 Wine was then as subject to spilling, it hath not since gotten a more liquid or diffusive quality. 1676 T. Shadwell Libertine ii It's nothing but a way of speaking, which young amorous fellows have gotten. 1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. v. 85 By accustoming ourselves to any Course of Action, we get an Aptness to go on. 1820 J. Keats Let. June (1931) II. 537 Men get such different habits that they become as oil and vinegar to one another. 1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein II. 456 Unnecessary odium falls upon him, and his power gets the appearance of a Vizirship. 1949 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Aug. 24/4 A sizable number of people who get the habit of regular attendance. 1996 G. Ward Hawaii: Rough Guide i. 30/1 An equally exhilarating way to get a taste for the surf. 2001 J. C. Grimwood Pashazade (2003) x. 49 ‘Let's go back to the steam room.’ Hamzah smiled. ‘Getting a taste for it, eh?’ b. transitive. To come to have (a notion, impression, etc.). ΚΠ a1658 J. Durham Dying Man's Test. (1659) ii. xiv. 150 Because they might discern Him and by that come to get the right impression of the Ordinance. 1762 tr. in Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 512/1 The mob had got a notion that Anthony Calas was the next day to have entered into the confraternity of the White Penitents. 1782 J. Elliot Elem. Branches Nat. Philos. connected with Med. iii. xv. 270 It is..by the eye tracing the boundaries of an object, that we get the idea of its shape. 1833 Mother's Mag. Feb. 24 Your child..will soon get the idea that he is a perfect little saint, when, in fact, he will be only a perfect little Pharisee. 1883 Harper's Mag. Feb. 389/2 Are we getting a realizing sense of the joys of this day? 1927 Daily Tel. 16 Aug. 12/5 He has keyed down his playing to such a pitch that we get no impression at all of his character as a man. 1990 R. Blount First Hubby 239 To get a sense of what our parents were like before we were born. 2003 Art Q. Autumn 80/3 It was a great privilege to see his workshop and kilns and to get an inkling of the complexity of the work involved. 19. transitive. To catch or contract (an illness). ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > cause to be ill [verb (transitive)] > catch illness catcha1393 enticec1400 engender1525 get1527 to take up1629 to come down1837 to pick up1889 start1891 to go down1895 1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Uvi [Water of comon onyons] is good for them that haue gotten the horsenes. 1538 T. Elyot Dict. at Contrahere valitudinem To gette sickenesse. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 66 This is some Monster..who hath got (as I take it) an Ague. View more context for this quotation 1653 tr. L. van Aitzema Notable Revol. Netherlands 58 The opinion was, hee would get the small pocks. 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 234. ⁋15 To you I apply my self for Redress, having gotten..a Cold on Sunday was Sevennight. 1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VIII. vi. 19 Art thou not tormented with the vile asthma thou gattest in skating against the wind in Flanders? 1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 363 When a person..gets a catarrh [etc.]. 1892 Black & White 13 Aug. 182/1 Horses get glanders and men get cholera. 1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn 16 ‘We want to be careful we don't get hypothermia.’ ‘It isn't a thing you get,’ said Marcia bossily. ‘Not like catching an infectious disease.’ 2005 W. Wall This is Country 144 How this poor bastard OD'd or fell out of a window or got Aids or bad gear or set fire to himself. 20. transitive. To commit to memory; (now rare) to learn (a language). Somewhat archaic.Frequently in phrases. to get by heart: see heart n., int., and adv. Phrases 1c. to get by rote: see rote n.¹ 1. to get without book: see book n. Phrases 2a. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > memorization > memorize, learn by heart [verb (transitive)] record?c1225 renderc1380 to can by rotec1405 con?a1425 to con by heartc1449 can1496 to bear away1530 get1540 commend to memory1550 commit?1551 to con over1605 rotea1616 lodge1622 to get off by heart1709 memorize1834 rehearse1902 memorate1983 1540 J. Palsgrave in tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus Pref. sig. bii^v The wyllynge scolers, whiche hadde all redy gotten their grammaticall principles. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias xxxi. 77 One of those..after that hee had gotten the Arabian language, went by lande. 1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts f. 20 Which doe you account the speediest way of all, to get and keepe these Verbs? 1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands 185 And he had such an excellent memory, that he had got their Language in perfection. 1761 C. Churchill Rosciad 8 Without the least finesse of art He gets applause!—I wish he'd get his part. 1795 R. Burns Election v. 2 The billy is getting his questions To say at St. Stephens the morn. 1847 C. Dickens Let. 9 July (1880) I. 193 Sounds as of ‘groans’ will be heard while the inimitable Boz is ‘getting’ his words—which happens all day. 1861 H. A. Jacobs Incidents Life Slave Girl xiii. 113 Uncle Fred, how do you manage to get your lessons so well? 1903 H. Keller Story of my Life (1905) iii. iii. 380 She got the language from the language itself, and this is, next to hearing the language spoken, the way for any one to get a foreign tongue. 1929 R. Suckow Cora 20 Pretty soon school'll begin, and then you won't let me stay with Cora because you'll think I've got lessons to get. 1975 R. Kelly Loom 71 I can never get my songs by memory. 2001 Cult Times Feb. 38/3 She's not someone who will forgive you too easily if you're sloppy or lazy or not getting your lines or not hitting your mark. 21. transitive. To find out or ascertain by calculation or experiment; to obtain as a result of arithmetical or other processes. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > find solution, solve [verb (transitive)] findOE assoilc1374 soil1382 contrive1393 to find outc1405 resolvea1438 absolvea1525 solute?1531 solve?1541 dissolve1549 get1559 salvec1571 to beat out1577 sort1581 explicate1582 untiea1586 loose1596 unsolve1631 cracka1640 unscruple1647 metagrobolize1653 to puzzle out1717 to work out1719 to get around ——1803 to dope out1906 lick1946 to get out1951 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 97 It is not so easie..to trie th' eleuation of the Pole: but it is as harde, and laborus, to get the Longitude. 1633 tr. Math. Recreations lxxxxiv. 225 Get the sunnes distance by instrumentall observation from the zenith at noone. 1676 J. Collins Let. 9 Sept. in I. Newton Corr. (1960) II. 99 He doth indeed affirme he can gett the Sum of many Algebraick Nomes.., by ayd of tables of Logmes or Sines. 1734 G. Berkeley Analyst 46 Dividing both Sides by o or B D, we shall get nx^n-1 = B C. 1781 S. Dunn Naut. Propositions xxv. 17 Add the Declination to 90.° to get the Polar Distance. 1832 Edinb. Encycl. (Amer. ed.) X. 519/2 The diameter of the great wheel being thus obtained, we may get the circumference. 1888 Times 2 Oct. 3/2 A trial sand-loaded projectile was first fired in order to get the range. 1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 20 June 400/1 Dividing this by three hundred and sixty we get 364,609·13 feet as the length of a mean degree. 1942 F. Debenham Astrographics (ed. 2) 20 The shadow of the real sun will only give us the irregular real sun time (called Apparent Time), so we have to add or subtract the Equation of Time to get Mean Time. 1970 J. M. Malloy Bolivia viii. 153 When we combine its votes with the votes of the Liberals and Acción Civica, we get a total of 52,941 votes. 2007 Daily Tel. 23 Feb. 31/1 Divide two by three and you get 0.6 recurring—the sign of the Devil. 22. a. transitive. To succeed in finding (what is required). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > succeed in finding (what is required) geta1568 a1568 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xlvi. 393 I pray ȝow, cast the leid lyne owt, And gif ȝe can nocht get the grund, Steir be the compas. 1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Eng. 35/2 in Chron. I After he had..gotten a conuenient winde for his purpose, he embarqued himselfe and his people. 1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 297 Like a Trumpeter in the fields, that shifts places to get an eccho. 1670 J. Narborough Jrnl. in Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) 114 I caused the Lead to be cast forth, but could not get ground at eighty Fathom. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. x. 242 To stand no farther to the northward than is..necessary for the getting a westerly wind. 1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. xi. 183 Driving them mad and desperate, just that you may get a handle against them. 1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xxvi. 442 Her father..wondered what he could get to scold her about. 1941 ‘N. Blake’ Case of Abominable Snowman xii. 119 When she'd got her evidence..she'd force a show-down. 1974 J. Gaby Restless Waterfront 245 I never thought I'd get a job on those wharves. I pounded the old Hungry Mile, but I couldn't get a look-in. 1996 India Today 30 June 154 (caption) Actresses now spend hours with designers to get the right ‘look’ while their predecessors would have flung on whatever clothes they were given. b. transitive. Originally U.S. To get in touch with (a person or place) by telephone. ΘΚΠ society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)] call1879 get1890 raise1929 1890 Washington Post 8 Dec. 4/6 Wait a minute; don't put in any money until I see if you can get your man. 1905 Secret Service 24 Feb. 5/1 You can get him on the 'phone? I noticed the line across the desert. 1908 G. B. Shaw Let. 1 July (1956) 126 I have just telephoned Stella... I tried to get Mrs. Pat herself... I also tried to get Forbes..but he was out. 1958 P. G. Wodehouse Cocktail Time xxi. 174 He took up the receiver... ‘I hear you've been trying to get me. What's your trouble?’ 1989 H. McDonald Rivers & Ravines ii. 84 Hello? Hello? Operator? Get me the White House. That's right. I don't care what time it is. 2011 S. Sallis Promise 177 Mummy said to ring Miss Thorpe and I tried to and couldn't get her—she must have been in bed. c. transitive. To obtain an audible signal from (a radio or television transmitter or station); to ‘pick up’. ΚΠ 1898 Jrnl. Royal United Service Inst. July 1243 If anyone is going to start experimenting with it, he will see at once how easy it is to get a signal with almost any apparatus, but will find very great difficulty in getting a message. 1899 Windsor Mag. 10 145/2 Another station can always get us in a few minutes. 1921 Wireless World 9 586/2 If it be possible to get the Dutch concerts..with this three-valve set. 1924 Wireless Ann. 25 Hello, did you get me? 8 XY standing by. 1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano vi. 162 Hugh..turned the radio dial back and forth, trying to get San Antonio. 1965 H. C. Woodruff Short Wave Listener's Guide (chapter for U.K. readers) Although one may expect to be able to get the majority of the stations in this list, the frequencies..may well be different from those quoted..for American reception. 2005 E. Barr Plan B (2006) iv. 64 If I was on a clear stretch of road and it wasn't raining, I could get Radio Four on long wave. 23. transitive. colloquial. To take, have, eat (one's breakfast, dinner, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (transitive)] eatc825 to-fret?c1225 vourc1330 dinec1380 to eat inc1450 engorge1541 tooth1579 canvass1602 get1603 eat1607 manger1609 upeat1630 dispatch1711 feed1725 yam1725 to eat off1733 repartake1751 patter1803 chop1833 smouse1840 to stow away1858 to put oneself outside ——1865 to get outside ——1876 to feed down1887 1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. Aiii^v I start vp, and see the Sunne, and then sneeze, and then shake mine eares, and then rise, and then get my breakfast, and then fal to worke. 1691 A. Gavin Frauds Romish Monks 182 The Work-men were gone to get their Dinner. 1764 K. O'Hara Midas i. 12 Go boy, and get your dinner. 1775 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1912) XLVIII. 61 This morning we went to rol col & then got our Brefust. 1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene III. ix. 137 Pass the word for them to get their breakfast. 1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield (at cited word) Come and get your tea with us. 1892 ‘J. S. Winter’ Mere Luck i Here, get your dinner, my lad. 1928 P. O'Donnell Islanders ii. 20 Bolt that door..till ye get yer breakfast in peace. 1984 J. Kelman Busconductor Hines iii. 110 I can get my tea there and maybe go out with the auld man for a pint or something. 2006 C. Tate et al. Am I Bovvered? 1st Ser. Episode 3. 75 Bernie: Yeah.., no worries, yeah, go and get your lunch, yeah. I'm cutting down meself. 24. transitive. Originally U.S. To respond to, to answer (a telephone, door-bell, etc.). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > answer > answer [verb (transitive)] > in response to a signal answer1590 get1927 1927 Life 27 Oct. 10/1 Some one get that damned phone. 1941 J. Thurber & E. Nugent Male Animal i. 29 (Doorbell rings.)..Tommy (going to door). I'll get it. 1970 G. Scott-Heron Vulture i. 56 I was interrupted by a knock at the door. ‘Could you get that?’ Debbie called. 1992 R. Kroetsch Puppeteer iii. 36 ‘Do you want me to get the phone?..Or are you planning to stagger to your feet today?’ ‘Kee-rist on a fishhook!’ Ida hauled herself up. 2006 J. M. Troost Getting Stoned with Savages 120 Just then the telephone rang. ‘Why don't you get it, Pip?’ II. To beget. 25. a. Of a male parent: to bring (offspring) into existence by the natural process of reproduction; to beget, procreate, conceive. Now usually of an animal, esp. a stallion.In early use occasionally with both parents as subject.When used of humans, now somewhat archaic or literary. (a) transitive. Without prepositional phrase as complement. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > multiply or reproduce [verb (transitive)] > beget sowc1250 getc1300 begeta1325 engenderc1330 conceivec1350 makea1382 wina1400 fathera1425 rutc1450 tread1594 sirea1616 engraff1864 the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [verb (transitive)] > copulate with > procreate getc1300 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 495 Sweren y wole þat bircabein Neuere yete me ne gat. c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 2893 So þey dide [emended in ed. to diden]..geten samen sones fiue. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xii. i. 597 Males [of birds]..fedeþ onliche briddes þat þey getyn. ?1530 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry (rev. ed.) f. xxx It is a hors fole bycause a hors gate it. 1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 ii. ii. 133 Whosoeuer got thee, there thy mother stands. 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxix. 167 The bodies of children, gotten by diseased parents, are subject..to untimely death. c1704 M. Prior Henry & Emma 136 What groom shall get, and 'squire maintain the child. 1760 R. Heber Horse Matches ix. 144 Bay Horse..sure in getting stock. 1833 Amer. Turf Reg. & Sporting Mag. Apr. 383 He was got by Sir Archy; her dam by Peeble's Ratler—a horse of no reputation; her grandam one of Mr. Amis' work mares. 1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 53 It means, strictly speaking, the foal of an ass, got by a horse. 1859 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 20 ii. 350 Thoroughbred Stallions for getting hunters. 1930 H. Walpole Rogue Herries (1931) ii. 282 He should be let out, like a stallion, to the women of the country to get fine sons. 1975 T. Fitzgeorge-Parker Great Racehorse Trainers iii. 49 Hurry On was champion sire in 1926 and got three Derby winners. (b) transitive. With from, on, out of, upon (a female). ΚΠ a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 112 (MED) He gat him, as god ȝaf grace, on his ferst wyue. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 27 (MED) Fourtene childre he gate opon tuo wifes. a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xiv. 213 On hir he gat a doughter the same nyght that he hadde geten Gonnore on his wife. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 6^v Ercules..was getton of a god on..a gret lady. 1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 265 Though you be strong and on a Goddess got. 1712 J. Arbuthnot John Bull in his Senses iv. 16 Hocus lov'd her best, believing her to be his own, got upon the Body of Mrs. Bull. 1805 G. Huddesford Champignons du Diable v. 185 We know who lent that Pope the coal-Black colt, out of the Night-mare got. 1923 R. Graves Feather Bed 23 We are his sons Got on she-furies of our Northern gales. 1941 E. J. Russell Eng. Farming 20 Comet..was got by Favourite out of one of his own daughters. 1987 Horse Internat. Mar. 50/2 This horse is getting some impressive offspring from Thoroughbred mares. 2007 ‘T. Bishop’ Airs Beneath Moon 153 His sire was a fine dapple gray, known..for getting winged foals on wingless mares. †b. transitive. figurative and in figurative context. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 206 (MED) The flesh shal first be roten and neewe geten ayen at the general assemblee. c1475 Proverbs (Rawl. D.328) in Mod. Philol. (1940) 38 118 Brume tempestas vorat hoc quod procreat estas, Whynter etyt þat somer getyt. a1500 (?c1378) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 441 (MED) Siche good preching is þe beste werk þat a prest doiþ; for bi þis werk a prest getiþ goddis children & makiþ hem to come to heuene. a1648 Ld. Herbert Occas. Verses (1665) 31 Love is no work of Art, It must be got and born, Not made and worn. 1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 19 If they were under any disbelief themselves, or aimed at the getting any in others, touching the Truth of Fact now discoursed upon [etc.]. 1733 Islington Pref. This Pamphlet..'Twas got, conceived and born in six Hours' space. a1796 J. Macpherson Poems of Ossian (1805) II. 447 Intemp'rance, daughter of this age, Got on Prosperity. 1857 J. Woodmansee Closing Scene 95 Death, that imp accurs'd by Satan got And born of Sin at fall of man, I'll see In winding-sheet of World-consuming fire. 1884 ‘M. Field’ Fair Rosamund i. i. in Callirrhoë 140 Oh, I'll marry Seclusion for the sake of getting famous progeny—Meditation—Peace. 1910 W. Watson Sable & Purple 37 A song of the loveliness gotten of Power, Born of Rage in her blackest hour. III. (To cause) to come to a place or condition.Formerly, in intransitive uses, also with to be in the perfect (cf. e.g. quots. 1487, 1820, 1867 at sense 26b(a), 1662 at sense 30b(a)). 26. With prepositional phrase, adverb, or adverbial phrase as complement.In numerous phrasal and prepositional verb uses, as to get away, to get out, to get out of, to get up, etc.: see Phrasal verbs 1, Phrasal verbs 2. a. transitive. Followed by a preposition or adverb of place. (a) To bring, succeed in bringing (oneself, another person, a thing) into or out of a certain position or state; (also) to come to have (a person or thing) in a certain state.to get with child: see child n. Phrases 1a. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > fecundation or impregnation > [verb (transitive)] geta1375 to beget with childa1393 impregn?c1550 season1555 enwomb1590 knock1598 with-child1605 fill1607 fertilitate1638 ingravidate1642 impregnate1646 improlificate1646 prolificate1650 pregnant1660 pregnate1686 fecundate1721 fecundify1736 to knock up1813 to put in the family way1898 inseminate1923 to get or put (someone) in the (pudding) club1936 stork1936 to put in the way1960 a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2895 (MED) Þe grettest of þe grim bestes he gat to prison sone. a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 1070 His manere..gat hym so yn grace. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2051 And I hem gete in my daungere Her falshede shull they bie full dere. a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 324 He abrayded up with a grete myght, and gate hym uppon hys feete. 1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 84 Buy the cloathes, and get thee into flesh. View more context for this quotation 1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles i. 210 If I can get him within my Pistols length, Ile make him sure enough. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. i. 28 Honesty is his [fault]. I ha told him on't, but I could nere get him from't. View more context for this quotation 1640 R. Brome Sparagus Garden iv. vii Could I get her In a marriage vaine, but she'll not look Upon a man not she. 1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age iv. i. i. 97 Having gotten on foot, a fresh Army of sixteen thousand men. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 32 A wild Ass, which after a long Chase they got within shot and wounded. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iv. 161 We exerted ourselves in getting our ships in readiness for the sea. 1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 149 He was sorry to find, that Forester had gotten himself into such a scrape. 1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland (1823) 19 He..got the ship under close-reefed topsails. 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 289 Having..got our prizes in tow, we stretched about a league to the eastward. 1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 23 A difficulty into which I have got myself. 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxviii. 390 Why, you can get him so, in a little while, that he'll love you. 1896 Law Times 100 508/1 Mr. Justice Grantham succeeded in getting the animal under control. 1920 Hearst's Jan. 80 A nice mess you've got me into—mixing me up with this girl! 1955 ‘Miss Read’ Village School xxiii. 219 Eric had managed to get the rope into a tangle of gargantuan proportions. 2002 K. Conley Stud (2003) v. 48 He's the only horse in Kentucky that can get mares in foal across a fence. (b) To succeed in bringing, conveying, putting, causing to come or go (to, from, into, out of a place, through, over, etc., a space); (also) to come to have (a thing) (in a place), e.g. ‘to get the key in the door’.to get (it) into one's head: see head n.¹ Phrases 4d(b). to get a person nowhere, to get a person somewhere, etc.: see Phrases 3j. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > [verb (transitive)] haveeOE ferryOE weighOE bearOE take?a1160 weve13.. carry1348 passa1350 tow1391 geta1393 convey1393 winc1400 transport1483 set1487 convoy1500 traduce1535 port1566 repair1612 vehiculate1628 transmute1683 transplant1769 gallant1806 transit1859 inveigh1878 waltz1884 sashay1928 conduct- the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > manage to secure (a result) > succeed in bringing or putting winc1374 geta1393 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2455 Ferst forto gete it out of Myne, And after forto trie and fyne. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 27147 (MED) Þeir ar þe pointes þat scriftes lattes, And mani saul to warlau [= the Devil] gettes. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Miller's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 354 Er þ^t he [sc. Noah] myghte gete his wyf to shipe. ?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 6024 Þare was a monke of durham, To helpe to kary þis bell hame..he did his bysynes ilk a dele to durham it to gett. 1568 D. Lindsay Justing Watsoun & Bour in Wks. (1931) I. 22 Thay could neuer thair speir get in the reist. 1568 E. Tilney Brief Disc. Mariage (new ed.) sig. Eiv^v If you perceive him in such case..speake hym faire..till you get him to bed. 1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 38 He commands them to get the sailes to the yards. 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. 17 Go hawl down the Yeard, and get the Sail into the Ship. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 25 We were forc'd to get a Rope from the Ship to the watering-place. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. ii. 133 We bent the cable to the spare anchor, and got it over the ship's side. 1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §318 The wind..blowed too fresh for her to be gotten into the Gut. 1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany ii. 11 The next point was to get my little knapsack through the custom-house. 1888 A. de G. Stevens Miss Hildreth II. iv. 74 The same powerful influence that got her out of Russia..has now sent her back. 1933 ‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune iv. v. 267 The fun they'd had..just over nothing, shelling peas and eating one here and there, getting the stones out of plums and cracking them for the kernels. 1945 G. Marx Let. 16 Feb. in Groucho Lett. (1967) 50 Your father and I have many run-ins these days... He can't get it into his thick skull that I have come of age. 1950 Western Mail (Perth, Austral.) 12 Oct. 50/3 Wests got the ball over the centre. 1988 New Scientist 29 Oct. 72/1 A short summary which anyone can get their brains around in five minutes. 2001 Cosmopolitan Dec. 228/1 Theo had point-blank told her that he intended to get her into the sack, and that kind of smooth-operator attitude infuriated her. (c) reflexive. To betake oneself to or convey oneself away from a place; to make one's way, to go away. Formerly frequently in imperative, in get thee (you) away, hence, in, out, etc. (cf. sense Phrases 3b) (now archaic). ΘΚΠ society > travel > [verb (reflexive)] wendeOE meteOE drawc1175 flitc1175 do?c1225 kenc1275 teemc1275 movec1300 graitha1325 dightc1330 redec1330 windc1330 yieldc1330 dressa1375 raikc1400 winc1400 pass?a1425 get1492 tirec1540 flitch?1567 frame1576 betake1639 rely1641 1492 tr. Dyalogus Salomon & Marcolphus sig. ciiii^v He bethoughte hym in his mynde how he myght beste gete hym ayen into the kinges courte. c1520 tr. Terence Andria i. i in Terens in Eng. sig. A.iii Haue in thys gere now. Sirs get ye hens. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 562/2 I get me hence..I get me out of the waye..I get me a syde. a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 43/1 [She] gate her selfe in all the haste possible..oute of the Palyce of westminster. a1550 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Wemyss) lxiv. l. 1761 All his pigh put to the speid, As he wes hasterit in þat neid, And gat him throu speid of horss away. 1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 37 Shut vpp the Schoole, and get you home. 1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 53 [He] got him vp into the highest tower of the pallace. a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. iv. 57 Goe, get thee hence, and finde my dog againe. View more context for this quotation 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 17 Early the next morning I got me above Deck. 1734 H. Fielding Intrig. Chambermaid i. iii. 8 Hist! hist! get you both about your Business. 1828 N. Hawthorne Fanshawe iv. 42 The elderly men..gat themselves silently to their steeds, and hied homeward. 1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. iii. 86 Get you away now you have said your lesson. 1859 J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire x. 557 Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee. 1910 J. Le Gay Brereton To-Morrow 54 You slavering sleepy brute! Will you sleep till the last trump wakes you? Get you in. 1932 P. G. Wodehouse Hot Water xiii. 227 Oily's got himself into the house, and he's planning to let Soup in when he's good and ready. 1971 A. McCaffrey Mark of Merlin i, in Three Women (1990) 261 The stationman brushed by the figure with an apology, hurrying to get himself and his unwieldy sacks into the warmth. 2011 J. Sellers Old Man & Swamp 172 Mrs. Yared flashed me a look that equated to: ‘You have no musical talent and now you can't even spell “piano”? Get thee hence!’ (d) Scottish colloquial. To escort or accompany (a person); to walk with. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > show (the way) [verb (transitive)] > accompany as a guide leada900 conduec1330 conductc1400 convey14.. condc1460 conducec1475 convoyc1480 carrya1522 wain1540 train1549 marshal1590 gallant1806 usha1824 trot1888 get1984 1984 A. Owens Gentlemen of West 85 That was what I thought until I got Big Joe along the road to the site on Monday morning. 1987 G. Sprott in New Writing Scotl. 5 184 Her mother was getting ready to go to the kirk... ‘I'll get ye doun the road, Mum..for the daunder, like.’ 2001 I. Welsh Glue iii. 120 Go up tae Sweet Inspiration in Tollcross... Ah'll git ye up thaire if ye like. 2012 A. Coogan Tomorrow you Die ii. 59 Another policeman stopped me. ‘You're out late, son. Where do you stay?’ ‘Thistle Street.’..‘I'll get you along the road, son, to the corner of Adelphi Street.’ b. (a) intransitive. With a preposition indicating motion, an adverb of motion to or from a place, or an adverbial or prepositional phrase expressing distance: to succeed in coming or going, to bring oneself to, from, into, out of, as far as, etc. (a place or position), across, over, through, etc. (a space, an intervening object), here, near, there, etc. Also (in weakened sense) with to: to arrive at, reach (in the course or at the end of a journey). Esp. of a person, a conveyance carrying people, an animal, etc.; also of a thing, esp. a substance that easily spreads.For figurative phrases, as to get to the bottom of, root of, windward of, see the nouns.In quot. 1639 spec. (of land): †to stretch, extend (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > go or come out [verb (intransitive)] outgoeOE to come outOE forthcomeOE to go outOE to go outOE ishc1330 to take forth one's way (also journey, road, etc.)a1375 proceedc1380 getc1390 exorta1400 issue?a1400 precedec1425 purgea1430 to come forthc1449 suea1450 ushc1475 to call one's way (also course)1488 to turn outa1500 void1558 redound1565 egress1578 outpacea1596 result1598 pursue1651 out1653 pop1770 to get out1835 progress1851 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > go or come into [verb (transitive)] i-goc1275 entera1325 to step into ——c1380 enterc1400 get1585 invade1590 ingressa1631 c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 497 (MED) Þei han geten on hem þe lengþe of a gleyue. a1393 [see to get upon —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2]. c1440 (?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) 2226 Be that so nere getis he, Þat scho myghte nangatis fle. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xviii. 454 Thai bar thaim swa That thai ar gottyn aboun the bra. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxi. 212 Yf they perceyue vs, we shal neuer get hense. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxiiii Many..[were] apprehended before they could get to the castel. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xx. 25 b He found meanes to recover a barke, intoo the which he and his men got. 1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E2 From earths dark-womb, some gentle gust doth get . View more context for this quotation 1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 192 Basse or Low-Brittaine, is a corner of the earth which gets farre into the Ocean. a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) v. ii. 326 Assoone as she was gotten into a grove of Orange-trees..she call'd for Palantus. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 594 Amid the Tree now got..to pluck and eat my fill I spar'd not. View more context for this quotation 1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 18 Let us get into the most airy Room of the House. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome iii. 510 Maximus was got as far as Ravenna. 1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 186 When your Ever-green Trees and Shrubs are got to some Height. 1770 Trial W. Wemms 103 I had not got three yards before the guns were fired. 1782 A. Monro Ess. Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 49 in Monro's Anat. Human Bones (new ed.) There seems to be no way of the bile getting into the gall bladder but by regurgitation. 1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §262 The buss..had got a considerable distance from the buoy;..we had really got out of the accustomed place. 1820 R. Southey Life Wesley II. 452 No less than ninety persons set out in pursuit of him; but he was got beyond their reach. 1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. v. 76 We never can get across this patch of clear grass without being seen. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 609 The drums of Dumbarton's regiment beat to arms; and the men got fast into their ranks. 1864 J. A. Grant Walk across Afr. viii. 150 The mould getting amongst plants was very disheartening to the collector. 1867 W. D. Howells Ital. Journeys 71 We were got no further than Porto Longone. 1917 R. Curle Echo of Voices 68 How the dust gets everywhere! I know I brushed this shelf only yesterday. 1927 Amer. Mercury May 16/1 The first to get to the North Pole in a mechanical sleigh. 1962 Boys' Life July 56/4 We flagged down a Phoenix-bound greyhound bus and got out of town. 2000 K. Atkinson Emotionally Weird (2001) 241 I had got as far as The Grosvenor pub on the Perth Road when I realized that someone was kerbcrawling me. (b) intransitive. With prepositional phrase as complement: to reach or attain an end aimed at, or a condition towards which progress has been made; esp. to come to or come to be in a state or condition. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] > achieve an end or condition by progress acomeOE wina1300 chevec1300 attainc1375 reacha1400 achievec1400 geta1425 sort1543 a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 86 (MED) Traveil in þis hervest were worþ to gete to blisse of hevene. 1596 H. Clapham Briefe of Bible ii. xviii. 181 The Gentiles once, got to the height of sinne. 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §744 Those that are very Cold, and especially in their Feet, cannot get to Sleepe. 1668 H. More Divine Dialogues: Two Last Dial. 416 All the difficulty is to get to that state of Unprejudicateness. 1701 J. Swift Disc. Contests Nobles & Commons iii. 31 The Carthaginians were declining, because the Balance was got too much on the side of the People. 1785 W. M. Roberts Let. 14 Apr. in G. Washington Papers (1992) Confederation Ser. II. 496 Your Exsellency has Got in A Pasion with Me. 1798 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 205 The scene has not yet got to its height. 1820 J. Keats Isabella in Lamia & Other Poems 61 [He] went in haste, to get in readiness, With belt, and spur, and bracing huntsman's dress. 1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. v. vi. 267 Paris wholly has got to the acme of its frenzy. 1888 J. McCarthy & R. C. Praed Ladies' Gallery III. xv. 298 He..succeeded in getting to speech of a police officer. 1895 19th Cent. Aug. 322 I don't think that I get quite as far as having views of my own. 1915 F. Cannon Writing Play xxii. 240 Your play must begin at once, get to its climax quickly, and terminate just at the right moment. 1955 Househ. Guide & Almanac (News of World) 227/2 Only 1,311 got as far as taking the oath on the first day of training. 1981 Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. 32 43 I wanted to get to a state where I had no security whatsoever. And I found this in Canada. 1992 A. Lambert Rather Eng. Marriage (1993) xv. 256 I still get in a total tizz when some attractive male asks me out for the first time. 2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 6 Jan. a1/1 My generation of Catholics have paid, prayed and obeyed, but you get to a point where you've had it. (c) intransitive. Now chiefly U.S. With to followed by a gerund or verbal noun: to reach the point of; to start. Cf. to get to —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)] > begin an action or fall to doing something fangc888 goOE fallc1175 to fall upon ——a1398 to take upa1400 fall?c1450 to fall out ina1555 get1751 1751 R. Paltock Life Peter Wilkins I. xxvi. 257 He..got to champing the Blade. 1763 Proc. Old Bailey 7 Dec. 8/2 We got to pulling one another about for 7 or 8 minutes, the other man calling murder at the same time. 1833 A. Greene Life & Adv. D. Duckworth I. xii. 148 Be careful not to talk in your sleep, if you should get to dreaming; because you might tell tales. 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn ii. 9 There was a place on my ankle that got to itching. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters i. 9 When once an idea gets to going in the world it is liable to be picked up by any one. 1910 W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 12 Don't you think you'd arrive earlier at the end of your run if your choo-choo got to puffing? 1961 J. Dos Passos Midcentury 94 Eileen got to dancing..and trying to pick up strange men. 2010 D. Stimson in ‘T. Vee’ et al. Touch & Go p. xv/2 Bob and I got to talking and seemed to hit it off almost instantly. (d) intransitive. Originally and chiefly U.S. colloquial. With following clause expressing result or consequence (usually introduced by so, so as, so that, or that): to reach the point or stage where. ΚΠ 1805 Experienced Christian's Mag. May 8 I had then got so that I could refrain from crying out in the bitterness of my soul, and from telling every one I was entirely cast off. 1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing xxix. 118 The Huntonites got so they could n't do nothing but spit. 1881 S. O. Jewett Country By-ways 229 My boys and girls got so's they could work, and then there wa'n't any more trouble. 1882 Cent. Mag. Mar. 765/1 You wount scurcely believe me, but now jist to show you—he got so that he used to stop the clock nights so'st' it wouldn't wear out so fast. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands viii. 98 I got I could pick 'em out in me sleep. 1944 E. S. Gardner Case of Crooked Candle (1947) xviii. 193 You get so you know your way around. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. b41/5 It's getting so now that real estate news is getting ‘daily space’..to match the Vietnam war stories. 1980 Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 19/7 It is getting that you can't wear a badge or ‘T’ shirt for fear of being beaten up. 1999 E. Anderson Code of Street 220 It got that he wouldn't do for me, he wouldn't do for the kids. 2004 ‘Dr. K.’ Hackers' Tales viii. 150 Already it's getting so that you can't go anywhere on the web without someone attempting to foist some kind of spyware on you. 27. transitive. To gain, reach, or arrive at (a place). Formerly frequently Nautical. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > arrive at or reach [verb (transitive)] to come toOE reachOE hita1075 ofreachlOE catchc1330 latchc1330 recovera1375 getc1390 henta1393 win?1473 fetch1589 to fetch up1589 obtain1589 attainc1592 make1610 gaina1616 arrive1647 advene1684 strike1798 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > reach (a point or place) [verb (transitive)] areach1014 reachOE ofreachlOE overtakec1225 catchc1330 acomec1350 touchc1384 getc1390 to come at ——a1393 henta1393 overreacha1400 win?1473 aspire1581 obtain1589 attainc1592 make1610 gaina1616 acquire1665 advene1684 c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 523 Hedde þei geten þat holt..þei mihten haue do muche harm. c1390 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 716 Þouȝ þe see were rouh or elles dimuir, Gode hauenes þat Schip wolde gete. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 12382 Forþ in pes he bad þam ga..Til þai had geten þair herd a-gain. a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. Bi With sound of broken waues they gate the strand. 1578 T. Nicholas tr. F. Lopez de Gómara Pleasant Hist. Conquest W. India 31 The fleete sayled to get the coast of Yucatan. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 504 The men saved themselves, and..built a Carvall, wherein to get the Continent. 1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacra iii. iv. 20 Mariners, who when they have got the Harbour, and are out of the Storm, Mend their Ship. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. App. 2 If the Wind blows strong out, and you cannot get the Harbour, you must anchor. 1788 J. Chandler Seaman's Guide 81/2 In the winter, if you cannot get harbour, it is best to run back into Elsineur road. 1854 G. E. Rice Blondel i. iii. 22 King R. We've got the road, at last. Blond. I knew we'd strike it. 1932 Geogr. Rev. 22 86 Captain Borchgrevink got the coast again outside Queen Maud Land. 2002 R. Roper Fatal Mountaineer vii. 73 For Roskelley, going to high mountains was more and more about getting the summit, getting it efficiently and then getting the hell out of there. 28. With infinitive clause as complement. a. (a) transitive. With to-infinitive (also formerly †bare infinitive or with †for to): to induce, prevail upon, or compel (a person) or to succeed in causing (a thing) to do something. Also (in weakened sense): to cause or set (a person) to do something for one. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > [verb (transitive)] > cause to do or cause to act makea1225 putc1300 gara1340 have1390 geta1400 to set (a-)going1530 set1577 occasion1587 a1400 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Egerton) (1966) l. 1007 Yf it were þy wylle, þow ne getest [emended in ed. to auȝtest] not þat maide to spylle. c1430 N. Love Mirror Blessed Life (Brasenose e.9) (1908) 106 (MED) Abideth a litell, and I schal gete ȝow to haue more. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxi. 260 And so myght we gett hym Som word for to say. 1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion i. 11 Their King Groffarius [they] get to raise his powerfull force. a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. ii. 38 I bad the rascall knocke vpon your gate, And could not get him for my heart to do it. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 74 They could neuer get her so much as sippe on a cup with the prowdest of them all. View more context for this quotation a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) iii. v. 134 Get him be propitious to thee. a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) v. ii. 339 By the helpe of a great tumult which he heard in the lower towne, hee got slide some troopes into the enemies intrenchments. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 83 The women..got their husbands to sit down again. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 9 His Mother had much ado to get him but to cover the Bed..with Skins. 1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 51 It would be impossible to get them to listen to reason. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship x. 44 The horse..went oddly; and I got the hostler..to get up instead of me. 1807 Salmagundi 11 Nov. 351 At such times there was no getting Will to join in our walks. 1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. 75 He promptly got a bookseller to pirate Curll's edition. 1907 Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 3/3 The schoolboy trick of making a statement which is a fabrication and getting another boy to believe it. 1949 H. S. Truman in V. Ferguson Sayings of Week (1978) 59 The President spends most of his time kissing people on the cheek to get them to do what they ought to do without getting kissed. 2001 E. Kelly in M. Hickey Irish Days (2004) 98 He installed a piano there, and he would get us to sing sea shanties. (b) transitive. With passive infinitive: to cause to undergo the specified action. Cf. sense 29a(a). Now rare. ΚΠ 1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie xci. sig. Ooii^v For his defence, He gat the case to be reasond, in conscience. c1592 C. Marlowe Jew of Malta iii. iii Abig. I am bold to sollicite thee. Fry. Wherein? Abig. To get me be admitted for a Nun. 1677 A. Yarranton England's Improvem. 8 The Gentleman gets..Friends..to be bound for his Covenants. 1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel 166 Laodice..got him to be poisoned. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 475 She got him to be brought out of prison. 1736 T. Lediard Life Marlborough I. 20 His Father got him to be made Page of Honour. 1834 J. Browne Hist. Highlands I. xii. 247 They at last succeeded so far as to get him to be sent home to Scotland a prisoner. 2011 A. Owings Indian Voices x. 201 Council was trying to get me to be flown around the country by this private jet. b. intransitive. With to-infinitive: to come (to be or do something); to secure an opportunity, manage, or be permitted (to be or do something). Frequently in to get to know at know v. Phrases 14. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > undertake or set oneself to do [verb (intransitive)] > come or attain (an opportunity) to be doing get?a1425 ?a1425 (?a1350) T. Castleford Chron. (1996) II. l. 24099 And suo, þoru falsede and treson, He gatte to haf Britaines coron. 1564 N. Haward tr. Eutropius Briefe Chron. x. f. 116^v Thinking by this meanes..he shoulde get to be receiued of his sonne in law. 1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. L3^v Then get they to be chaplines, to honorable, & noble personages. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) i. vi. 3 By what meanes got's [t] thou to be releas'd. View more context for this quotation 1649 J. Ellistone tr. J. Böhme Epist. xxxii. xv. 201 All those that shall get to read them. 1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 21 We..could never get to see it quick in the Microscope. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 272 By the Interest of Laetus..he got to be sent into Illyricum, to command the Legions there. 1770 tr. C. H. Manstein Mem. Russia 211 The more distant troops could not get to be there at the time. 1833 New Monthly Mag. 37 22 They get to look upon every law as a mere conventional enactment. 1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters IV. 350 The evil that God sends to warn us gets to be forgotten, and the evil that He sends to be mended by us gets left unmended. 1870 H. B. Stowe in Atlantic Monthly June 690/1 But it got to be so that the women would count and calculate. 1891 Blackwood's Mag. 149 103/1 It is not quite two years since we got to be friends. 1922 W. M. Raine Fighting Edge viii. 51 Do we get to kiss the bride? 1936 W. H. S. Smith Let. 9 Aug. in Young Man's Country (1977) ii. 22 I've now had a good opportunity to get to know Hill... We haven't got many tastes in common, but I like him. 1972 H. Kemelman Monday Rabbi took Off ii. 24 When a rabbi gets to be around fifty, his chances of getting another job are not so good. 2001 fRoots Oct. 15/3 It's getting to be that you can barely turn around these days without bumping into another kora album. 2006 R. Chandrasekaran Imperial Life in Emerald City (2007) xv. 297 We're finally getting to do what we're paid for. 29. With past participle as complement. a. transitive. With past participle of a transitive verb or intransitive prepositional verb. (a) To cause, or succeed in causing, the specified action to be performed upon (a person or thing). Also reflexive.Also in passive (now rare); cf. quots. 1628, 1701, 1843, 1876 N.E.D. (1899) comments that this is (in later use) used ‘with intentional quaintness’.The following quot. could be interpreted as showing this construction, but is more likely to show a transmission or transcription error: a1500 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Adv.) in W. B. D. D. Turnbull Visions of Tundale (1843) 129 [Mary's virginity] In hyr chyldyng no more thorow got [c1450 Durh. grace] broke At hyr conceyvyng then hyt was vnloke. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > [verb (transitive)] > cause to do or cause to act > cause to be done (to someone or something) haveOE to gar makec1330 gara1375 procurec1450 get?a1513 a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 239 Thai get indoist All haill thair evidens. 1548 in W. Page Inventories Church Goods York, Durham & Northumberland (1897) 119 I can get no such some [= sum] confessed. 1562 P. Whitehorne tr. N. Machiavelli Arte of Warre v. f. lxxiii^v The first thyng that he ought to doo, is to get described, and payncted oute all the countrie. 1628 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Peloponnesian War (1822) 127 Without gifts there was nothing to be gotten done amongst them. 1689 Proc. & Tryal Archbishop of Canterbury & Right Rev. Fathers 134 These Declarations which they were commanded to take care of getting read. 1701 J. Gordon Diary 17 May (1949) 103 The burning was got so speedily extinguished. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 120 La Fleur..had got himself so gallantly array'd, I scarce knew him. 1793 C. Smith Let. 20 Dec. (2003) 91 I may..get over this difficulty by getting the Bill discounted at 6 months. 1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iv. i. 327 The Bravest men..had here..been got selected. 1867 C. M. Yonge Cameos lxxxvi, in Monthly Packet Dec. 533 The difficulty was not in making laws, but in getting them obeyed. 1870 T. Carlyle Let. 28 Sept. in Corr. Emerson & Carlyle (1964) 573 I am by no means certain..that the whole of this amendatory programme will get itself performed to equal satisfaction. 1876 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera VI. lxvii. 234 I have more to say when my lecture on Jewels can be got published. 1927 B. Johnston Let. 3 Dec. in Lett. Home 1926–45 (1998) 11 I loved the photo of Joe, I am going to get it enlarged. 1962 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 75 319 One boy wanted to ‘git his fortune tole’. 2010 Your Cat Feb. 29/1 Thornton, an elegant, suave looking cat, unsurprisingly got himself adopted fairly early on in life. (b) To incur or suffer a specified injury to (something belonging to one, a part of the body). ΚΠ 1675 T. Thompson Quakers Quibbles iii. viii. 27 He onely got his Shins broken directly there amongst them. 1787 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 249 I got my right wrist dislocated. 1813 M. L. Weems Drunkard's Looking Glass (ed. 2) 14 Coming home one night, quite blue, from a grog shop, he got his neck snapped short by a fall into his own saw pit. 1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke vi. 47 You might chance to get your own skin beaten. 1920 Everybody's Mag. Sept. 24/3 It's lucky I'm not a giddy, impressionable creature, or I surely would get my heart broken. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top 242 [They] were devouring me with glittering eyes, hoping that there'd be a fight and I'd get my face bashed in. 1982 ‘E. Peters’ Virgin in Ice ix. 124 A strutting little cockerel of the nobility you may be, but many a cock has got his neck wrung for crowing too loud. 2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 15 July i. 2/2 I am assuming I am going to get my ass kicked once the inmates find out I am a police officer. b. intransitive. With past participle of a transitive verb or intransitive prepositional verb: to cause or procure oneself to be treated in a certain way or to undergo a certain action. Also in weaker sense: to come to be the object of a certain action. Often taking the place of to be as a passive-forming auxiliary where it is not intended to express a continuous state. (a) In uses approximately equivalent to the passive with to be.Typically the passive with to get conveys the implication that the referent of the subject of the verb has some responsibility for the action and that the action has adverse consequences for the referent.As an established adjective, acquainted in quot. 1568 strictly belongs to sense 30b(a) (cf. acquainted adj. 1). ΚΠ 1568 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Dial Princes (rev. ed.) ii. 114 If hee bee not his kynseman, or neere allied, let him yet at least get acquaynted with him.] 1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxlii. 253 These men..were yet captiues to Cupid, and could hardly get loosed out of his bands, or whether they were loosed at all, it may be doubted. a1628 J. Preston Sins Overthrow (1633) 124 Her hands to bee as bands, in respect of the difficulty to get loosed from. 1665 J. Winthrop Let. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1986) XIII. 403 These are a small black Caterpillar that breed in the very bud of the tree... Some [trees] also get killed by it. 1693 G. Powell Very Good Wife ii. i. 10 Now I have furnish'd my self with Wit and Mony, I am resolv'd to get introduced to Mrs. Annabella. ?1717 in W. Cramond Parish of Grange (1895) 14 The schoolmaster complained that the session books were getting destroyed owing to the ‘mothiness’ of his room. 1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal I. ii. i. 142 Let the fellow go to America and get scalped. 1773 Public Advertiser 14 Sept. The Boy coming over in the dead of Night, could not get ferried over till Morning. 1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §266 We had got (as we thought) compleatly moored upon the 13th of May. 1814 D. H. O'Brien Narr. Captiv. & Escape 113 I got supplied with bread, cheese and a pint of wine. 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 183 We got entangled among a quantity of heavy drift-ice. 1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey I. ii. i. 71 His Lordship was voted a bore, and got shelved. 1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iii. 140 The different tenures of Scotland and Lothian got confounded. 1887 H. R. Haggard Jess vi. 54 I..got caught in the storm. 1891 Nation (N.Y.) 19 Nov. 389/3 It may leave on your readers an impression unfair to Prof. Royce if nothing more gets said. 1919 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Consequences i. viii. 100 Any girl who goes in for being fast gets talked about. 1947 P. White Let. 9 May (1994) iii. 69 It surprised me by getting produced in London a couple of months ago. 1988 E. Segal Doctors xliii. 658 If I ever got sued for malpractice. 2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane i. 15 'E got knifed on Adler Street when 'e was, like, walking 'ome. (b) In uses where there is little or no sense of an agent other than the subject of the clause. ΚΠ 1692 Prejudices Intended Act concerning Marriages 4 A Man of 17. years of Age contracts with a Woman of the same years, the Woman has Consent of her Parents, the Man has not his Fathers Consent, however these get married. 1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse ii. 29 So [I] huddle on my Cloaths, and get drest by One. 1722 E. Nettleton Let. 18 Sept. in J. D. Humphreys Life & Corr. P. Doddridge (1829) I. 150 I am sorry that you do not like your new habitation so well as Kibworth; but hope, that when you get settled, it will be more agreeable. 1732 ‘J. Thomson’ Tricks of Town 4 A Train of Chamber-maids, and old Housekeepers, who have got married, and are permitted to visit the Families they once lived in. 1773 P. Brydone Tour Sicily & Malta II. xxiii. 75 She told him, it would be too long before she could get dressed. 1846 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 193/1 I'll go and get changed, and then I'll finish what I was going to tell you. 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. i. 17 Hurry up, and get done. Don't stop to quirk your little finger, and prink over your plate, Amy. 1881 Dr. Gheist 190 You will be astonished to hear that I am going to get married. 1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island iii. 23 Marilla, brusque and tearless, pecked Anne's cheek and said she supposed they'd hear from her when she got settled. 1932 W. Soutar Diary 2 Feb. in Diaries of Dying Man (1991) iii. 10 Mr Buchanan and Miss Mackenzie got started on a religious discussion. 1989 B. Park My Mother got Married vi. 69 It wasn't his fault that my mother and Ben got married. 2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black ix. 323 So I have to ask you about the payments, for the flat. I have to cut down my outgoings. Just till I get sorted. c. intransitive. With past participle of an intransitive verb: to accomplish or complete an action. Now nonstandard. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] enda1340 finisha1400 conclude1526 to get through1589 get1594 dispatcha1616 to shut up1626 to wind up1631 finale1797 to top off1836 to top up1837 through1894 to roll up1963 1594 R. Wilson Coblers Prophesie sig. D4 Get gone or I will send thee gone. 1612 G. Chapman Widdowes Teares i. sig. C Get gone; and let this malipert humour returne thee no more. 1716 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 117 If we could get fled I would remove all my family from this. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 2 By three I had got sat down to my dinner. 1841 W. Greener Sci. Gunnery ix. 310 Thou art always dreaming. I can't get slept for thee and thy dreams. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. iv. 358 No sooner had they got sat down than Mr. Mason spoilt it all. 1951 J. Jones From Here to Eternity xxxiv. 510 ‘Are you finished, Sergeant?’ The Sgt nodded busily... ‘Well, lets get gone then.’ 1992 D. Glazer Last Oasis 33 ‘Come on, get sat down—tea's ready—I've got you something real special.’ 30. With adjective (or equivalent noun phrase) as complement. a. transitive. To bring into the specified state; to succeed in making. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)] yarec888 yarkc1000 graithc1175 readya1225 biredienc1275 to make yarec1290 forgraitha1300 adightc1330 buskc1330 purveyc1330 agraith1340 disposec1375 before-graithea1382 to forge and filec1381 to make readya1382 devisec1385 bounc1390 buss?a1400 address?a1425 parel?a1425 to get upc1425 providec1425 prepare1449 bakec1450 aready1470 arm?a1505 prevenea1522 get?1530 to get ready1530 to get ready1530 to set in readiness1575 apply1577 compose1612 predy1627 make1637 to dispose of1655 do1660 fallowa1764 to line up1934 prep1936 tee1938 the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (reflexive)] > in specific way revesta1325 get?1530 to get ready1530 slovena1591 veil1614 wrap1647 fit1667 fetish1735 toff1914 ?1530 R. Whitford Werke for Housholders sig. A.iii^v Yf it were ones (by vse) goten redy & incorporate, & prynted in the herte & mynde. ?1535 Trewe Nyew Tydynges Rebaptisers of Munster sig. A.iv As sone as they hadde gotten the gaetes open, ranne they streight to the towre. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A5^v He..Knitting all his force got one hand free. 1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 247 The maid runnes against the chamber door, gets it open [etc.]. 1699 T. Allison Acct. Voy. Archangel 103 We set our Sprit-Sail too, but all the Watch, which were ten Men, were two hours in getting it loose. 1761 Proc. Old Bailey 20 Apr. 214/2 I..could not get it clean, and was obliged to send it to the scowerer's. 1817 J. Austen Sanditon i. in Minor Wks. (1954) 365 One or two of the Men lent their help to the Driver in getting the Carriage upright again. 1827 Masonic Mirror 24 Feb. 70/2 And I knew, that by abusing, insulting and provoking them, I should get them mad after a while. 1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. xi. 203 Let us get him all right again. 1891 Outing (U.S.) Dec. 246/2 Rum had so far ‘got him dead’. 1897 ‘M. Twain’ Following Equator lii. 504 He got me so nervous that I couldn't look at the view. 1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xi. 169 I get my fingers so dirty when I use a pen. 1982 W. Brandmark in Everyday Matters 74 Her father belonged to an orthodox temple where the women sat upstairs. ‘Always got me so mad’, she used to tell Rachel. ‘They put women down’. 1998 J. Cocker Mother, Brother, Lover: Sel. Lyrics (2011) 83 I'd like to make this water wine but it's impossible—I've got to get these dishes dry. b. To become, or succeed in becoming; to make oneself; to grow (with comparatives); to come to be. (a) intransitive. With adjective as complement. Also (since the late 18th cent.) with non-referential it as subject, referring to temperature, weather, time, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > change [verb (intransitive)] > pass into state, become yworthOE worthOE goOE becomec1175 come?a1200 waxc1220 charea1225 aworthc1275 makea1300 fallc1300 breedc1325 grow1340 strikea1375 yern1377 entera1382 turna1400 smitec1400 raxa1500 resolvea1500 to get into ——?1510 waxen1540 get1558 prove1560 proceed1578 befall1592 drop1654 evade1677 emerge1699 to turn out1740 to gain into1756 permute1864 slip1864 the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > get or be rid of refusea1387 to be rid of (also on)c1450 beskyfte1470 to be, get shut of, (dialect) shut on?a1500 to claw off1514 get1558 to put away1577 to get rid of1591 quit1606 to get off with1719 ding1753 shoot1805 to stay shet of1837 shuck1848 shunt1858 shake1872 to dust off1938 1558 P. Morwen tr. A. ben David ibn Daud Hist. Latter Tymes Iewes Commune Weale f. lxiii^v Antipater saw he coulde not get loose, wept for anger at the keper. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. i. 134 How to get cleere of all the debts I owe. View more context for this quotation 1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. i. vi. 175 Having, with very much adoe, gotten loose from their Enemies [etc.]. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 220 They were both gotten sufficiently Drunk. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 179 He..got past me before I could get aware of him. 1728 J. Gonson Charge to Grand Jury Royalty Tower of London in G. Lamoine Charges to Grand Jury (1992) 219 Numbers of the lower sort of people get drunk with Geneva. 1776 Trial Maha Rajah Nundocomar for Forgery 23/1 He was at first very ill, then got better; he is now worse. 1798 J. O'Keeffe Czar Peter iii. i, in Dramatic Wks. III. 187 On the set in of winter—‘Ha, it's got astonishingly sharp’. 1810 Sporting Mag. 36 60 After which he [a horse] got lame. 1818 E. P. Fordham Pers. Narr. Trav. (1906) 167 The fire went out and it got quite dark. 1824 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) §7455 As the trees get old..or infected with canker,..or rottenness, they are scarified. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 227 He will smoke himself into a mummy, for he gets thinner day by day. 1857 J. Ruskin Polit. Econ. Art i. 20 They got all wrong in their experiments. 1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 55 Almost everything gets smaller as it is cooled. 1907 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 802 The only time in my life I ever got tipsy was at Weymouth. 1938 Amer. Home June 4/1 (advt.) I had tried everything for my dandruff but my hair got duller and drier. 1952 J. Lait & L. Mortimer U.S.A. Confidential ii. xiv. 169 The lonesome broads sit by themselves, moodily getting drunk alone. 1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny ii. 42/2 We figured that other stores were getting wise, too, so it was time to find another hustle. 1981 B. Head Serowe xviii. 108 Suddenly it got cloudy and we couldn't get our bearings. 2004 V. N. McIntyre Duty, Honor, Redempt. 224 Ambassador, with all due respect—that explanation is getting pretty stale! (b) intransitive. With noun phrase (now chiefly indicating age) as complement. ΚΠ 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 158 I had got master of my secret, just in time. 1862 Temple Bar 5 254 I am getting an old man, and I'm ailing. 1874 G. W. Dasent Half a Life III. 88 You must not suppose we got very great friends with Honora Tailby all at once. 1885 Bookseller July 650/1 Retail bookselling seems to be getting a less remunerative business every day. 1891 Illustr. Sporting & Dramatic News 10 Jan. 581/3 He worked hard, and soon got chums with the swells. 1920 J. L. Mosby Paul Winslow xix. 253 But he was getting a big boy now—‘goin' on twelve’ as he proudly expressed it. 1986 P. Lively Pack of Cards (1989) 242 She's getting a big girl now. 1995 J. Melville Morbid Kitchen 146 Muff..had decided to eat; her head was in the bowl... ‘You're getting an old lady,’ said Charmian, bending down to stroke her. 31. With present participle as complement. a. intransitive. To come to be, to get involved in (doing something). Also: (Scottish) to find opportunity for (doing something). Also formerly †with on and gerund or verbal noun. Frequently in to get going at Phrases 3g, to get moving at Phrases 3k. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > be occupied or busy (in or at something) [verb (intransitive)] > be involved in or have to do with something entermetec1300 to make (a) market1340 meddlec1390 to do with ——a1400 mell1416 intermeddle1477 intermell1480 to have art or (and) part ina1500 participate1531 to have a finger (also hand) in the pie?1553 tigc1598 get1727 concern1791 involve1843 to mix up1882 tew1891 to screw with ——1973 1727 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 298 Probably I'll scarce get writing, the Assembly will sit so late. 1759 Bp. W. Warburton Lett. (1809) 288 And now I am got on transcribing, I will send you a passage or two from some late letters. a1810 R. Tannahill Barrochan Jean in Poems (1846) 117 Naething got growing for Barrochan Jean. 1872 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera II. xix. 10 Instead of looking at the sun, I got thinking about the dry bed of the stream, just beneath. 1889 M. E. Martin Common Clay III. ix. 144 When they got talking together it was Greek to me. 1931 K. A. Porter Let. 24 Apr. (1990) i. 38 Gene is apt to say ‘Stop talking rot’ when Hart gets explaining what all is wrong with my attitude towards Mexico. 1969 G. Friel Grace & Miss Partridge i, in Glasgow Trilogy (1999) 201 She didn't like boys, and we couldn't get playing in peace in the backgreen for her shouting at us over the staircase windows. 2008 S. Armitage Gig (2009) 63 I get chatting with a couple of Brits, two ski-tanned guys from Kent who've come north to drive a Land Rover across a glacier and canoe down a waterfall. b. transitive. Originally Irish English (northern) and U.S. To cause (a person or thing) to be doing something.Apparently earliest in to get going: see Phrases 3g(b). ΚΠ 1835 3rd Rep. Select Comm. Orange Lodges Ireland App. D.2 156 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 476) XVI. 1 Deponent proceeded with the party as quick as he could to get them going. 1857 tr. Molière in D. Fellowes Fourth School Reader 44 Zounds! don't get me talking about that, I might tell you—. 1870 Appleton's Jrnl. 18 June 679/1 Sometimes, you know, she'd get me talking, and somehow the time would fly, and it would be ever so late before I could get away. 1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered Ashes xiii. 253 He again got Clem Hill feeling for the ball. 1917 Weekly Disp. 3 June 1/3 To-day we have got the Germans guessing harder than at any time since the week before the opening of the great Somme offensive. 1950 N. Coward Diary 7 July (2000) 151 Pat got them roaring with ‘Josephine’ and ‘Charlie’. 1989 U.S. Air Sept. 98/2 Its recent cachet as an upscale ingredient has got everyone cooking. 2013 Guardian 29 May (G2 section) 6/3 A mission to get more women cycling. 32. intransitive. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S. regional). Frequently in form git. Without complement, chiefly in imperative. a. to get up and get: = to get up and go at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] wendeOE i-wite971 ashakec975 shakeOE to go awayOE witea1000 afareOE agoOE atwendOE awayOE to wend awayOE awendOE gangOE rimeOE flitc1175 to fare forthc1200 depart?c1225 part?c1225 partc1230 to-partc1275 biwitec1300 atwitea1325 withdrawa1325 to draw awayc1330 passc1330 to turn one's (also the) backc1330 lenda1350 begonec1370 remuea1375 voidc1374 removec1380 to long awaya1382 twinc1386 to pass one's wayc1390 trussc1390 waive1390 to pass out ofa1398 avoida1400 to pass awaya1400 to turn awaya1400 slakec1400 wagc1400 returnc1405 to be gonea1425 muck1429 packc1450 recede1450 roomc1450 to show (a person) the feetc1450 to come offc1475 to take one's licence1475 issue1484 devoidc1485 rebatea1500 walka1500 to go adieua1522 pikea1529 to go one's ways1530 retire?1543 avaunt1549 to make out1558 trudge1562 vade?1570 fly1581 leave1593 wag1594 to get off1595 to go off1600 to put off1600 shog1600 troop1600 to forsake patch1602 exit1607 hence1614 to give offa1616 to take off1657 to move off1692 to cut (also slip) the painter1699 sheera1704 to go about one's business1749 mizzle1772 to move out1792 transit1797–1803 stump it1803 to run away1809 quit1811 to clear off1816 to clear out1816 nash1819 fuff1822 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 mosey1829 slope1830 to tail out1830 to walk one's chalks1835 to take away1838 shove1844 trot1847 fade1848 evacuate1849 shag1851 to get up and get1854 to pull out1855 to cut (the) cable(s)1859 to light out1859 to pick up1872 to sling one's Daniel or hook1873 to sling (also take) one's hook1874 smoke1893 screw1896 shoot1897 voetsak1897 to tootle off1902 to ship out1908 to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909 to push off1918 to bugger off1922 biff1923 to fuck off1929 to hit, split or take the breeze1931 to jack off1931 to piss offa1935 to do a mick1937 to take a walk1937 to head off1941 to take a hike1944 moulder1945 to chuff off1947 to get lost1947 to shoot through1947 skidoo1949 to sod off1950 peel1951 bug1952 split1954 poop1961 mugger1962 frig1965 1854 D. Emmett Hard Times: Negro Extravaganza i. 5 Gabe: Dat ain't fair! you throw stones; I can lick you, tho'..now ‘git up an' git’. 1864 B. Cotton Songster 10 Monsieur will be invited to just ‘get up and get’. 1877 Providence Jrnl. in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms We must do what there is to do, and then we can get up and get. 1893 J. H. McCarthy Red Diamonds I. 66 He got up and gitted before we struck ile. 1903 J. Fox Little Shepherd xxii A voice bellowed from the rear..‘Git up and git, boys!’ That was the order for the charge. 1943 M. Morriss Diary 15 Apr. in S. Pacific Diary (1996) 148 Which is why I like to just git up and git—without having the opportunity to think about water landings, et al. 1982 M. F. Knudtsen Under Mountain 101 I made up my mind ter git up and git. b. To be off, ‘clear out’. Also: to make speed. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily fleec825 runOE swervea1225 biwevec1275 skip1338 streekc1380 warpa1400 yerna1400 smoltc1400 stepc1460 to flee (one's) touch?1515 skirr1548 rubc1550 to make awaya1566 lope1575 scuddle1577 scoura1592 to take the start1600 to walk off1604 to break awaya1616 to make off1652 to fly off1667 scuttle1681 whew1684 scamper1687 whistle off1689 brush1699 to buy a brush1699 to take (its, etc.) wing1704 decamp1751 to take (a) French leave1751 morris1765 to rush off1794 to hop the twig1797 to run along1803 scoot1805 to take off1815 speela1818 to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 absquatulize1829 mosey1829 absquatulate1830 put1834 streak1834 vamoose1834 to put out1835 cut1836 stump it1841 scratch1843 scarper1846 to vamoose the ranch1847 hook1851 shoo1851 slide1859 to cut and run1861 get1861 skedaddle1862 bolt1864 cheese it1866 to do a bunkc1870 to wake snakes1872 bunk1877 nit1882 to pull one's freight1884 fooster1892 to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892 smoke1893 mooch1899 to fly the coop1901 skyhoot1901 shemozzle1902 to light a shuck1905 to beat it1906 pooter1907 to take a run-out powder1909 blow1912 to buzz off1914 to hop it1914 skate1915 beetle1919 scram1928 amscray1931 boogie1940 skidoo1949 bug1950 do a flit1952 to do a scarper1958 to hit, split or take the breeze1959 to do a runner1980 to be (also get, go) ghost1986 1861 W. C. Bryant Songs from Dixie's Land 26 The thoughts of my dear Sally soon made them feelings git. 1874 ‘M. Twain’ Sketches New & Old 12/1 Then he says, ‘one-two-three-git!’ 1884 Graceville (Minn.) Transcript 25 Aug. He presented a cocked revolver and told them to get, and they got. 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xi. 190 ‘I reckon you're bound to git.’ ‘Yes, Bill, sharp's the word.’ 1892 H. Nisbet Bushranger's Sweetheart xxiii. 176 None of your damned impertinence. Get. 1907 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 5/1 In other words, as the Americans said, ‘That fleet can get.’ 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock ii. i. 81 Turn out the light and get. 1959 ‘D. Buckingham’ Wind Tunnel viii. 72 I want you out of the way—so git. And what's more—git quickly. 1967 K. Giles Death & Mr. Prettyman ii. 62 Anybody in a room either gets or pays for another twenty-four hours. 2000 C. Thayer Certain Slant of Light 140 ‘Get the fuck out of here,’ he says. ‘Go on. Git.’ c. = to get up 6b at Phrasal verbs 1. Now rare. ΚΠ 1864 Harper's Mag. Oct. 565/2 Belaboring the mules till he was tired, and telling them to ‘git’ till he was hoarse. 1869 A. K. McClure 3,000 Miles through Rocky Mts. 149 As he yelled to them [sc. his horses] to ‘git’, his keen silken cracker flashed about their flanks. 1895 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 282 Our team proceeded with many a ‘git’ and whip crack from their dusky Jehu. 1965–70 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. 661/1 To make a horse go faster.., Git. IV. Specialized uses of the perfect.In this use, the perfect and past perfect of get (have got, has got, had got) function as a present and past tense verb, which, owing to its formation, does not enter into further compound forms (perfect and past perfect, progressive, passive, or periphrastic expressions with to do), or have an imperative or infinitive. In colloquial, regional, and nonstandard use, omission of auxiliary have is frequent in the uses at this branch (e.g. I got some, you got to): see examples in etymology section. An inflected form gots is also sometimes found in similar use (e.g. I gots some, he gots to), especially in African-American usage: see further examples in etymology section. * In senses equivalent to those of the present and past tenses of have.Often, especially in early use, difficult to distinguish from the dynamic use ‘have obtained or acquired’. 33. a. transitive. To hold as property, be in possession of, own; to possess as a part, attribute, or characteristic; = have v. I.* ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > have or possess [verb (transitive)] holda855 haveeOE feoffc1330 werec1330 possede1392 possess1394 to be seized (seised) of or with1477 get1611 rejoice1822 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ii. 89 What a beard hast thou got; thou hast got more haire on thy chinne, then Dobbin my philhorse hase on his taile. View more context for this quotation] 1611 J. Maxwell tr. Treasure of Tranquillity xvii. 144 The care of conseruing and increasing the goods they haue got, and the feare of loosing that which they enioy. a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) i. ii. 25 Fie, th'art a churle, ye'haue got a humour there Does not become a man. c1635 H. Glapthorne Lady Mother (1959) ii. i. 22 My lady has got a cast of her eye. 1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 113 They have got..such a peculiar Method of Text-dividing. 1699 T. Cockman tr. Cicero Offices iii. i. 234 But I, who han't got such a strength of Genius. 1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 144 They have got a Custom of heading it from Time to Time. 1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 68 Miss, you have got my Handkerchief; pray, let me have it. 1770 Fatal Friendship I. xii. 96 Clara is not half the girl she was;..has got a trick of rambling in the woods by herself. 1836 N. Tucker George Balcombe II. iii. 35 ‘It depends upon your business,’ says I, ‘whether I'll suit you or no, 'cause I hain't got no book larning.’ 1876 J. Ruskin Mornings in Florence V. 128 Quite ‘from the heart’—such hearts as the people have got. 1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. 12 As a general rule the banker has not got in his possession the money which he owes to his customers. 1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. 138 ‘We ought to join on to other socialists,’ I said. ‘They've got something.’ 1909 A. Wimperis Arcadians III. 20 I've gotter motter—Always merry and bright! 1957 J. Braine Room at Top (1960) 45 What's Alice got that I haven't got? 1986 J. Wilson Amber iii. 26 I've got money, I'll treat you. I'll buy you a big squidgy cream cake. 2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy vii. 170 Now that I was here I didn't know if I'd got the bottle to go through with it. b. transitive. To have in a specified relationship, in a certain position or condition, or available; to have as a requirement or obligation; = have v. I.*. ΚΠ 1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts* (Acts xxviii. 27) It is a heavy case when men have got a kind of hoof over their hearts. 1658 F. Teate Ter Tria 135 What's this, said Hope, that I've got on? 1693 T. Smith in J. Ray Coll. Curious Trav. II. 59 This presently took vent, and the Turks thought that they had got a man among them that could cure all Diseases infallibly. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 143 He began to reflect that the dead body had got a ring upon one of the fingers. 1793 C. Smith Old Manor House II. xi. 261 I suppose she thoft I had got you locked up in my cupboard. 1839 W. M. Thackeray Catherine v, in Fraser's Mag. July 102/2 He has..got C. R. in blue upon his right arm. 1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. 125 What..has the general public got to do with literature? 1917 J. Martin Diary 30 Sept. in Sapper Martin (2010) 112 I've got a bit of back pay to pick up. 1921 A. P. Terhune Buff iii. 181 I've got a taxi waiting at the other end of the pier. 1984 C. Boylan Last Resorts viii. 83 ‘I'm all they've got.’..‘No. They've got themselves.’ 2011 M. Hanif Our Lady of Alice Bhatti ii. 12 So l have got a criminal but no crime that I can prove right now. c. transitive. To suffer from, be subject to; = have v. 17a. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > cause to be ill [verb (transitive)] > be ill with get1694 1694 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: Pt. 1 i. ii. 10 Now is my Mother as Rusty as an old Cow that has got the Belly Ach, but I care not; She dares not beat me. 1775 S. Johnson Let. 23 Dec. (1992) II. 280 I have just now got a cough, but it has never yet hindered me from sleeping. 1869 B. Harte Return Belisarius 14 You knew that he's got the consumption? 1924 J. Galsworthy White Monkey i. iii, in Mod. Comedy (1929) 19 Wilfrid's got the hump to-night; says he's not fit for human society. 1926 H. G. Wells World of W. Clissold I. ii. i. 133 When I tried to cheer things up..with this agreeable refrain my mother quenched me with, ‘Don't Billykins, I've got a headache.’ 2010 Observer (Nexis) 4 July (Review section) 4 ‘But if it helps..,’ she waved the ignited cigarette melodramatically in the air, ‘I have got cancer.’ d. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To have at a disadvantage in an argument or discussion; = have v. 15b. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > confuse, perplex, bewilder [verb (transitive)] > nonplus stagger1556 gravel1566 set1577 trump1586 bumbaze1587 puzzlec1595 ground1597 stunt1603 nonplus1605 pose1605 stumble1605 buzzard1624 quandary1681 bamboozle1712 hobble1762 stump1807 have1816 floor1830 flummox1837 stick1851 get1868 to stick up1897 buffalo1903 1868 Harper's Mag. Mar. 538/2 Scratching his head a minute, Benjamin F. replied: ‘Well, I confess your Honor's got me there!’ 1879 ‘Cavendish’ Card Ess. 198 Second hand put on knave, saying, ‘Now I've got you!’ 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin xiii. 236 Who was Navajo? Ah, that's where you've got me, young man. Heaven knows. 1888 H. F. Lester Hartas Maturin III. vi. 157 Yes..I did. I don't deny it. You've got me there. 1906 W. Churchill Coniston i. xiv. 171 ‘What's the name of your gal?’ ‘Well,’ said Mr. Hopkins, ‘I guess you've got me. We did christen her Lily, but she didn't turn out exactly Lily... I guess her name's Cassandra.’ 1936 W. de la Mare Wind blows Over 32 ‘That's Mistaken Point,’ he said. ‘Why was it mistaken?’ He shook his head... ‘That's got me, miss,’ he replied. 1977 E. Figes Nelly's Version (1988) i. iv. 39 ‘Who do you think you are?’ She had got me there: I could not answer. ** colloquial. With to-infinitive, in senses corresponding to must v.¹ II., III. 34. To be under a necessity or obligation to do something; = have v. 42. a. transitive. In affirmative declarative clauses and in interrogative clauses. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > necessity > must of necessity [verb (intransitive)] > be absolutely compelled or obliged shallc888 moteOE must?c1225 bida1300 maunc1480 fall1681 get1767 1767 Proc. Old Bailey 15 Jan. 79/2 I know best what I have got to do, I shall do it. 1786 Lady's Mag. July 356/2 Bless me! the coach is at the door, and I have got to dress myself. 1825 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 13 164 The last thing he has got to do is to open the injection-cocks. 1865 ‘L. Carroll’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland iv. 54 The first thing I've got to do..is to grow to my right size again. 1882 A. de Fonblanque Blackest of Lies I. v. 90 I've got to admit, though, that we are timid too, about your art. 1889 A. V. Carr Margaret Maliphant II. xvii. 42 The thing has got to be fought out. 1917 J. Martin Diary 21 Sept. in Sapper Martin (2010) 107 I..told him that we had got to get back to Hedge St. in the quickest possible time. 1919 E. Jordan Girl in Mirror (1925) iv. 79 You'll have to see me every day. I've got to look after you. 1952 J. Bingham My Name is Michael Sibley xv. 183 You and me have got to understand each other right, see? 1969 A. Lurie Real People 18 You've got to admit she's not madly attractive. 2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black ix. 328 You've got to move on. I mean..what's the use of brooding? b. In negative declarative clauses. (a) transitive. Expressing lack of necessity: to be under no obligation or requirement to; = have v. 43a(a). Corresponding to need not, do not need to. ΚΠ 1831 B. Disraeli Young Duke I. i. ii. 13 Thank your stars you have not got to present that account to old Dacre. 1845 H. Cockton Love Match xiv. 151 Why, I haven't got to go above five hundred yards. 1878 Cornhill Mag. July 16 Thank heaven! this hasn't got to last for ever. 1922 Sat. Evening Post 19 Aug. 85/1 I haven't got to buy in, or anything—I haven't got to put up a cent. 1955 D. Howarth We die Alone xi. 170 There was going to be some delay, and he had not got to set off again at once. 1999 S. Bishop in J. Gay & J. Bell Hard Shoulder 143 Mum goes and drops me right in it by saying, That hasn't got to be in until the start of the new term. (b) transitive. nonstandard. Expressing prohibition: to be obliged or required not to do something; = have v. 43b(a). Corresponding to must not. ΚΠ 1911 A. Bennett Hilda Lessways i. xiii. 152 ‘I don't care if he works all night.’ ‘But—’ ‘There hasn't got to be any “buts”, Dayson.’ 1927 E. Wallace Hand of Power xix. 99 This hasn't got to go into your report, Bullott, because I wish that young woman's name kept out of the newspapers. 1969 C. Cookson Our Kate (1974) iii. 312 She would not let me go in [to the doctor] with her, and when she came out she said, ‘I haven't got to eat so much meat.’ 1970 D. Coleman World Cup 70 Preview 21/2 You've not got to let them slow the game down to the pace that they want to play it at. 1989 Eng. World-wide 10 75 He hasn't got to do U-turns in my country—they are illegal. (c) transitive. With negator in the infinitive clause (have got to not, have got to never): = sense 34b(b). ΚΠ 1940 M. K. Tomita Let. 1 Jan. in Dear Miye (1995) 67 I've got to not disappoint their trust in me. 1971 Motor Boating & Sailing June 119/2 They have got to never do anything that would wind up giving us a disadvantage. 1991 R. J. Stoller Porn x. 206 It's up to them to protect themselves from this danger. They've got to not do it. 2011 J. Blundell Strings Attached 35 You've got to not mind that they're bored. 35. transitive. Used to assert the necessary truth of a statement: to be required by logic or evidence to; = have v. 45.Also (colloquial) used to emphasize one's belief in a statement; = have v. 46. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > necessity > must of necessity [verb (intransitive)] must1372 needs must1604 havea1829 get1912 1912 J. Conrad Secret Sharer ii in 'Twixt Land & Sea 164 We two bent our..heads over a half-unrolled chart... ‘There,’ I said. ‘It's got to be Koh-ring. I've been looking at it ever since sunrise.’ 1935 C. George Sweetest Girl in Town ii. 79 Come with me, Mrs. Hart, and we'll find it somehow. It's got to be around somewhere. 1949 J. H. Schmitz in Astounding Sci. Fiction July 48/2 That will let me in close to the control room, and that's where U-1's got to be. 1960 Pop. Sci. Oct. 214/2 There's nothing but ironmongery in that box... You've got to be kidding. 1969 R. Airth Snatch! vi. 61 He said to Morland, ‘This guy has got to be a comedian.’ 1989 O. Clark Diary 3 Oct. (1998) 300 The DHSS building in Elephant and Castle has got to be one of the most hideous buildings in London. 2003 P. Lovesey House Sitter (2004) viii. 99 Now I know what you're on about, and you've got to be joking. Phrases P1. In proverbs expressing the idea that wealth easily, quickly, or evilly obtained is lost or spent in the same manner. ΚΠ 1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vi. sig. I^v Soone gotten soone spent, yll gotten yll spent. 1548 in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) II. App. Q. 51 Evil gotten, worse spent. a1626 J. Horsey Relacion Trav. in E. A. Bond Russia at Close of 16th Cent. (1856) 206 Eyll gotton soen lost. 1700 J. Astry tr. D. de Saavedra Fajardo Royal Politician II. liii. 20 That which is ill got is soon spent. 1785 Fergusson's Sc. Prov. (new ed.) 29 in Select Coll. Poems Buchan Dial. Soon gotten soon spent. 1845 J. B. Buckstone Green Bushes iii. v. 60 Nothing has thriven with me since I have held my brother's wealth—ill got, ill gone. 1899 W. Besant Orange Girl ii. iv. 162 Lightly got, lightly spent. 1917 Official Mag. Internat. Brotherhood Dec. 6 The money they receive in this way never seems to do them any good, as the old saying is still true, ‘Easy got, easy gone’. 2008 Transportation 35 378 Regression quickly follows progress; ‘soon got, soon gone’. P2. In uses corresponding to Branch I. †a. to get a stomach: to procure an appetite (also with indirect object, and with the means employed as subject). Obsolete.In quot. a1475: (perhaps) to get a good digestion. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > have (good) appetite [verb (intransitive)] > procure an appetite to get a stomach1561 a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (1999) II. l. 8529 Who a good stomak miȝt gete..To him is best..Þe flesshe of bugle and of neet.] 1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Excellent & perfecte Homish Apothecarye sig. hii^v Let him rise, and take meate if he listeth: if not, and that he thyrsteth, let him drinke of the forsayd water in the morning, and he shall amende, & get a stomake. 1577 Arte of Angling sig. Avii^v You do vse it [sc. Angling]..sometimes to get you a stomach. a1631 J. Donne Poems (1633) 76 To'get stomachs, we walke up and downe. 1657 C. Hoole tr. M. Cordier School-colloquies i. 29/1 So also we shall get a stomach to our meat. 1682 T. Shadwell Lancashire-witches 11 Coursing had gotten me a woundy stomach, and I eat like a Swine. 1684 tr. T. Bonet Guide Pract. Physician i. 16 Peaches eaten before Meals get a stomach, if it be lost through a hot cause. 1725 I. Watts Logick i. iv. §6 When we say..to get a stomach, and to get a cold, etc. 1766 Earl of March in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1843) II. 62 I am just going to ride out to see if air and exercise will get me a stomach. b. to get ground: to make progress, advance. †Also to get ground of (also upon): to encroach upon, obtain the mastery of; to draw away from (pursuers) (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)] > make progress or advance (of action or operation) fremec1000 furtherc1200 profit1340 to go onc1449 grow1487 to commence to, intoa1500 framea1529 to get ground?1529 movec1540 work1566 promove1570 advance1577 devolve1579 to come on1584 progress1612 to gain ground1625 germinate1640 proceed1670 to gather ground1697 march1702 to make its way1711 to come forward1722 develop1744 to turn a wheel1864 shape1865 come1899 ?1529 S. Fish Supplicacyon for Beggers sig. A3 The Turke..shulde neuer be abill to get so moche grounde of cristendome. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 101 Þen the troiens..Getyn þere ground with a gret strenght And frusshet þere fos fer vppo abacke. 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. iii. 53 If they get ground and vantage of the King, Then ioyne you with them. View more context for this quotation ?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxiii. 399 This, the horse fear'd, and more powre Put to their knees, straite getting ground. 1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes i. 127 Being better mounted then they, he quickly got a great deal of ground of them. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical ix. 92 A Feaver..that press'd hard upon a Sick Man, and every Minute got Ground of him. 1737 W. Whiston tr. Tacitus in tr. Josephus Genuine Wks. p. cxii The rest of their institutions..got ground by their pravity. 1846 Juvenile Missionary Herald Aug. 191 The Christian race is not to be run by so many fits, but by a constant course and progress; still getting ground upon our lusts; still approaching nearer to the kingdom of heaven. 1882 W. Harris Homiletical Comm. Prov. xv. 426/1 The way of a slothful man is perplexed and letsome, so that he gets no ground, makes no riddance. 1952 Eng. Hist. Rev. 67 554 The Bedford party got ground and began to give him umbrage. 1999 Odds On Feb. 16/1 This brilliant horse richly deserves to win a Gold Cup and finally looks to have a real chance of getting his ground on the big day. c. colloquial. what has got ——?: what has befallen or happened to, what has become of ——? ΚΠ 1760 J. Carr Life Tristram Shandy I. xvi. 77 I wonder what has got my nephew's memory. 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 124 They all at once, on looking round..enquired what had got Carr. 1871 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Fireside Stories (1872) 185 Bill warn't nowhere to be found. So they sent one o' the girls up chamber to see what'd got him. 1939 Poetry 53 292 Where are the gods gone? What has got 'em? 1957 V. Adair in Clairemont Q. Winter 31 But frequently, before we know What has got us, off we go! d. to get it. (a) (i) colloquial. To receive a punishment, scolding, or beating; to ‘catch it’. Also: to receive a blow, to be hit.to get it hot: see hot adj. and n.¹ Phrases 5. to get it in the neck: see neck n.¹ Phrases 2b. ΘΚΠ society > authority > punishment > [verb (intransitive)] > receive punishment > be punished severely to buy the bargain dear1352 smart1534 sweata1625 to nap it1699 to get it1805 to catch or get Jesse1839 to get (also catch, take) it in the neck1881 to get beans1893 to get (also do) the book1928 1805 G. Colman Who wants Guinea? iv. ii. 61 Henry. Can he ever have the heart to beat you? Boy. Never very hard when mother's by; for then he'd get it himself. 1841 J. H. Ingraham Quadroone I. xvi. 207 Slain! Bullets and baggenets! Gobin ha' got it! I have bled a barrel and a bucket full. I haven't two pints o' pure red blood left! 1863 J. Lester Rosedale i. in America's Lost Plays (1940) IV. 10 Ell. Did you think you were going to get it? Miles. No, but damn me—you shall get it! 1872 Figaro 22 June 389/1 The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl Granville also ‘got’ it, but not quite so hotly. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 4/3 You will get it hot before you are done. 1938 ‘E. Queen’ Devil to Pay xx. 276 Now she'll get it—that sawed-off, pinky little wurst! 1982 M. Piercy Braided Lives i. 13 I'll get it for being late. 2011 S. Twain From this Moment on (2012) iv. 61 When things snowballed to where it became clear that my mother was about to really get it, I ran up behind my dad with a chair in both hands and smashed it across his back. (ii) colloquial (originally U.S.). To be fatally injured, to be killed; to be shot. ΚΠ 1844 Spirit of Times 18 May 139/1 Bang ! Oh, dam you ! You've got it ! I know you is!..Yes, thar's blood on the snow ! 1845 ‘C. Winterfield’ Adventures on Frontier Texas & Mexico in Amer. Rev. 2 372 The warrior reeled..and..pitched head foremost from his horse. ‘That fellow's got it, anyhow!’ 1899 E. Marshall Story Rough Riders x. 196 Once in a while one of them would ‘get it’. 1917 A. G. Empey Over Top v. 35 Always remember that if you are going to get it, you'll get it, so never worry. 1943 W. Simmons Joe Foss Flying Marine x. 100 Poor old Joe finally got it... He's shark bait. 1997 A. Frewin London Blues i. i. 31 Two days after Jack Kennedy got it, Oswald got it too! (b) colloquial (ironic). I wish you may get it, also don't you wish you may get it?, and variants: implying the speaker's doubt of, or lack of desire for, another's success. ΚΠ 1824 Morning Chron. 13 Oct. When informed that it [sc. a gold pin] was six shillings and sixpence, he said ‘I wish you may get it,’ and ran out of the shop with one of them. 1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. I. 42 An ‘I wish you may get it’ sort of expression in his eye. 1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxvi. 274 ‘But the plaintiff must get it,’ resumed Mrs. Cluppins... ‘Vell,’ said Sam... ‘All I can say is, that I vish you may get it.’ 1842 R. H. Barham Lay St. Aloys in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 245 Ah, ha! my good friend!—don't you wish you may get it? 1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xiii. 111 ‘There's one of the greatest men in the kingdom wants some.’ ‘Does he?’ growled the senior. ‘Wish he may get it.’ 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 54/2 I've heard people say when I've cried ‘all a-growing’ on a fine-ish day, ‘Aye, now summer's a-coming.’ I wish you may get it, says I to myself; for I've studied the seasons. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. ix. 216 Don't you wish you may get it? 1929 Barron's 17 June 16/2 With pardonable cynicism the impartial reader will say, ‘Don't they wish they may get it.’ 1944 Yale Univ. Libr. Gaz. 19 17/2 The last words he uttered were spoken to an anxious creditor; to whom he said, ‘Don't you wish you may get it.’ 2003 BBC Summary of World Broadcasts (Nexis) 13 Oct. If this does not work, then as Moldovans say, I wish you may get it. (c) Originally U.S. Services' slang. come and get it: indicating that food or drink is ready. Also in extended use, esp. as a sexual invitation. ΚΠ 1913 Motor Age 13 June 20/1 ‘Come and get it.’ This is the polite way of saying: ‘We are now serving a meal in the dining car (mess truck). Will you kindly step up and satisfy your appetite?’ 1936 H. L. Ickes in Dedicated to Conservation (U.S. Department of the Interior) 12 We had not been altogether wise in putting all of our natural resources on the table and yelling in a voice that could be heard around the world, ‘Come and get it’. 1965 C. Himes Cotton comes to Harlem x. 101 ‘Come and get it, pansy,’ she taunted, lying on the bed with her legs open. 1976 M. Frayn Alphabet. Order i. 13 Come on, Lucy. Grub up. Come and get it. 1997 M. Groening et al. Simpsons: Compl. Guide 106/3 I want to have a baby before it's too late. You're looking at a free lunch, boys. Come and get it. (d) humorous. get it?: ‘do you understand?’, ‘do you see the joke?’ (used parenthetically as a tag to a joke, pun, or allusion, esp. one the speaker or writer regards as bad, obvious, or laboured). Cf. geddit int. ΚΠ 1926 New Yorker 11 Dec. 46/2 (caption) The verse will be, ‘Tidings of Comfort and Joy’, and—ah—suppose we tie up the thought of the suspender buttons with that? Get it? 1937 R. Westerby Wide Boys never Work (1938) 161 ‘And you—Mick—you're through! Get it?’ 1940 S. J. Perelman in New Yorker 24 Aug. 14/3 A high-spirited travesty on How to Read a Book, by Mortimer J. Adler. It is called How to Read Two Books, by Erasmus J. Addlepate (get it?). 1985 ‘J. Gash’ Pearlhanger (1986) vii. 61 Similor's lightweight, love... Cheap old alloy. French bloke called Renty invented it: similar to or, gold. Get it? 2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xlvi. 732 ‘By the way, I personally object to the word testimony regarding a woman's sworn statements, simply because’—she crudely grabbed her crotch—‘the etymology of the word is testes. Get it?’ e. slang. to get his (also hers, theirs): to be punished, get one's just deserts; to be killed. ΘΚΠ the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (intransitive)] > be killed to be deadc1000 fallOE spilla1300 suffera1616 to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) toa1774 to lose the number of one's mess1807 to go up1825 to get his (also hers, theirs)1903 to cop (also stop, catch, get, etc.) a packet1916 click1917 not to know (or to wonder) what hit one1923 to get the works1928 to go for a burton1941 (to get) the chop or chopper1945 1903 Washington Post 21 Apr. 6 Large numbers of mashers are constantly coming into their own, which is to say, in the vernacular, are ‘getting theirs’. a1910 ‘O. Henry’ Rolling Stones (1913) iii. 65 Clifford Wainwright being shot by a squad of soldiers... Oh, yes, it was rum that did it. He backslided and got his. 1913 R. Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 288 He'd got his. I knew it by the way the head rolled in my hands. 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad viii. 107 The other women leave her alone because they know that if they don't—they'll get theirs from Johnny. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 30 May 1 If this is where I get mine up there..on a battlefield where the dead don't lie about and rot..; if I get mine up there, there must be no regrets. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 66 He was going to get his, come two three four hours. That was all right, of course, you didn't live forever. 2001 M. Blake 24 Karat Schmooze xxxv. 392 But right now he wanted to maim, torture and kill her. Slowly. She'd get hers, he decided, soon as he was back up on his feet. f. colloquial and euphemistic (originally U.S.). to get any (also much): to obtain sexual attention or fulfilment, esp. sexual intercourse. Frequently as a conversational gambit between men: getting any? (also much?). Cf. it pron. 10, to get some at some pron. 4e. ΚΠ 1916 Dominecker Rooster (song) in V. Randolph & G. Legman Blow Candle Out (1992) 598 Shit, says the rooster to the hen, I ain't had any since God knows when.] 1927 D. Hammett Big Knock-over in Black Mask Feb. 23/2 We shook hands, exchanged How's everything and Getting muches. 1936 J. O'Hara in New Yorker 18 July 24/1 Well, what's with you. Leonard?.. You gettin' much? 1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 124 The jocular greeting between man and man, gettin' any?..draws such set replies as, climbing trees to get away from it! 1950 F. Feikema Brother 38 The book salesman asked, ‘Gettin' any lately?’ Thurs threw him a bewildered look... ‘Gettin' what?’ ‘When'd you have it last? You know. Pussy.’ 1963 J. Naish That Men should Fear 82 Hey there, Hans, gettin' any, kid? 1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere iii. 31 People come up to me and ask, ‘Mickey, are you getting any,’ and I pull a thermometer out of my jockey shorts, it says twenty-five below. 1993 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 15 Aug. (Mag.) 4 Her status in the firmament of American popular culture is secure, right up there with..Groucho Marx, who loved to inquire when he ran into her in their later years: ‘Gettin' much, Mae?’ 2001 D. King Burglar Diaries xxii. 179 That's the thing about women, they do love to rub a bloke′s nose in it when he isn′t getting any. g. come and get me: (used as a defiant taunt) ‘I dare you to catch me or challenge me’. ΚΠ 1921 O. R. O'Neil Adventures in Swaziland xiv. 228 They..announced to the stowaways that they were under arrest. ‘We are, are we?’ these worthies asked. ‘Well then, come and get us!’ 1949 F. W. Dixon Sign of Crooked Arrow xxv. 210 ‘Come out, Morgan!’ the sheriff roared into the cave. ‘Come and get me!’ a voice replied. 1984 T. C. Boyle Budding Prospects (1985) iv. ii. 260 Come and get me, Jerpbak, I thought, popping the clutch and fishtailing up the road. 2001 M. Cerasini et al. Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius 127 Hey you big chicken!.. Come and get me! h. U.S. slang. to get mine (also yours): to get my (or your) fair share. ΚΠ 1935 J.T. Farrell Little Blond Fellow in Guillotine Party & Other Stories 69 ‘Well, Marty, how's the Nation Oil shark these days?’ Al Bleecker said... ‘Sure you're getting yours?’ asked Pete Studebaker. ‘I'd be a fool not to’..Marty responded. a1938 T. Wolfe Web & Rock (1939) xxv. 402 Were officials in the city government grafters, thieves? Every man..was ‘getting his’. 1944 Rotarian Mar. 24/2 So what! I'm going to get mine while getting is good. 1958 Life 26 May 139/1 A rise in class and individual irresponsibility, and attitude of ‘I'll get mine’ (or ‘I'll keep mine’). 1975 L. C. Pogrebin (title) Getting yours: how to make the system work for the working woman. 1994 tr. E. Coutinho Bye, bye Soccer 17 Fuck the others, I've got to get mine while I'm doing fine. 1999 R. Kenan Walking on Water (2000) xx. 526 I gots to get mine before it's too late. i. to be out to get (a person): to be intent on harming (a person). ΚΠ 1950 Life 17 July 12/2 The committee is not out to ‘get’ anyone. 1969 Bucks County (Pa.) Courier-Times 29 Aug. 11/4 He..contended Levy had publicly stated he was ‘out to get me’. 1988 H. Mantel Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1989) 141 They come here and they're suddenly cut off from their families, they've got language problems, and they start to think everybody's out to get them. 2003 G. Shteyngart Russ. Debutante's Handbk. iv. xxi. 228 Which proved once and for all that the world was out to get him. j. to get a room: to move from a public to a private setting. Frequently in imperative as an expression of (usually mild or humorous) disapproval for public displays of overly affectionate or sexualized behaviour. ΚΠ 1991 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 22 Mar. At one point, a person watching yelled, ‘Get a room’. 1997 M. Groening et al. Simpsons: Compl. Guide 204/2 Bart. I won't get embarrassed. I don't care who knows I love my Grampa. Von Wortzenburger. Hey, funboys! Get a room! 2007 C. Peetz Fly Paper for Freaks 64 We are just sitting at the bar talking and in-between kissing, I am like oh my gosh we are one of those couples that need to get a room. 2012 K. Whiddon Wolf Whisperer 273 She sagged her entire body into him, giving herself up to his kiss. ‘Hey, get a room’, Simon said, laughing. k. to get cold feet: see cold feet n. at cold adj. Compounds 4. to get a grip on oneself: see grip n.¹ 2a. to get head: see head n.¹ Phrases 4d(a). to get it in one: see one adj., n., and pron. Phrases 2b(g). to get a life: see life n. Phrases 12k. to get a load of: see load n. 7e. to get the mitten: see mitten n. Phrases 2. to get religion: see religion n. Phrases 4. to get the sack (bag, boot, bounce, etc.): see the nouns. to get vent: see vent n.² 5b. to get wind: see wind n.¹ 17a. to get a word out of: see word n. and int. Phrases 4b. to play hard to get: see play v. 28c. P3. In uses corresponding to Branch III. †a. transitive. to get one's way(s): to go away, take oneself off. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 683 The fox scathless gat his way. 1574 J. Higgins 1st Pt. Mirour for Magistrates f. 52^v I am pleasde from thee to get my wayes. 1606 W. Birnie Blame of Kirk-buriall xii. sig. D1^v Either God must get his way, or be content to dwell in a dedicate Innes to Idoles. 1671 C. Wase tr. Cicero Cicero against Catiline ii. 41 He is gone, he is got his way, he is escaped. 1799 W. Wennington tr. A. H. J. Lafontaine Man of Nature xii. 98 Now get thy ways and marry! 1815 Woman's Will iii. ii Well, get thy ways for an incorrigible coxcomb. 1853 H. W. Herbert Chevaliers of France ii. 30 Get thy ways hence, and deem it mercy I let thee go alive! b. to get oneself gone: to take oneself away, go, be off; esp. get thee (you) gone. Cf. sense 26a(c). Now archaic. ΚΠ 1580 J. Stow Chrons. of Eng. 557 A company of the Iland men, that forced them..to get them gone (with shame ynough) to theyr Shippes. a1592 R. Greene Hist. Orlando Furioso (1594) sig. Cii^v I wish thee well Orlando: get thee gone, Say that a Centynell did suffer thee. a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. i. 85 Go, get thee gon, fetch me an iron Crow. View more context for this quotation 1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 85 Repose your selfe on your pillow, or I will get me gone. 1678 T. Otway Friendship in Fashion iii. 26 Well, get thee gone for an Arch-wagg. 1712 J. Arbuthnot Law is Bottomless-pit xii. 22 Get you gone into the Country to look after your Mothers Poultry. 1731 G. Lillo Silvia iii. v. 59 Out, you're naughty: get you gone. 1843 G. P. R. James Forest Days I. ii. 12 Get thee gone, slut!..what dost thou know of friars' cells? Too much, I misdoubt me. 1891 Illustr. London News 21 Mar. 382/2 He was recommended to get him gone. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage 260 ‘Get thee gone, fellow,’ said Cronshaw. ‘May wild asses defile the grave of thy maternal grandmother.’ 1961 M. C. Beverley tr. S. T. Aksakov Family Chrons. iii. 94 When Stepan Michailovitsch bellowed: ‘Get you gone!’ in a tone which resembled the roar of an approaching storm, she and her daughters hurried off as fast as possible. 2000 S. Dallas Alice's Tulips v. 95 Now take these with you, and get you gone before Mrs. Bullock wakes. c. to get by oneself: to escape from company. ΚΠ 1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania iii. 302 Amphilanthus and Selarinus..got by themselues, to giue account to each other of their passions. a1674 J. Janeway Token for Children (1676) vii. 60 He would get by himself, and weep and mourn bitterly. 1760 E. Macfait Remarks Life & Writings Plato 46 When got by myself, I had great perplexity. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. vii. 130 She was in purgatory throughout the day, and wearying to find an opportunity of getting by herself. 1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters iii. 65 Inexpressibly affecting is that eagerness he betrays to get by himself. 1902 Cent. Mag. May 141/1 In the evening, when the rest are canoeing, or chatting on piazzas, I like to get by myself. 1931 Relig. Educ. 26 42/1 The night before registration of the second semester I got by myself and tried to balance my strong and my weak points. 2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Jan. (Sports section) 1/5 He loves to release, get by himself—he's listening to music and he's going his own speed. d. to get done with: to have done with (see do v. 10b(b)). ΚΠ 1751 Parl. Hist. Eng. VIII. 107 To get done with this Affair, to come to Matters of much greater Moment. 1827 T. Carlyle tr. J. P. F. Richter in German Romance III. 156 To get the sooner done with it, he had used to begin his devotion..before leaving that place where [etc.]. a1888 B. Campbell Fairfax ii. in White Slave & Other Plays (1941) 168 When you get done with this technical dissertation, I trust you will be good enough to tell me what it's all about. 1924 H. J. Seligmann D. H. Lawrence 44 These people too, Aaron Sisson gets done with, as he got done with wife and children. 1958 A. Boulton Part of Long Story 110 Though it had seemed, before it happened, only a ceremony that was to be gone through and got done with, we now felt that it had made a difference—that we had come into a new estate. 1999 V. Headley in T. White Britpulp! 74 ‘Let's get done with this,’ I was thinking. e. colloquial. where has (also have) —— got to?: what has become of; where is (or are) ——? Also in indirect questions. ΚΠ 1798 J. O'Keeffe Czar Peter iii. i, in Dramatic Wks. III. 184 Ma'am!—this brings both me and the Colonel off—but where has he got to! 1840 H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox xxvi Blister 'em! Where can the scoundrels be got to? 1862 E. L. Blanchard Cherry & Fair Star i. 1 I wonder where Queen Mab has got to, Out of the way in her fairy grotto? 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 242 Muttering something about its being extraordinary where his umbrella could have got to. 1945 D. Bolster Roll on my Twelve 9 Where's the lime-juice got to, Snotty? 1979 M. Leigh Abigail's Party ii, in Abigail's Party & Goose-pimples (1983) 49 Angela : Where's Tony got to? Laurence : Perhaps you'd better ask him that, when he gets back. 2007 S. Jones Outcast (2008) iii. iii. 264 I wonder where they all can have got to. f. English regional (chiefly northern and north midlands). to get wrong: (originally) to quarrel, argue; (now usually) to get into trouble; to be reprimanded or punished. Frequently with with, from, or off. Cf. to get in wrong at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > hatred > quarrel or falling out > quarrel or fall at variance [verb (intransitive)] varyc1450 quarrel1530 square1530 to fall offa1535 breach1573 snarl1593 snarl1597 breaka1616 to break offa1645 to cast out1730 to get wrong1803 split1835 split1843 the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (intransitive)] > be rebuked or scolded to hear of it1598 to get on (also upon) the finger ends1693 to get one's lug in one's loof1744 to get wrong1803 to catch or get Jesse1839 to come in for it1841 to get hell1851 to cop (also stop, catch, get, etc.) a packet1916 to have a strip torn off1940 1803 G. Culley Let. 16 Aug. in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 516 I do think we should have come to some agreement, but unfortunately your uncle and he got wrong. 1838 Newcastle Courant 9 Mar. They denied it, and told him if he persisted in saying so he would get wrong. 1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. at Wrong If a parson gets drunk reg'lar, or goäs wi’ uther women as well as his wife, he gets wrong wi' his bishop. 1901 Eastern Counties Mag. 1 292 When they got wrong wi' each other my gran'father he says: ‘You 'ont come to mine no more for the milk.’ 1968 F. Grice Oak & Ash vi. 32 I'm not coming... I'll get wrong from my father. He'll hit me. 2016 @LukeyD1912 20 Aug. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I get wrong off me lass for being on me phone in bed because apparently I'm being unsociable. g. to get going. (a) To begin; to start acting vigorously, energetically, or determinedly; to start talking fluently or volubly; to get into full swing; to ‘get a move on’; to depart. See also to get cracking at crack v. 22b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > resolutely or energetically to go to it1490 busklea1535 settle1576 to lay on1587 to put in (also get into) one's gearsa1658 to put (occasionally lay, set) one's shoulder to the wheel1678 yark1721 to get going1822 to pitch in1835 to roll up one's sleeves1838 square1849 to clap on1850 to wire in (also away)1864 to dig in1884 hunker1903 tie into1904 to get cracking1937 to get stuck in1938 to get weaving1942 to get it on1954 1822 Kaleidoscope 29 Jan. 236/3 ‘It's not almighty hot.’—‘I think as how you'll feel it better when we get going,’ replied the driver. 1897 O. W. Holmes Pollock-Holmes Lett. (1942) I. 77 He is really fine when he gets going on the Church of England. 1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum Epil. 391 David is not only living, but appears almost no older than when we first knew him, and still just as likely to ‘git goin'’ on occasion. 1930 L. Charteris Enter Saint i. 57 I'm going to prove that nothing on earth can stop me when I get going. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest i. 8 If this task is as important as you men say..we must get going. 1995 D. McLean Bunker Man 177 I think we better get going soon, said Karen. 2006 A. M. Foley Having my Say iv. 19 We had a job getting started, but once we got going, we could sing pretty good. (b) To cause (something) to operate; to cause (a person) to go; to make (someone) excited, angry, talkative, aroused, etc. ΚΠ 1835 [see sense 31b]. 1844 Rover 3 383/1 It would be a great use to everybody when he got it [sc. the telegraph] going. 1852 W. Stillman Misc. Compositions Poetry & Prose 9 I stuck to it till I got it [sc. a clock] going. 1887 2nd Ann. Rep. State Board Agric. Rhode Island 223 If you get me going I am afraid you can't stop me. 1920 S. Lewis Main St. xxviii. 326 She kidded him along, and got him going. 1932 ‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic iv. 38 She's rather a character, you know, when you get her going. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest iii. 189 To get the Hanford plant going. 1959 R. Galton & A. Simpson Hancock's Half-hour (1987) 165 She's a lovely girl. It's those black stockings that gets me going. 1997 W. Self Great Apes (1998) ii. 20 He could get her going, crank up the galvanic heart of her so that she came and came and came. 2005 M. H. Smith Delicious vi. 58 Certain stories in Hawaiian mythology were funny, but the myth of Kamapua'a, the Hog God, was the one that got the kids going. h. to get somewhere (also anywhere): to be successful; to make some progress. not to get anywhere: not to reach any goal or object; to make no progress; to achieve nothing; similarly to get nowhere: see nowhere adv. 4b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail or be unsuccessful [verb (intransitive)] > fail to reach goal or objective > achieve nothing to get somewhere (also anywhere)1843 not to get anywhere1932 the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress furtherc1200 profit1340 to go alongc1400 to get forward1523 advance1577 proceedc1592 to take or make strides1600 to get on1655 to get along1768 to get ahead1807 to be well away1821 to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923 ramp1980 1843 C. H. Knox Harry Mowbray xiv. 102 We are all of us striving all our lives to get somewhere or other. 1849 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 149/2 For heaven's sake, my dear fellow, don't suppose that any man could get on in England—get anywhere but to the Old Bailey or Norfolk Island, if he squared his conduct to such topsy-turvy notions of the world as I find here. 1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent ii. 38 Its deliberations upon international action for the suppression of political crime don't seem to get anywhere. 1923 H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood i. 18 I'm going to get somewhere! Right now I ain't got no more idea than a baby of what I'm going to be. 1932 W. Cather Obscure Destinies i. 84 Mrs. Rosen felt that she was not getting anywhere. 1940 E. H. W. Meyerstein Let. 4 June (1959) 242 Even when Jews ‘get somewhere’—if they marry Englishwomen they are condemned by their wives. 2010 J. McGregor Even Dogs (2011) iii. 82 Like he was only pleased she was getting anywhere because then he could mark her up on his monitoring forms. i. Originally U.S. to get there: to attain one's object, be successful in an undertaking. ΚΠ 1883 E. W. Nye Baled Hay 49 They were high-toned, and they got there. 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin viii. 144 He said as he'd been gambling, and was two hundred dollars ahead of the town. He ‘got there with both feet’ at starting. 1888 N.Y. Herald 29 July 7/2 Although not a delegate he got there all the same. 1891 Daily News 18 Nov. 5/1 As the humorous American phrase goes, ‘he gets there all the same’. 2005 K. Holden In my Skin 100 Every user's story has a beginning, a middle and an end. You'll get there. Whether you end alive or dead is up to you. j. Originally U.S. to get a person nowhere, not to get a person anywhere: to fail to benefit or improve the situation of a person, to fail to enable a person to make progress, to be of no avail to a person. to get a person somewhere: to enable a person to make progress or be successful. Similarly where does it get you (etc.)? ΚΠ 1902 F. Hopkinson Smith Fortunes of Oliver Horn xi. 231 I've been doing that all winter; I expect to be doing it for years. That don't get me anywhere, does it? 1910 Proc. Fourteenth Ann. Meeting National Assoc. Mutual Insurance Companies 1909 62 Scattering effort will get you nowhere. 1916 E. Miniter Our Natupski Neighbors ii. i. 163 American language as adopted by the Natupski family made constant use of the term ‘Where does it get you?’ It was no use to wash your face. That got you nowhere. 1921 R. A. Hood Quest of Alistair xxxvii. 274 It's all very well to play the good fellow but it doesn't get you anywhere. 1925 N.Y. World 14 Jan. 15/1 If you watch the clock you waste a lot of time that might be spent in things that Get You Somewhere. 1938 Open Road for Boys July 3/2 Here is a rifle and cartridge team that will get you somewhere, at low cost. 1939 M. Mitchell Let. 9 Feb. in Gone with the Wind Lett. (1986) 249 I noticed, however, that my noncommittal statements got me nowhere. 1962 A. La Guma Walk in Night i. 4 To hell with work. Work, work, work, where does it get you? 1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn x. 86 The sort of answer that got one nowhere. 2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black vi. 194 I don't think that trying to love him would get you anywhere. k. to get moving: to begin to function; to begin to do something, esp. immediately; to make a start (on a task, journey, etc.); (also) to act swiftly, to hurry up (cf. to get a move on at move n. 3f). Now frequently in imperative. ΚΠ 1863 M. Oliphant Salem Chapel II. xxx. 170 I'll go with you cheerful to Mr Brown, if you'll take my advice, afore Mrs Vincent gets moving about again.] 1890 Atlantic Monthly June 836/2 I suppose the first fool that looked on the first crank that was ever made asked what that crooked, queer-looking thing was good for. When the wheels got moving he found out. ?a1927 F. S. Anthony Follow Call (1936) 26 I decided to get moving. 1977 Grimsby Evening Tel. 27 May 2/5 Old people had to get moving and be bloody-minded to improve their lot. 1990 S. Gates Lock (BNC) xii. 129 Get moving, you stupid bitch! Get off your backside and do summat! 2002 Hull Daily Mail (Electronic ed.) 4 Jan. The new project leader will be the final piece in the jigsaw to enable the scheme to really get moving. l. to get lost (slang, originally U.S.): to go away; to take oneself off. Frequently in imperative. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] wendeOE i-wite971 ashakec975 shakeOE to go awayOE witea1000 afareOE agoOE atwendOE awayOE to wend awayOE awendOE gangOE rimeOE flitc1175 to fare forthc1200 depart?c1225 part?c1225 partc1230 to-partc1275 biwitec1300 atwitea1325 withdrawa1325 to draw awayc1330 passc1330 to turn one's (also the) backc1330 lenda1350 begonec1370 remuea1375 voidc1374 removec1380 to long awaya1382 twinc1386 to pass one's wayc1390 trussc1390 waive1390 to pass out ofa1398 avoida1400 to pass awaya1400 to turn awaya1400 slakec1400 wagc1400 returnc1405 to be gonea1425 muck1429 packc1450 recede1450 roomc1450 to show (a person) the feetc1450 to come offc1475 to take one's licence1475 issue1484 devoidc1485 rebatea1500 walka1500 to go adieua1522 pikea1529 to go one's ways1530 retire?1543 avaunt1549 to make out1558 trudge1562 vade?1570 fly1581 leave1593 wag1594 to get off1595 to go off1600 to put off1600 shog1600 troop1600 to forsake patch1602 exit1607 hence1614 to give offa1616 to take off1657 to move off1692 to cut (also slip) the painter1699 sheera1704 to go about one's business1749 mizzle1772 to move out1792 transit1797–1803 stump it1803 to run away1809 quit1811 to clear off1816 to clear out1816 nash1819 fuff1822 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 mosey1829 slope1830 to tail out1830 to walk one's chalks1835 to take away1838 shove1844 trot1847 fade1848 evacuate1849 shag1851 to get up and get1854 to pull out1855 to cut (the) cable(s)1859 to light out1859 to pick up1872 to sling one's Daniel or hook1873 to sling (also take) one's hook1874 smoke1893 screw1896 shoot1897 voetsak1897 to tootle off1902 to ship out1908 to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909 to push off1918 to bugger off1922 biff1923 to fuck off1929 to hit, split or take the breeze1931 to jack off1931 to piss offa1935 to do a mick1937 to take a walk1937 to head off1941 to take a hike1944 moulder1945 to chuff off1947 to get lost1947 to shoot through1947 skidoo1949 to sod off1950 peel1951 bug1952 split1954 poop1961 mugger1962 frig1965 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)] scud1602 go scrape!1611 to push off (also along)1740 to go it1797 to walk one's chalks1835 morris1838 scat1838 go 'long1859 to take a walk1881 shoot1897 skidoo1905 to beat it1906 to go to the dickens1910 to jump (or go (and) jump) in the lake1912 scram1928 to piss offa1935 to bugger off1937 to fuck off1940 go and have a roll1941 eff1945 to feck off?1945 to get lost1947 to sod off1950 bug1956 to hit, split or take the breeze1959 naff1959 frig1965 muck1974 to rack off1975 1947 F. Wakeman Hucksters v. 66 If Kimberly were to walk in tomorrow..I'd tell him to get lost. 1959 Times 25 Sept. 9/2 Tell him to get lost. 1961 ‘B. Wells’ Day Earth caught Fire ix. 145 ‘Cut that out, man,’ the beatnik said... ‘Get lost, man,’ replied Pete. 1962 ‘H. Calvin’ System xiii. 179 The last time Carabine came in I told him to get lost. 1967 P. G. Wodehouse Company for Henry v. 80 Can I have a word with you?.. In private. Get lost, young Jane. 1999 J. Arnott Long Firm ii. 81 Should have told him to get lost, really. But he looked desperate & I feared some sort of scene in the street. m. slang (euphemistic); chiefly British and Australian. to get off (also out) at Edge Hill (also Gateshead, Redfern, etc.): to engage in coitus interruptus; to withdraw the penis from the vagina before ejaculation.Cf. to get off 6a at Phrasal verbs 1, to get off 9a at Phrasal verbs 1. The names used are train stations positioned one stop before a terminus or major destination and reflect regional variation: Edge Hill in Liverpool, Gateshead in Newcastle, Redfern in Sydney, etc. ΚΠ 1967 E. Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 6) II. 1325/2 Redfern, get off at, to practise coïtus interruptus; Sydneyites': since ca. 1950. 1970 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Dec. 1422/5 To get off at Redfern..is dull and unoriginal. Since the nineteenth century, natives of Newcastle upon Tyne have described the procedure alliteratively as getting out at Gateshead. 1987 I. Rankin Knots & Crosses (U.S. ed.) vii. 41 Rebus remembered that the premature withdrawal of the penis during intercourse for contraceptive reasons was often referred to as ‘getting off at Haymarket’. 1995 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 29 June 18 I remember once telling my father, a Sydneysider, about the term ‘getting off at Richmond’, and him informing me of the Redfern usage. 2009 J. A. Allen in C. Kevin Feminism & Body i. 13 Worrying whether husbands would, as promised, ‘get off at Clapham Junction’, was hardly conducive to sensual abandon. 2016 @TheGaryLambert 30 June in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) If only Boris' parents had got off at Edge Hill. n. to get clear: see clear adj., adv., and n. to get cracking: see crack v. 22b. to get even: see even adj.¹ and n.² Phrases 10b. to get left: see leave v.¹ Phrases 7. to get next to: see next adj. 14b. to get outside ——: see outside n., adj., adv., and prep. Phrases 3b. to get outside of ——: see outside n., adj., adv., and prep. Phrases 2a(b). to get rid of: see rid v. Phrases 2. to get something right: see right adj. and int. Phrases 6. to get shut of: see shut v. 11a. to get (something) straight: see straight adj. 8d. to get stuck in(to): see to stick into —— 2b at stick v.¹ Phrasal verbs 2. get stuffed: see stuffed adj. 6. to get to blows: see blow n.¹ 3. to get to grips with: see grip n.¹ 2a. to get tough: see tough adj. 5b. to get under sail: see sail n.¹ 3e. to get under way: see under way adv. to get used to: see use v. 20c. to get weaving: see weave v.² 1d. to get wise to: see wise adj. 3b(b). to get (someone) wrong: see wrong adv. 4b. P4. In uses corresponding to Branch IV. a. slang. to have got 'em (bad): to have delirium tremens, to have an attack of horror or extreme depression; (also in weakened sense) to have a fit of nerves. ΚΠ 1878 Phrenological Jrnl. & Sci. of Health Aug. 113/1 Lemme 'lone! Got 'em bad! 1879 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Nov. 586/1 Umph! I have got 'em again, Carrie. Fly around and get us something to eat. 1893 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang III. 188/1 A very sick person, especially a patient in the horrors, is said to have got 'em bad. 1996 Scotsman (Nexis) 19 Nov. 35 ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I replied: ‘I really don't know.’ From that day on I'd got 'em. 2006 San Bernardino (Calif.) Sun (Nexis) 17 Oct. Hello, Jimmy, what's up? Got 'em bad? b. Originally U.S. to have got it in for: to be determined to harm or cause trouble for; to feel hostility or strong dislike towards; = to have it in for at have v. Phrases 1e. ΚΠ 1889 Road (Denver, Colo.) 28 Dec. 4/3 Phil, we have got it in for you if you don't quit being so flossy. 1956 N. Coward South Sea Bubble ii. i Ch. You have got it in for her, haven't you? C. Certainly not. I just don't happen to like the way she goes on. 2003 Independent 7 Apr. 15/2 It is not only the media who have got it in for Mr Galloway. c. to have got it made: see make v.¹ 52k. to have got (a person or thing) on the brain: see brain n. Phrases 2e. Phrasal verbs PV1. With adverbs. to get aboard 1. transitive. To succeed in bringing or putting on board; to put or load on to a vessel or (in recent use) a train, vehicle, or aircraft (cf. aboard adv. 2b). ΘΚΠ society > travel > rail travel > [verb (transitive)] > put into a train to get aboard1577 entrain1878 society > travel > travel by water > transportation by water > transport by water [verb (transitive)] > put or take on board put to shippinga1300 ship13.. board1542 emboat1542 embark1550 to get aboard1577 to take in1585 imbarge1604 inship1615 to take on1877 society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport of goods in a vehicle > transport goods in vehicle [verb (transitive)] > place on or in a vehicle as a load load1495 to get aboard1577 1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 1823/2 Perceyuing in what daunger they stoode,..[they] drew towardes the shore, to take in the rest of their company, and getting them aboorde vnto them, they manfully stoode to their defence. 1594 R. Carew tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne i. 37 Vnto some Frigate light get thee aboord, And towards Greekish soyle no sayling slake. a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iv. iv. 159 Therefore away, to get our stuffe aboord. View more context for this quotation 1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures x. 31 He got his Merchandise aboard. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 40 We had got a great deal of Water and Wood aboard. 1846 J. H. Ingraham Spectre Steamer & Other Tales i. 20 I shall be glad, for one, when our frigate lying off there gets her armament aboard. 1875 J. G. Holland Sevenoaks xxix. 421 There's Pilot-boat Number 10... Perhaps I can get you aboard of her, but you are rather heavy for a jump. 1985 N.Y. Times 8 June x. 3/1 Tour buses have lifts to get wheelchairs aboard..and restrooms that are readily accessible. 2002 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 19 May 54/5 I had no idea how often the trains ran, how long the trip would take, how seats were assigned or how I would get my bulky luggage aboard. 2. intransitive. To go or come on board; to board a vessel, train, aircraft, etc. ΘΚΠ society > travel > rail travel > [verb (intransitive)] > board a train to get aboarda1616 entrain1878 society > travel > travel by water > [verb (intransitive)] > embark or take ship shipa1122 to take (one's) shippinga1300 to take waterc1425 boat1540 embarka1586 bark1592 to get aboarda1616 society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > riding in a vehicle > ride in a vehicle [verb (intransitive)] > get into a vehicle to get aboarda1616 to step into ——1825 to step in1832 to hop in (also out)1914 a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. iii. 7 Go get a-boord, Looke to thy barke. View more context for this quotation 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World v. 116 They knew not how to get aboard. 1780 W. Coxe Acct. Russ. Discov. 58 They had no sooner got aboard than a violent gale of wind..broke the cable. 1850 G. Grote Hist. Greece VII. ii. lvii. 118 The Syracusans got aboard, and rowed close along-shore. 1866 T. Dimsdale Vigilantes of Montana xi. 60 The road agents finished the proceedings by saying,‘Get aboard, every—of you; and get out of this.’ 1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music i. 19 They arrived at the tram-stop to find a solid wedge of humanity struggling to get aboard. 1953 P. Adler House is not Home ix. 321 As soon as we got Mr. Huckster sobered up, we set out for the station. Once there, I..insisted on getting aboard to see them settled. 2008 Daily Tel. 8 July 7/6 Flight staff allegedly warned the couple that it was Ryanair policy to leave behind passengers who could not get aboard. to get about 1. intransitive. Of a rumour, report, etc.: to be circulated, become generally known, obtain currency. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (intransitive)] > spread or be current springOE spreadc1300 to go abouta1325 quicka1400 risea1400 runa1400 walkc1400 stir1423 voice1429 fly1480 to go abroad1513 to come abroad1525 wandera1547 divulge1604 to get abroad1615 to take aira1616 to make (also do) the rounds1669 to get about1740 reach1970 1740 M. Foster Let. 9 Feb. in M. Dodson Life of Michael Foster (1811) 10 A rumour is got about, that the lords of the admiralty are taking this affair into their own hands. 1816 J. Austen Emma III. xii. 219 Mr. Weston..did not conceive..that it would be of any consequence; for ‘such things..always got about ’. View more context for this quotation 1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain 244 When the report got about, Sheffield said that he was not surprised at it. 1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship II. i. 8 Paine's ‘Age of Reason’, for instance, gets about. 1890 F. Barrett Between Life & Death III. l. 298 The rumour..had got about that the timber was not his. 1930 D. L. Sayers Strong Poison ii. 27 Well, you know how a thing like that gets about. One person tells another, and it is discussed at tea-parties. 1952 A. Waley tr. in Real Tripitaka iv. 218 If it gets about that you keep hairy caterpillars you will be thought a disgusting girl and no one will want to know you. 2006 I. Murray Franchising Handbk. ii. 20 Word got about, business flowed in, and as fast as socks grew holes, he was mending them. 2. intransitive. a. To begin to walk or move around (after an accident, illness, etc.). Now only as merged in sense 2b. ΘΚΠ society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] > travel about or visit many places runeOE to go aboutc1300 passc1400 discur1557 dispace1588 perambulate1607 to get about1776 to go around1796 to get around1798 circulate1848 the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > recover or be healed [verb (intransitive)] > move around to get about1776 1776 A. Adams Let. 10 Mar. in M. A. Hogan & C. J. Taylor My Dearest Friend (2007) 102 Tommy has been very sick with what is call'd the Scarlet or purple fever, but has got about again. 1778 Remembrancer 6 53/1 The last two weeks I have been obliged to keep my hammock most of the time; since I have got about, I find a report circulated among the officers. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vi. 341 You're getting well... But you'll get about now directly, won't you? 1867 H. Parr Mr. Wynyard's Ward II. 79 I frames to get about, but I'se racked wi' rheumatiz terrible—terrible. 1957 J. C. Adams Outl. Fractures iv. 73 Even when there is considerable irrecoverable damage the patient can usually get about well with elbow crutches or sticks. b. To make one's way about, go from place to place (frequently in contexts indicating or implying some impediment); to frequent a variety of social circles. ΚΠ 1861 Bell's Life in London 10 Nov. 3 For some time the game was so close that the ball could not get about, but after awhile a ‘fair catch’ fell into T. Davenport's hands, to end, unfortunately, in ‘a miss’. 1863 W. H. Brewer Let. 13 Aug. in Up & down Calif. (2003) 435 The only way of getting about is on snowshoes. 1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship I. xiii. 171 Not even a cab can get about in December for the snow. 1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 654 How nice it must be to be able to get about in cars, omnibuses and railway trains again! 1936 ‘N. Blake’ Thou Shell of Death iii. 51 ‘I'd no idea you knew that girl.’..‘Oh, I get about.’ 1939 T. S. Eliot Family Reunion i. iii. 66 Look at your mother! Except that she can't get about now in winter You wouldn't think that she was a day older Than on her birthday ten years ago. 1952 M. Kennedy Troy Chimneys 41 A fellow who never gets about, but crows on his own dunghill, will contract a boorish suspicion of anyone who knows more than he does. 1973 D. Clement & I. La Frenais Porridge: Scripts (2002) Pilot Episode. 20/1 Barrowclough. Anyhow, I'm a bit of all sorts. Scots, English, Irish... Polish—Fletcher. She got about a bit your mother. 2002 Kitesurf (Internat. ed.) Feb. 77/5 It was originally..designed so that you could get about easily. to get abroad †1. transitive (chiefly reflexive). To take oneself out of a house or one's home; to get out. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 107 He gate him abroade and prated thereof at large. a1594 R. Greenham Second Pt. Wks. (1600) xlviii. 270 Hee should get him abroade, and shew himselfe to the world. 1711 Disguise I. 244 You would better please your mistress by contriving to get us abroad,..for we want to call on Miss Edmonds. 1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. xix. 439 Hence—get thee abroad,..or soon..we will thrust thee forth. 2. a. intransitive. Of a rumour, a report, etc.: to become current. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (intransitive)] > spread or be current springOE spreadc1300 to go abouta1325 quicka1400 risea1400 runa1400 walkc1400 stir1423 voice1429 fly1480 to go abroad1513 to come abroad1525 wandera1547 divulge1604 to get abroad1615 to take aira1616 to make (also do) the rounds1669 to get about1740 reach1970 1615 R. Hamor True Disc. Present Estate Virginia To Rdr. sig. A3^v That they [sc. these particulars] are got abroade and become publike, was no purpose in their first conception. 1660 A. Marvell Corr. in Wks. (1875) II. 40 The last of December here was an ugly false report got abroad, that his Majesty was stabb'd. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 When such Things get abroad. 1779 Coxheath-Camp II. xxxvi. 145 What a noise the affair would make, if it was to get abroad! 1825 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Wks. (1859) I. 32 Should the idea get abroad..it will damp the minds of the people. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. viii. 327 As soon as the questions got abroad, a form of answer..was circulated all over the kingdom. 1885 Manch. Examiner 6 Nov. 5/2 A suspicion has got abroad that they are meditating a reimposition of the tax on corn. 1901 A. Menzies Earliest Gospel 78 But his return is not a secret long; the report soon gets abroad that he is in the house. 1946 W. L. Sperry Relig. in Amer. vi. 102 Meanwhile unpleasant stories began to get abroad about the luxurious life which King Benjamin was living in ‘Shiloh Palace’. 2000 K. Chase & M. H. Levenson Spectacle of Intimacy ix. 188 The question for the partisans of respectability was how to tame the demon that had got abroad. †b. transitive. To make public or generally known. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (transitive)] sowc888 blowc1275 dispeple1297 to do abroadc1300 fame1303 publyc1350 defamea1382 publisha1382 open?1387 proclaima1393 slandera1400 spreada1400 abroachc1400 throwc1400 to give outa1425 promote?a1425 noisec1425 publicc1430 noisec1440 divulgea1464 to put outc1475 skail1487 to come out witha1500 bruit1525 bruita1529 to bear out1530 divulgate1530 promulgate1530 propale?1530 ventilate1530 provulgate1535 sparple1536 sparse1536 promulge1539 disperse1548 publicate1548 forthtell1549 hurly-burly?1550 propagate1554 to set abroada1555 utter1561 to set forth1567 blaze1570 evulgate1570 scatter1576 rear?1577 to carry about1585 pervulgate1586 celebrate?1596 propalate1598 vent1602 evulge1611 to give forth1611 impublic1628 ventilate1637 disseminate1643 expose1644 emit1650 to put about1664 to send abroad1681 to get abroad1688 to take out1697 advertise1710 forward1713 to set abouta1715 circulate1780 broadcast1829 vent1832 vulgate1851 debit1879 float1883 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 To get a Thing abroad, to publish it. to get across 1. a. intransitive. To reach the other side of an intervening space or obstacle. ΚΠ 1851 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin in National Era 24 July 118/1 I jumped right on to the ice, and how I got across I don't know. 1880 Colburn's United Service Mag. May 52 The news got across to the Zulus in less than an hour. 1902 F. Lynde Master of Appleby xlviii. 523 And so swimming and wading by turns we got across in time to give the alarum. 1995 Leisureways Nov. 24/2 To get across to the Port you board a free ferry. b. transitive. To convey to the other side of an intervening space or obstacle. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > [verb (transitive)] > across overcarrya1382 to set overc1540 to put over1569 to take over1573 traject1635 put1636 cross1804 to pass over1832 to get across1909 1909 Chatterbox 62/2 They were strong, thick planks, not likely to sag in the middle, if I could only get them across. 1943 Coast to Coast 1942 29 Might be he lose his leg if we don't get him across right away to the quack. 1985 J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (1999) I. 4th Ser. Christmas Special 273 Well then how in God's name did you expect to get us across to Holland? 2. Originally Theatre. a. transitive. To convey (words, a message, etc.) so that they are understood or appreciated. Originally and frequently with it as indefinite object. ΚΠ 1911 Field Notes (Northwestern Mutual Life Assurance Co.) June 1/2 Stage people have a phrase that clearly expresses the matter. However good a line may be, however fraught with meaning, it falls flat if the actor fails to ‘get it across’. 1917 R. Kipling Diversity of Creatures 190 Tell a fellow now, did I get it across? 1918 Proc. Ann. Session Wisconsin Teachers' Assoc. 1917 149 In some way they must learn to get their ideas across. 1927 Observer 16 Oct. 15/3 The lower comedy is at present in the making, but Miss B. C., Mr. E. M. and Mr. L. H. are experts at getting it across. 1975 Times 23 Aug. 4/7 Mrs Ford..makes it plain she gets her views across to Mr Ford in what she calls ‘Pillow talk’. 1999 W. Gibson All Tomorrow's Parties xix. 80 The sheer crunch required to get it across. b. intransitive. Of something performed or written: to be conveyed so as to be understood or appreciated by an audience. Also: (of the person communicating) to convey a message, emotion, impression, etc., so as to be understood or appreciated. Also with to. ΘΚΠ society > communication > [verb (intransitive)] communique?1473 communicate1598 correspond1605 talk1705 connect1750 to get across1913 liaise1928 network1980 society > communication > [verb (intransitive)] > successfully to get across1913 to get over1918 connect1942 to come over1946 communicate1959 1913 J. B. Esenwein & A. Leeds Writing Photoplay 24 It is sometimes said that an effect, a bit of business, or an emotion which an actor is endeavoring to portray, ‘will not register’, meaning that it will not ‘get across’ or be understood by the audience in the way intended by the producer. 1921 Sat. Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 14/2 Some vitality that may be as far away as you like from lifelikeness..but nevertheless gets across to the reader from the writer. 1923 U. L. Silberrad Lett. Jean Armiter vi. 148 Sorry—my fault—one fails to get across. 1928 Observer 1 Apr. 6 His verse..in spite of all the efforts of his friends and admirers..has not really ‘got across’ eleven years after his death. 1941 N. Farson Behind God's Back iii. 42 If you can't talk to us, you can't ‘get across’ to us, can you? And so you can't impose your ideas upon us. 2010 Church Times 28 May 25/3 Only the failure of traditionalists to be sufficiently Anselmian in their arguments about this stops the message from getting across. to get again transitive. Originally: to recover, get back (now rare). Subsequently: to obtain a second time. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > again or back acovera1225 covera1300 gain-covera1300 to get againc1380 recovera1387 becoverc1400 recounsel?a1425 recurea1425 win1489 redeem1526 readept1537 rehave1541 recuperate1542 regain1548 reobtain1579 retire1584 reget1585 to get back1587 retrieve1589 reprise1590 reprocure1590 reattain1595 relieve1596 recompassc1604 reacquire1627 reacquist1635 recruit1656 c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 2872 (MED) Hast þou gode chere þy faire tour to gete aȝan wyþ-oute any where. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vi. 106 Þus maihtou leosen his loue..Bote gete hit aȝeyn bi grace. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8677 Bot moght i neuer gete hider til, Mi child a-gain. c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 206 (MED) The flesh shal first be roten and neewe geten ayen at the general assemblee. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 91^v Then the grekes agayne geton þere hertes And myche comford kaght of his come þen. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxviij^v It was to her declared, how that kyng Edward had gotten again the garland. 1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 47 When he had gotten his Roll again. View more context for this quotation 1754 E. Kimber Hist. Life & Adventures Mr. Anderson 185 The next day [he] borrowed five hundred of my thousand livres, which I could never get again. 1846 J. H. Ingraham Lady of Gulf iii. 21 A man's life should not be weighed against gold—no, not even fifty thousand worth of it. Gold may be got again; but life, never. 1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 25 Can't you see I'm as anxious to get that statue again as ever you can be? 1919 E. R. Turner Ireland & Eng. viii. 296 Meanwhile the Celtic inhabitants obtained..assistance from the state for getting again the land once lost by their fathers. 1950 B. Mussey tr. F. Molnar Compan. in Exile ii. 21 The favorite coat shrank so that she could not get it on. She sent it back. She waited, got it again, but it was never the same afterward. 2011 S. F. Dunham Beyond Schizophrenia ii. 10 You'll never get the chance again to have this freedom. Once you are in the work force, your employer owns you! to get ahead 1. intransitive. To make progress, meet with success. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress furtherc1200 profit1340 to go alongc1400 to get forward1523 advance1577 proceedc1592 to take or make strides1600 to get on1655 to get along1768 to get ahead1807 to be well away1821 to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923 ramp1980 1807 R. Southey in J. W. Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) II. 190 I have better hopes than I ever yet had of getting ahead. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 136 Bullies are cowards, and one coward makes many; so good-bye to the School-house match if bullying gets ahead here. 1909 A. C. Rice Mr. Opp 30 Have you been putting up cash all this time..Is that why you have never gotten ahead? 1973 B. Rubens Go tell Lemming (1991) iv. 51 He had no grievance against those who got ahead with less talent than himself. 2006 D. Trussoni Falling through Earth (2007) xiv. 252 Working double-time is the only way you'll get ahead in this world. 2. intransitive. Originally U.S. With of. a. To move so as to be in advance of (a person or thing). Frequently figurative.to get ahead of oneself: see ahead adv., prep., and adj. Phrases 3. ΚΠ 1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 385 I was working, all the time, to get ahead of Edith. 1834 Jeffersonian (N.Y.) 13 Aug. 2/2 You'll have a big row to hoe, if you get ahead of us next fall. 1874 J. Blackwood Let. 29 Feb. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1956) VI. 225 From the states you have of Middlemarch you will see that Deronda has already got ahead of its great predecessor. 1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 11/1 Lashed together and propelled by the outside oars, the two boats shot off in a circular course to get ahead of the fish. 1955 W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston 173 Any attempt to fudge or finagle or to get ahead of the other fellow will be recognized by the judge for what it is. 2003 BusinessWeek 27 Oct. 50/1 Specialists..get ahead of the pack by buying or selling shares for their own accounts. b. To clear oneself from (a debt). ΚΠ 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 380/2 There are many who have incurred a tally debt, and have never been able to ‘get a-head of it’, but have been kept poor by it all their lives. 1917 U. Sinclair King Coal iv. 366 In the year and more that he had worked, faithfully and persistently, to get out coal for Peter Harrigan, he had never once been able to get ahead of his bill for the necessities of life at Old Peter's store. 1983 L. R. Miller & K. Gilman Horses at Work 134 Their energies were spent to pay the enormous principal and interest to the bank. They were never able to get ahead of their debt. 2011 Herald Sun (Austral.) (Nexis) 22 Sept. (Business section) 57 The vast majority of those borrowers who report feeling stressed over their mortgage..are keeping up payments, with 41 per cent getting ahead of their repayments in the past year. to get along 1. intransitive. a. To proceed, progress, advance. Also (frequently in the progressive): to depart, go on one's way, get going. Also formerly: †to go in company with. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > move along [verb (intransitive)] goeOE lithec900 nimOE fare971 shakeOE strikea1000 gangOE gengOE seekc1000 glidea1275 wevec1300 hove1390 drevea1400 sway?a1400 wainc1540 discoursea1547 yede1563 trot1612 to get along1683 locomove1792 locomote1831 1683 F. C. Ph. tr. Crafty Lady 118 The Major,..seeing her so much moved, gets along with her into the room, offers to comfort her. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 19 I have only just set out upon my travels; and shall learn better manners as I get along. 1797 R. Proud Hist. Pennsylvania II. App. Pt. ii. 73 They surrounded me with drawn knives in their hands, in such a manner, that I could hardly get along. 1832 W. Cobbett Let. 7 Oct. in Tour in Scotl. (1833) 74 I must get along; beginning to feel devilishly home-sick since I left Newcastle. 1839 New World 2 Nov. 4/3 It is so everlasting slippy out, I cood n't get along no how, every step I took forrard, I went two steps backward. 1889 C. L. Pirkis At Moment of Victory III. x. 158 She gets along faster in the wind than Havelock. 1897 B. Harte Three Partners vi. 271 I must be getting along... I've got to catch a train at Three Boulders Station. 1921 S. K. Aiyangar S. India & her Muhammadan Invaders vi. 161 They preferred to get along through forest tracts by secret path-ways. 1969 I. Murdoch Bruno's Dream xxii. 189 ‘You're drunk, aren't you.’ ‘Yes. Now I really must be getting along’. 1977 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Mar. 1331/2 I..got along slowly with two sticks. 2007 Z. Roos Sea Spray & Cherry Peppers 94 When three of the six weeks had passed and Daniel could get along on crutches, Stuurman received his first disability pension. b. In imperative. Go away. Chiefly in get along with you (formerly also figurative ‘stop it, be quiet’). colloquial (somewhat archaic). ΚΠ 1732 H. Baker & J. Miller tr. Molière Amphitryon iii. 129 in Sel. Comedies VII Get along, my dear Friend, take my Word for't, no body minds you here. 1785 J. O'Keeffe Peeping Tom of Coventry i. 14 Mayor. Get along with you..drives the two men out. a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 331 Get along, you horned thing. 1834 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 10 May 120/2 ‘Get along, you old Scotch fool,’ cried the clerk. 1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xiv. 135 ‘Get along with you, you wretch,’ said the hand-maiden, obviously not ill pleased with the compliment, however. 1879 J. R. Planché King Charming ii. ii. 117 You wish to see the King! a slut like you! Go, get along with you, you hussy, do! 1906 M. Merington Captain Lettarblair iii. i. 169 Polly Is he young and handsome? Let's ask him to join us. Seton Certainly not!—Get along with you. 1923 J. Colton & C. Randolph Rain i. 7 Get along, you scamps. 1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse xxiii. 306 Now get along with you, and don't let me hear of your using that filthy word again! 2004 D. Frye tr. J. J. F. de Lizardi Mangy Parrot 345 Get along with you, off to your gentlemen friends with their capes and their cloaks, and don't set foot in here again until you can bring a peso to gamble. 2. intransitive. a. Originally U.S. To get on, fare (well, ill); to succeed, find no insurmountable difficulties; to manage, esp. without something. Cf. to get on at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)] wadec1374 passc1387 proceeda1393 followa1400 to pass ona1400 to get forward1523 pace1597 step1599 to get on1655 to get along1768 to tide one's way1827 to come along1844 press1870 the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed or be a success [verb (intransitive)] speedc1175 fayc1300 provec1300 flourishc1400 passc1425 prosper1434 succeedc1450 to take placea1464 to come well to (our) pass1481 shift?1533 hitc1540 walka1556 fadge1573 thrive1587 work1599 to come (good) speedc1600 to go off1608 sort1613 go1699 answer1721 to get along1768 to turn up trumps1785 to come off1854 pan1865 scour1871 arrive1889 to work out1899 to ring the bell1900 to go over1907 click1916 happen1949 the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress furtherc1200 profit1340 to go alongc1400 to get forward1523 advance1577 proceedc1592 to take or make strides1600 to get on1655 to get along1768 to get ahead1807 to be well away1821 to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923 ramp1980 1768 J. Parsons Funeral Serm. 12 God not only bro't him into great inward and outward Distress, but left him friendless, alone to get along as he could. 1831 F. Trollope Domest. Manners Amer. (1832) I. iii. 32 I was then new to the Western America, and unaccustomed to their mode of ‘getting along’, as they term it. 1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing xvii. 81 I wish you'd write me..whether you think I could get along with the business [of Governorship]. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xvi. 261 But she'll get along in heaven better than you or I. 1868 C. Dickens Let. 28 Feb. (2002) XII. 63 Some of those halls turn out to be smaller than represented, but I have no doubt, to use an American expression, that we shall ‘get along’. 1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 145 You are wanted there, and we can get along without you! 1922 C. S. Parker Working with Working Woman vi. 185 Bridget, the dear old soul, came down that afternoon to see how I was getting along. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 June 27/8 We could get along for a month on what a modern kid might receive from his parents for one Saturday night fling. 1971 R. Allen Suedehead xv. 106 The hell with you and the Marylebone Martyrs… I'll get along on my tod. 2004 D. Braybrooke Utilitarianism iii. v. 152 People can't get along without shelter any more than they can get along without food, can they? b. To agree, act, or live harmoniously with (a person). Also: (of more than one person) to agree, act, or live harmoniously with one another (frequently with together). Cf. to get on 8 at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb] > act or live harmoniously together to get along1805 1805 Echo 4 Mar. 169 To meet with squatters of a different race, With whom, perhaps, possess'd of better right, We cannot get along unless we fight. 1875 B. L. Farjeon Love's Victory xi You and Mr. Barton do not seem to get along well together. 1881 London Society June 611/2 Each seemed so desperately anxious to make the other pleased. They got along like a house on fire. 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 501/2 If they wished to get along well with him they must let him have his own way. 1937 Life 13 Sept. 18/1 (advt.) Glass and steel don't get along together. Heat and cold make them expand and contract at different rates. 1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 13/2 I get along pretty good with my parents most of the time, but the thing we don't get along too good about is school. 2005 Vanity Fair Jan. 149/2 Despite our different viewpoints, we still got along like a house on fire. to get around 1. intransitive. a. Esp. of news, a report, etc.: to go round, to circulate. Chiefly U.S. ΘΚΠ society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] > travel about or visit many places runeOE to go aboutc1300 passc1400 discur1557 dispace1588 perambulate1607 to get about1776 to go around1796 to get around1798 circulate1848 society > leisure > social event > [verb (intransitive)] > participate in social events show1631 racket1650 to go into society1788 to get around1798 socialize1841 butterfly1855 circulate1856 1798 W. Ridgeway Rep. Proc. in Cases of High Treason, 148 After a small interval from the first enaction of any law in Great Britain, the dreams of fancy get around, and the law is lost in the mass of absurd comment. 1834 W. P. Hawes Legend Brick-house Creek in Atlantic Club-bk. I. 306 The report soon got around that Jaac had had an interview with old Colonel Tom. 1935 Fortune Aug. 60/1 The report got around that the town of Baguio..was built upon great veins of gold-bearing ore. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 60/2 The news got around fast. 2004 S. Mehta Maximum City 438 Word got around in the small town that they were having some sort of affair. b. To move about (originally esp. after incapacitation: cf. to get about 2a at Phrasal verbs 1), to travel about. Also: to go out socially a great deal; to have numerous intimate relationships. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > move [verb (intransitive)] stira1000 icchec1175 wag?c1225 movea1325 routa1325 to-wawea1375 removea1400 sway?a1400 trotc1430 ayrec1440 quinch1511 walk1533 twitch1542 shift1595 jee1727 to get around1849 society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] nimeOE becomec885 teec888 goeOE i-goc900 lithec900 wendeOE i-farec950 yongc950 to wend one's streetOE fare971 i-wende971 shakeOE winda1000 meteOE wendOE strikec1175 seekc1200 wevec1200 drawa1225 stira1225 glidea1275 kenc1275 movec1275 teemc1275 tightc1275 till1297 chevec1300 strake13.. travelc1300 choosec1320 to choose one's gatea1325 journeyc1330 reachc1330 repairc1330 wisec1330 cairc1340 covera1375 dressa1375 passa1375 tenda1375 puta1382 proceedc1392 doa1400 fanda1400 haunta1400 snya1400 take?a1400 thrilla1400 trace?a1400 trinea1400 fangc1400 to make (also have) resortc1425 to make one's repair (to)c1425 resort1429 ayrec1440 havea1450 speer?c1450 rokec1475 wina1500 hent1508 persevere?1521 pursuec1540 rechec1540 yede1563 bing1567 march1568 to go one's ways1581 groyl1582 yode1587 sally1590 track1590 way1596 frame1609 trickle1629 recur1654 wag1684 fadge1694 haul1802 hike1809 to get around1849 riddle1856 bat1867 biff1923 truck1925 1849 Prairie Du Chien (Wisconsin) Patriot 28 Nov. 3/6 (advt.) Hearing of your Ointment..I went and got a box, and applied it according to directions...I have..used it on a cow that had the Hollow Horn so bad that she could not get around without help...Five applications restored her to perfect health. 1867 J. Carroll Case & his Cotemporaries I. ii. 77 In many places there were trees fallen across the path, which made it difficult in getting around in deep snow. 1886 Railway Conductors' Monthly Nov. 657 Bro. Sam Phipps..has been on the sick list for the past week or so, but I understand he is getting around once more. 1916 C. J. Marshall Diary 6 Apr. in Gen. Mag. & Hist. Chron. (Univ. Pennsylvania) Apr. (1942) 317 It is much harder to get things or to get around here than it is in London. 1921 Northeastern Reporter 131 666/1 He gradually grew weaker, and his ability to get around diminished until he was unable to get around unassisted for the last month or six weeks of his life. 1928 Amer. Speech 3 219 Get around, to..have many desirable dates. ‘Mary Jane sure did get around last semester.’ 1958 R. Galton & A. Simpson Hancock's Half-hour (1987) 121 He gets around doesn't he?..You wouldn't think he'd attract women with a hooter like that. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Mar. 159/3 Still, Mr. Donnelly has got around... He makes his way to places like Tashkent, Samarkand and Alma Ata. 2011 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 May 16/4 I..clamber aboard a 1956 Oldsmobile that, despite its veteran status, is the kind of vehicle most people use to get around. 2. intransitive. To pass from one place to another by a roundabout or circuitous route. Now rare. ΚΠ 1817 Monthly Mag. July 526/2 They succeeded, however, after much difficulty, in getting around to the bay opposite to their ships, where other boats were sent to their relief. 1875 E. P. Roe From Jest to Earnest xxvi. 365 No, we have not time, the tide is running very swiftly. The ice would close on us before we could get around. 1904 Horseless Age 5 Oct. 349/2 At another washout we could not get around, and had to hunt up some planks and run on them over a break in the road. 2006 S. M. Stirling Meeting at Corvallis xviii. 470 You told me that you didn't think the Mackenzies could get around north of you. 3. intransitive. With to: to succeed in finding the time, energy, or inclination for (doing something); = to get round 3 at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > do [verb (transitive)] > come to the point of doing to get around1852 to get round1873 1852 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 24 Mar. Well! Well! our democratic friends will get around to the good old doctrine of the second Adams and all Whigs since his time, after much tribulation and twisting. 1887 M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 35 There has been a good many things I haven't got around to. 1930 C. Ward Dutch & Swedes on Delaware 117 Although he had not yet got around to proselyting the Indians..the energy of this man-mountain had been effectively utilized. 1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 9 Oct. 7/3 They tended to get rubbed out before he got around to it. 2004 A. McCall Smith Sunday Philos. Club xviii. 199 She'll get around to forgiving you in due course, but it will be easier if you've left the door open. to get away 1. intransitive. a. To escape; to succeed in departing. In recent use also with the implication of going on holiday. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [verb (intransitive)] atfareOE atcomec1220 atstertc1220 atrouta1250 ascape1250 astart1250 atblenchc1275 scapec1275 aschapec1300 fleec1300 ofscapea1325 escapec1330 overfleea1382 to get awaya1400 slipa1400 starta1400 skiftc1440 eschewc1450 withstartec1460 rida1470 chape1489 to flee (one's) touch?1515 evadea1522 betwynde?1534 to make out1558 outscape1562 outslip1600 to come off1630 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7902 (MED) In batail sua he suld be sette, þat he awai suld neuer gette. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiv. 223 The lordis war gottin all avay. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job i. 17 The Caldees..haue..slayne the seruauntes with the swearde: and I only am gotten awaye, to tell the. 1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 2174/1 Ere euer I could arise and get away, he was come in with me. 1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 131 David..had leisure enough to get away whilest the Kings messengers were so deceived. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 309 They also fasten them..that, in case they should break or slip their Halters, they may not get away. 1706 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. to North xxi. 209 A drunken Bout at parting, without which there's no getting away from a House in Russia. 1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 15 They escap'd from the City, as from a Prison, and got away into the Country. 1775 S. Johnson Let. 8 Apr. (1992) II. 197 When shall I come down to you? I believe I can get away pretty early in May. 1818 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 33 13 He came out of the Tower, or, rather, got away out of it somehow or other. 1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 30 Mar. (1955) VI. 235 We want very much to get away, but I fear we shall hardly be able to start till the end of May. 1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 56 All our party was glad to get away. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlvi. 228 He was in a hurry to get away. The mustiness of the room made his head ache. 1961 E. R. Curtis Season in Utopia iv. 127 The older man, himself in a state of spiritual dissatisfaction, understood Isaac's need to get away by himself. 1987 P. Lively Moon Tiger x. 130 You ought to get away for a bit... You must be run-down. 2008 C. Clark Hangman Blind (2009) 286 I'll be watching, waiting, following. You'll never get away. The fields have eyes. b. In imperative. Also in get away with you (now rare). (a) Go away, be off; = to get along 1b at Phrasal verbs 1. Also with from, sometimes as a warning or caution. ΚΠ 1600 Looke about You sig. K4^v Ley. Is that your busines? Red. I by my t t troth is it. Hen. Then get away. 1783 Double Conspiracy ii. 23 Bet.Get away;—I'll tell Father on you. 1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. vii. 135 Take whatever you like, and get away . View more context for this quotation 1828 Punch & Judy i. i. 77 Toby, you're one nasty cross dog: get away with you! 1859 A. L. Elwyn Gloss. Supposed Americanisms 80 ‘Get away, you nasty fellow!’ may be heard from one of the female sex, who finds one of the male sex somewhat too importunate or familiar. 1886 App. Jrnl. House of Representatives Ohio 82 157 You get away from here, damn you, or I will knock the shit out of you. 1900 K. L. Bates Spanish Highways & Byways vii. 101 Children sing insulting verses after him in the street, especially that pious ditty:—‘Get away with you, Protestants, Out of our Catholic Spain.’ 1935 H. Heslop Last Cage Down ii. x. 253 ‘Get away!’ snapped Bill, wearying of the argument. ‘Go on, get out-bye before I lose me temper.’ 1997 A. Smith Like (2001) 272 Get away from those canal banks Aisling McCarthy or I'll tell your father on you. 1999 C. Grimshaw Provocation xvi. 263 He stood at the kitchen window starring at me. I moved towards him and he held up his hand. ‘Get away,’ he said. (b) colloquial (chiefly British). As an expression of astonishment or incredulity: ‘go on’, you don't say (so). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressions of disbelief [interjection] to go toc1275 in good timea1470 Walker1811 to get off1818 this beats my grandmother1819 to go on1835 your granny!1837 to get away1847 I ask you1855 great guns!1875 sure1907 oh yeah1927 Aunt Fanny1928 go 'long1974 to sod off1976 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection] whatOE well, wellOE avoyc1300 ouc1300 ay1340 lorda1393 ahaa1400 hillaa1400 whannowc1450 wow1513 why?1520 heydaya1529 ah1538 ah me!a1547 fore me!a1547 o me!a1547 what the (also a) goodyear1570 precious coals1576 Lord have mercy (on us)1581 good heavens1588 whau1589 coads1590 ay me!1591 my stars!a1593 Gods me1595 law1598 Godso1600 to go out1600 coads-nigs1608 for mercy!a1616 good stars!1615 mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616 gramercy1617 goodness1623 what next?1662 mon Dieu1665 heugh1668 criminy1681 Lawd1696 the dickens1697 (God, etc.) bless my heart1704 alackaday1705 (for) mercy's sake!1707 my1707 deuce1710 gracious1712 goodly and gracious1713 my word1722 my stars and garters!1758 lawka1774 losha1779 Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784 great guns!1795 mein Gott1795 Dear me!1805 fancy1813 well, I'm sure!1815 massy1817 Dear, dear!1818 to get off1818 laws1824 Mamma mia1824 by crikey1826 wisha1826 alleleu1829 crackey1830 Madonna mia1830 indeed1834 to go on1835 snakes1839 Jerusalem1840 sapristi1840 oh my days1841 tear and ages1841 what (why, etc.) in time?1844 sakes alive!1846 gee willikers1847 to get away1847 well, to be sure!1847 gee1851 Great Scott1852 holy mackerel!1855 doggone1857 lawsy1868 my wig(s)!1871 gee whiz1872 crimes1874 yoicks1881 Christmas1882 hully gee1895 'ullo1895 my hat!1899 good (also great) grief!1900 strike me pink!1902 oo-er1909 what do you know?1909 cripes1910 coo1911 zowiec1913 can you tie that?1918 hot diggety1924 yeow1924 ziggety1924 stone (or stiffen) the crows1930 hullo1931 tiens1932 whammo1932 po po po1936 how about that?1939 hallo1942 brother1945 tie that!1948 surprise1953 wowee1963 yikes1971 never1974 to sod off1976 whee1978 mercy1986 yipes1989 1804 J. Kenney Matrimony ii. 38 Cla. Don't you believe me? See then my solicitude, my tears! O'Clog. (aside) Faith if I do, you'll see mine too.—aloud Get away with you. 1834 W. A. Caruthers Cavaliers of Virginia I. ix. 124 Oh! get away wid your blarney, says I, you're safe now as the Governor's old bull wid the short tail and the shambles on two of his legs. 1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxii. 190 ‘Don't trifle with her affections, you Don Juan!’ ‘Get away,’ said Jos Sedley, quite pleased. 1927 W. S. Maugham in Nash's & Pall Mall Mag. June 94/3 ‘Annie and I have decided to get married too.’ Annie received this announcement with a gurgled ‘Oh, get away with you!’ 1960 H. Pinter Dumb Waiter 124 Ben. The lorry started and ran over him. Gus. Go on! Ben. That's what it says here. Gus. Get away. 1969 ‘D. Cory’ Night Hawk 16 ‘Do you speak Spanish?’ ‘Of course I do. I am Spanish.’ ‘Get away.’ ‘I am. I can prove it.’ 1982 J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (1999) I. 2nd Ser. Episode 7. 121 Lady R. It's mostly Dresden. And that particular piece is worth several hundred pounds. Del. Is it really? Gawd, get away. 2003 C. Birch Turn again Home xx. 244 ‘I missed you,’ she said. ‘I cry for you every day.’‘Get away!’ he said softly. c. to get away with. (a) To do (something) with impunity or (in recent use) without encountering a possible setback. Frequently in to get away with it: to succeed in what one tries; to act without being detected or punished. to get away with murder: to get away with anything; to do whatever one wishes. ΚΠ 1669 G. Hutcheson Expos. Job xxiv. 508 It is a friendly act to wish that men do not get away with their faults. 1864 Amer. War (Soc. promoting Cessation of Hostilities Amer.) 11/1 He and his brother will leave here (if they can get away with it) immensely rich in spoils of other people's property. 1874 J. Miller Unwritten Hist.: Life amongst Modocs (new ed.) vi. 95 Bet you the cigars, I don't! Whenever my man comes to the centre, I will call him, see if I don't, and get away with it, too. 1914 N.Y. Times 9 May 7/2 Jake, you're getting away with murder here. 1923 A. Huxley Antic Hay x. 145 He had no sense of time or of order. But he got away with it, as he liked to say. 1939 Chatelaine Sept. 19/2 Usually she's young enough and amusing enough to ‘get away with murder’. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 12 He would sometimes say of the ways of the Army in pay and supply and the use of ‘man-hours’: ‘They couldn't get away with that in business.’ 1958 Times Oct. 3/3 A film set in Ireland and relying upon whimsical comedy can get away, if not with murder, at least with weaknesses. 1968 Listener 8 Aug. 164/3 Nobody can quite believe that Mr Dubcek is being allowed to get away with it. 1974 D. Goines Daddy Cool xii. 163 Seething with anger, the burly man gained control. ‘You punks will never get away with this shit. I guess you realize that, don't you?’ 1981 Pop. Photogr. Feb. 114/2 Sometimes you can get away with moving an arm or leg. 2011 Independent 25 Oct. 27/4 Eating a fruitarian diet would allow him to get away with bathing just once a week. (b) colloquial (originally U.S.). To carry off successfully; to succeed in winning or stealing. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > make a success of [verb (transitive)] > manage to secure (a result) > succeed in winning or stealing to get away with1873 1873 B. Harte Mliss xxxviii. 111 At billiards he beat the sporting men whom miners always like to see beaten, and in sporting parlance ‘got away’ with large sums of their coin. 1886 Boston Jrnl. 18 Dec. 2/4 They got away with the pennant three successive seasons. 1892 Congress. Rec. 13 Dec. 122/2 [These gentlemen] will have to be content with the pitiful $240,000 that they have already ‘got away with’. 1928 Observer 25 Mar. 14 Some of the artists may be able, as the phrase goes, to ‘get away with the swag’. 1952 M. Huxley Let. in N. Murray Aldous Huxley (2003) ix. 114 An upstart little refugee getting away with the prize of the artistic English world. 1996 G. B. Tangwa I spit on their Graves (2010) 135 From the moment Cameroonians let him get away with the trophy of the October 11^th 1992 presidential elections, he knew he could get away with anything. (c) U.S. slang. To get the better of, to beat in a contest. ΚΠ 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds ii. 41 More'n once the robbers would tackle some gritty man that was handy with his ‘barkers’, an' he'd get away with two or three of 'em. 1887 A. A. Hayes Jesuit's Ring 227 The boys got away with the..road agents. 1908 Dial. Notes 3 314 You can't get away with me. 1931 T. Dreiser Dawn lxviii. 386 She's very cute and sweet all right, but she's got to do business or quit. If I don't get away with her, I'll let you know. 2005 M. Lauria & L. F. Mirón Urban Schools iv. 79 They'll make sure you don't get away with them like you got away with the next person. d. Usually with a negative. To disregard or escape from (a fact, implication, etc.).Frequently in there is no getting away from. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > ignoring, disregard > ignore, disregard [verb (transitive)] > escape the attention of overpass1535 overslip1574 overscape1581 fly?1611 slip1653 to get away1811 miss1880 1811 Adviser Dec. 358/1 The boy's question gave him great disturbance. He tried to fling it out of his mind, but was by no means able to get away from it. 1845 Southern Lit. Messenger Sept. 523/1 A labored effort to get away from the New Testament endorsement of the principle [of slavery], so far as permissibility is concerned. 1912 T. Dreiser Financier lvii. 601 A jail is a jail; and there is no getting away from that. 1930 A. Christie Murder at Vicarage xi. 84 It's his pistol—you can't get away from that. 1974 H. S. Thompson Let. 21–24 Feb. in Fear & Loathing in Amer. (2000) 586 There is no way to get away from names and personalities in any serious talk about the '76 election. 2000 S. McKay Northern Protestants 21 She said what we were was bred into us and there was no getting away from it. e. Of a plant: to start growing vigorously or well. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by growth or development > grow or vegetate [verb (intransitive)] > grow or increase in size waxc897 growa1000 to get away1813 to grow up1840 to grow away1933 1813 A. Murray Gen. View Agric. County Warwick 92 Another management of a wheat crop by other farmers, is to harrow and roll the ground, if battered and bound, and the plants appear not to get away. 1832 C. Don Gen. Hist. Dichlamydeous Plants II. 314/1 Instead of benefitting the ground, they [sc. beans] were of detriment to it, for weeds got away on the outset, and in dry seasons often ruined the crop. 1913 Bull. Misc. Information (Royal Bot. Gardens, Kew) 126 At Avondale the young plantations have to get away from a thick mat of grass. 1957 Jrnl. Royal Hort. Soc. 82 370 If the ground is broken into rubble the roots can get away and the plant will flourish. 1960 F. C. Stern Chalk Garden xv. 163 It is advisable to put them in as small plants as they get away much quicker than large plants. 2001 B. Law Woodland Way iv. 68 Wild cherry, alder and rowan get away particularly well. f. Hunting and Horse Racing. To start, to set off (briskly). ΚΠ 1823 Manch. Guardian 20 Sept. It appears there were three false starts, and that on the fourth 23 horses got away, leaving four behind. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. ii Exhaust, therefore, all your knowledge of woodcraft to get away on good terms with the hounds. 1889 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 11 Dec. 2/5 All the horses got away very prettily and Prince Beauclerk soon pulled away from the crowd. 1948 Life 21 June 32 (caption) Dewey, Taft and Stassen will get away fast, but watch out for Dark Horse Vandenberg on the backstretch. 1999 Dominion (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 27 Dec. 34 I didn't think she had much luck in that race as the first three got away while she was still finding her way out. g. Originally U.S. Of fire: to spread quickly or uncontrolledly; (with from) to get out of the control of a person. ΚΠ 1838 C. W. Dudley Rep. Court of Appeals S. Carolina 1837–8 265 He was in no way privy to the burning, and that the circumstance of the fire getting away, was unintentional and accidental. 1897 L. Lindley-Cowen West Austral. Settler's Guide ii. iv. 232 Every precaution should be taken to prevent the fire getting away, and it is better to burn a strip round the fences first in order to obviate this as far as possible. 1906 Rep. Royal N.-W. Mounted Police 1905 i. 22 A Mennonite farmer near Herbert..was burning the grass..when the fire got away from him. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 295/1 There would be danger of fires getting away on sunny faces when the vegetation was very dry. 1997 D. Backes Wilderness Within 335 He was burning a brush pile..when the fire got away from him. 2011 A. S. Mathews Instituting Nature v. 138 If people burned without giving notice, if they didn't open up firebreaks and if the fire got away they would be punished. 2. transitive. †a. To get rid of; to shake off (a sickness). Obsolete. ΚΠ a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 2371 (MED) Oft to the lauenders he it sent..the weping spottes in no wise Thei coude with noo craft gete a-way. 1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health lxxxix.103 Let the burning be taken or gotten away with the whyte of an egge, or freshe butter. 1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 34 The season continues so seveere I cannot get away my ill cold nor goe out of the house. 1771 L. Carter Diary 11 Sept. (1965) II. 627 To some after their fevers abate and Puzerys change I give Mercury to get away the worms. b. To take out of safe keeping or from someone's possession; to carry off, steal, appropriate, liberate; (also) to enable to depart. Also reflexive: to make one's escape, get away, depart. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > taking possession > take possession of [verb (transitive)] > appropriate ownOE rimec1275 takec1300 appropre1366 to keep, take to or for one's own storec1385 to get awayc1480 proper1496 apprehenda1522 impropry1526 impropriate1567 carve1578 forestall1581 appropriate1583 propriate1587 pocket1597 impatronize1611 propertya1616 asself1632 appropriatea1634 swallow1637 to swallow up1654 sink1699 poucha1774 spheterize1779 sack1807 fob1818 to look back to1822 mop1861 annex1865 c1480 (a1400) St. George 883 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 201 Men..gat away prywely of his relykis a party. a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 479 Ther myght no man gete hym [sc. a greyhound] away. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 178 The kyng..hade hit goten Paladian the pure god pertly away. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xx. 25 b There was no remedy to get them [prisoners] away, but by great presents. 1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes iii. 27 Taking a little courage to her, she got her speedily away. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 She got away the best Things in the House, elle a soustrait..ce qu'il y avoit de meilleur dans le Logis... He has got away my Customers. 1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 71 Hegh, Hegh, Hegh, the Rogues..have got away my Bag! 1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 319 We could not..do any thing towards endeavouring to get the Vessel away. 1812 S. Randall Miser iii. iv. 38 He must be paid for't, yes yes—I understand—another plot to get away my money, yes yes. 1896 R. Hovey Along Trail (1899) 56 I will up and get me away where the hawk is wheeling, Lone and high. 1925 S. Lewis Arrowsmith (1998) 61 While she gaped with disappointment at his lukewarmness, he got himself away. 1972 R. Adams Watership Down xxxviii. 303 If a patrol finds us before Bigwig comes, it won't be just a matter of getting ourselves away. 2004 C. Feehan Mind Game (2005) 44 There would be more violence and more death before he managed to get her away safely. c. Cricket. To hit (the ball) past the fieldsman, so as to make a run or runs. Also with the bowler as object. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > bat [verb (transitive)] > hit > hit with specific stroke take1578 stop1744 nip1752 block1772 drive1773 cut1816 draw1816 tip1816 poke1836 spoon1836 mow1844 to put up1845 smother1845 sky1849 crump1850 to pick up1851 pull1851 skyrocket1851 swipe1851 to put down1860 to get away1868 smite1868 snick1871 lift1874 crack1882 smack1882 off-drive1888 snip1890 leg1892 push1893 hook1896 flick1897 on-drive1897 chop1898 glance1898 straight drive1898 cart1903 edge1904 tonk1910 sweep1920 mishook1934 middle1954 square-drive1954 tickle1963 square-cut1976 slash1977 splice1982 paddle1986 1868 Baily's Monthly Mag. July 128 The two first-named..exhibited splendid defence; but they could not get the ball away. 1903 C. F. Wood in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket xii. 379 Scoring is out of the question. You may stop the ball as long as your patience lasts, but you can't get it away. 1955 Times 12 May 4/4 Phillips was one of five freshmen to bowl. He is tall and an awkward man to get away by reason of his length. 2008 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 12 June (Sport section) 30 Bowlers pitched a bit shorter, and because he wasn't used to it, he couldn't get the ball away. He didn't last long. to get back 1. a. transitive (reflexive). Originally with uncompounded reflexive pronouns (now archaic). To bring oneself back, bring about one's return; to come back. ΚΠ 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. xxiii. f. cxcix^v They streight waie lefte Emaus.., & with greate spede they gotte them backe again to Hierusalem. a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. xiii. 141 Get thee backe to Cæsar. View more context for this quotation 1835 Reformers' Gaz. 28 Feb. 385 To get himself back again to Parliament. 1862 Temple Bar 5 315 Get you back to your inn, good youth. 1886 G. T. Stokes Ireland & Celtic Church (1888) 128 He got himself back to his beloved Iona. 1974 V. D. Gunderson Island Prisoner 31 ‘I'm not keeping her,’ said Daniel. ‘She got herself here and she can get herself back again. I'll not stop her.’ 2009 Hana Hou! (Hawaiian Airlines) Feb. 102/2 The Beverley Hills pooch has to enlist the help of a motley crew of streetwise animals to get herself back home. b. intransitive. To succeed in returning; to come back. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > return > [verb (intransitive)] to wend againeOE i-cherrec1000 again-chareOE again-comeOE again-fareOE again-goOE eft-sithec1175 to turn againc1175 returna1325 attournec1386 turnc1390 recovera1393 repair?c1400 recourse?a1425 to go backc1425 resortc1425 revertc1475 renew1488 retour?1505 to make return1534 to turn back1538 retend1543 to come short home1548 regress1552 rejourna1556 revolt1567 revolve1587 repeal1596 recur1612 rewend1616 revene1656 to get back1664 to take back1674 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > backward movement > move backwards [verb (intransitive)] > return towards point of departure repaira1325 returna1325 rebounda1382 redounda1382 recovera1393 to go backc1425 revertc1475 renew1488 reverse1542 retire1567 revolve1587 reciprocate1623 retrovert1639 to get back1664 recur1719 hoicks1762 boomerang1900 1664 S. Pepys Diary 22 Nov. (1971) V. 328 They have not victuals to keep them out, and it is likely they will be frozen before they can get back. 1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 22 If any Disgrace..drive any one away, he is never at rest till he get back again. 1771 Trial Atticus before Justice Beau 17 Chucke. Well, Curnal, I've got back again. Justice. So I see; pray where have you been all this time? 1829 M. M. Sherwood Lady of Manor (ed. 3) I. iv. 99 Perhaps you hoped I was got back to England. 1889 Universal Rev. Nov. 360 It was an attempt on the artist's part to get back to nature. 1921 R. Fry Let. 19 Dec. (1972) II. 519 I have just got back to London after my lecture tour in the north of England. 1953 Life 17 Aug. 84/3 ‘Been to Europe, hey?’ a taxi driver said... ‘Must be nice to get back to civilization!’ 1987 B. MacLaverty Great Profundo (1989) 83 ‘I think we'd better be getting back,’ she said. They turned and began to walk towards the car. 2003 R. Herring Talking Cock 208 When we got back to the house, we fell on to the futon and started getting it on. 2. transitive. To succeed in bringing back to oneself or into one's possession; to recover. Cf. to get again at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > again or back acovera1225 covera1300 gain-covera1300 to get againc1380 recovera1387 becoverc1400 recounsel?a1425 recurea1425 win1489 redeem1526 readept1537 rehave1541 recuperate1542 regain1548 reobtain1579 retire1584 reget1585 to get back1587 retrieve1589 reprise1590 reprocure1590 reattain1595 relieve1596 recompassc1604 reacquire1627 reacquist1635 recruit1656 1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. 66/2 King Henrie was about..to recouer and get backe [1577 bring home again] the portions of his kingdome made away and dismembred by his predecessors. 1698 J. Nisbet Some Doubts & Questions in Law 15 The Earl of Newburgh..did intent a pursuit against Sir William, That he might be free of the Residue and get back his Bond. 1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 512 For the maltster to get back eighteen shillings in the advanced price of his malt. View more context for this quotation 1808 E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 161 Another considerable estate..was rattled away in one night; but the good old lord contrived to get it back. 1872 E. A. Freeman Gen. Sketch European Hist. (1874) xiii. §7. 245 Venice got back nearly all that she had lost. 1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 189 Austria got back its hold on Italy. 1921 Amer. Woman Jan. 20/1 (advt.) If after trying the garment on you do not find it exactly as we represent it or you expected it to be, you can return it and get your money back at once. 1957 M. McCarthy C'est le Premier Pas Qui Coûte in Memories of Catholic Girlhood (1981) 122 I would have to get my faith back to put an end to this terrible uncertainty. 2000 M. Barrowcliffe Girlfriend 44 i. 39 How do you think you're going to get her back then?..You treated her like shit, why should she come back? 3. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). to get back at (also now less commonly on): to retort or retaliate upon. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > reciprocal treatment or return of an action > revenge > execute (vengeance) [verb (transitive)] > pay (a person) back to quit or yield (one) his whilec1400 rewardc1400 pay?c1450 requite1534 to pay back1655 to pay off1699 to pay out1849 to get back at (also now less commonly on)1886 1886 J. A. Logan Great Conspiracy 556 Washburne..got back at this part of Mr. Voorhees's speech rather neatly. 1894 Washington Post 2 Mar. 4/6 (heading) Watterson gets back on a critic. 1906 Springfield Weekly Republican 14 June 11 If the President had not been vindictively anxious to ‘get back’ at the packers, he could have accomplished his end effectively. 1907 Daily Chron. 17 Oct. 3/3 You cannot afford to be rude to a journalist. Some day he will get back on you. 1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves ix. 90 A lesser man might easily have snatched at the chance of getting back at me a bit by loosing Cyril into by bedchamber. 1972 Guardian 11 Feb. 1/6 For most of question time..Mr Thorpe tried to get back at the..Prime Minister. 1990 A. Duff Once were Warriors (1995) viii. 95 Jake laughingly got back on Beth for earlier chiding him for his language. 2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 34 Let nobody try to best the guards or the doctors or teachers. They have their own ways of getting back at you. 4. intransitive. British. to get one's own back: to revenge oneself (on someone); to get even. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > reciprocal treatment or return of an action > revenge > take or execute revenge [verb (intransitive)] > be revenged avengec1375 awreak1377 vengec1380 revenge?a1425 to get one's own back1887 1887 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 29 Oct. 2/4 Do you see this? That is [the wound caused by] the pewter pot. I have come to get my own back. 1902 J. Milne Epist. Atkins iv. 63 His one thought how to ‘get his own back’. 1914 G. B. Shaw Pygmalion iv Higgins... You have wounded me to the heart. Liza... I'm glad. I've got a little of my own back. 1920 ‘Ixion’ Motor Cycle Reminisc. 124 Whenever he met me I was able to get my own back. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Feb. 73/4 The clerks..get their own back by unmasking frauds and..having fun with the low standard of French commercial honesty. 1985 I. Murdoch Good Apprentice iii. 513 He had been..made a fool of by Thomas, Stuart, Edward, chance, fate, Midge herself. He would get his own back on them all. 2003 Radio Times 22 Nov. (Midlands ed.) 59/1 The actor took the opportunity to get his own back on his notoriously pernickety friend by making him repeat the scene many times. 5. intransitive. to get back to. a. Of a statement or information: to come to the notice of (the person it concerns). Usually with it as subject and sometimes also with complementary that-clause. ΚΠ 1932 C. Woolrich Manhattan Love Song v. 164 She's in thick with the big mucka-mucks; it'll get back to them in no time—! 1958 Life 27 Oct. 72/2 I am sorry this was said... It got back to Ike very quickly. 1970 L. Rainwater Behind Ghetto Walls x. 320 I don't know how it got back to Pat cause I didn't tell nobody. 1993 Etc Montréal No. 21. 56/2 I also knew it would get back to him and hurt him. 2010 S. Fry Fry Chrons. 317 If it ever got back to me that the designers of a camera or the authors of a new piece of software were weeping because of something cruel I had said. b. To contact (a person) with a response after an interval. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > answer > answer [verb (transitive)] andwurdec885 aqueathOE answerOE swarec1175 respoundc1300 replyc1425 replique1477 reanswer1523 replicate1535 undersay1579 rejoin1581 resolve1586 return1597 repone1614 resounda1617 repart1631 remoot1676 reason1841 to get back to1963 1963 G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover xvi. 237 I asked what he had in mind, and he said he'd get back to me very soon. 1964 Life 20 Nov. 19/2 The producer says, ‘All right, I'll get back to you in a few days.’ 1975 New York Mag. 29 Dec. 64/3 Leave it with me and I'll get back to you at the end of the week. 1988 N. Bissoondath Casual Brutality viii. 174 I've spoken to the travel agent. ‘And?’ ‘And he'll get back to me.’ 2004 A. Hollinghurst Line of Beauty iv. 101 Yeah, got your message... Sorry I didn't get back to you. † to get before Obsolete. intransitive. To move or progress so as to be in advance of others. ΚΠ 1555 J. Heywood Two Hundred Epigrammes with Thyrde sig. C.i The worst is behynde, but the way is not tough: The worst wyll get before ageyne, tyme ynough. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 7 The Boat-men..forbearing ever and anon to row, purposely to let the Ambassadors get before. 1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 52 A Race, In which, both do their uttermost, To get before, and win the Post. 1708 E. Arwaker Truth in Fiction xiii. 210 The young Spark, as nimblest, got before. 1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. vii. xi. 287 Then finally, pellmell, as rear-guard, Flandre, Swiss, Hundred Swiss, other Body-guards, Brigands, whosoever cannot get before. 1862 H. Goldie Dict. Efïk Lang. Abridged at Be To get before in station, wealth, &c.; to become superior; to surpass. to get by colloquial (originally U.S.). 1. intransitive. To pass muster, be acceptable. Also: to get away with. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > quality of being satisfactory > [verb (intransitive)] sufficec1340 doa1450 servec1475 to go down1608 to pass (muster) in a crowd1711 to get by1897 1897 Reliable Poultry Jrnl. Jan. 823/1 These stay-white birds often show..a color that will get by with a cut of one-half point when the judge comes round. 1922 H. Crane Let. 2 Apr. (1965) 83 It has enough in it to ‘get by’ on the first reading with a rather pleasing effect. 1926 S.P.E. Tract (Soc. for Pure Eng.) No. XXIV. 122 That chap could get by with murder. 1930 F. A. Pottle Stretchers 38 We had to stand general inspection... Our frozen overcoats stood rigidly out like garments stolen from statues... But we got by somehow. 1939 P. G. Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime i. 12 Polly thinks I can get by all right. 1968 Listener 14 Nov. 663/3 The pseudo-metaphysical jargon that gets by as art criticism today. 2004 Congress. Rec. 30 Mar. 5573/3 One cannot get by with it at city government, county government, State government. Why do they think we can do it here in Washington? 2. intransitive. To manage with difficulty to survive or function; to cope. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > difficulty > present difficulties [verb (intransitive)] > have difficulty > act or live through difficulties scamblec1571 scramble1670 shift1723 manage1762 scrub1831 to struggle on1837 scratch1838 widdle1844 to worry along1871 to scrape along1884 to get by1908 scuffle1939 1908 J. M. Sullivan Criminal Slang 12 Getting by, living without doing any hard work. 1918 in Wine, Women & War (1926) 24 Absorbing what's useful in foreign methods..just getting by, myself... Too damned technical. 1926 Amer. Oxonian July 101 The stipend is barely enough to get by on. 1928 Incomes & Living Costs of Univ. Faculty (Yale Univ.) 109 Barely getting by with no funds to meet an emergency. 1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After i. i. 20 Our old bus will get by with a new engine. 2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) i. 5 I glance at the wheelchair. I can probably get by without it, but it is there as a back-up. to get down 1. transitive. a. To succeed in bringing or conveying down; to succeed in causing to come or go down; to bring from a place conventionally regarded as high (such as a shelf, hook, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)] besench971 avalec1314 sinka1325 lighta1400 to get downa1450 abasec1450 descenda1475 base1489 fall1595 slopea1616 dimit1628 demit1646 send1657 down1852 dip1879 a1450 Castle Perseverance (1969) l. 2319 (MED) For Mankynd getyst þou nowth doun To soloyen hym [read hym wyth] synful sede. ?1532–4 Mery Iest Mylner Abyngton (de Worde) sig. B.iv Stoute strokes was them bytweene The mylner was the more kene And gate the clerke downe. 1660 T. Allin Jrnl. 29 Oct. (1939) (modernized text) I. 3 We got down our main yard. 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. i. 17 Shall we get down our Topmasts? 1712 J. Arbuthnot John Bull Still in Senses ii. 10 Ev'n when Master had got her down, she would scratch and bite like a Tyger. 1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §266 We returned to the buss about noon to get down our moorings. 1842 T. B. Macaulay Virginia in Lays Anc. Rome 2164 Small chance was his to rise again, if once they got him down. 1871 H. B. Stowe My Wife & I xlii. 410 ‘Well, then,’ said I, ‘get down the Prayer-book and teach me my proprieties. I will learn my lesson thoroughly.’ 1906 J. Lumsden Skipper Parson 90 If the Canadians come down here to take our country I'll get down my ‘swiling gun’, and we'll go out and meet 'em. 1975 A. Deyell My Shetland 19 As time went on I learned to row and steer like a native, and, if we were sailing, to..help to get the sail down without it touching the sea. 2009 Ireland's Eye Jan. 39/1 Scores of youngsters would get down their hurleys and balls from the attics. b. To swallow (food or drink), to consume (a meal). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > [verb (transitive)] > swallow swallowc1000 overswallowa1400 engluta1492 slup1598 deglute1599 to take down1603 glut-glut1650 quilta1658 to get down1662 regurgitate1670 reswallow1792 to take on board1813 glutch1825 down1852 deglutate1867 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 142 If, through weaknesse..he be not able to get down the bread. 1751 F. Coventry Hist. Pompey the Little ii. xi. 226 I drank a little Chocolate yesterday Morning,..and got down a little Bason of Broth at Noon. 1821 Q. Rev. Jan. 360 Readers..prepare themselves as they do to swallow a dose of medicine, endeavouring to get it down in large gulps, without tasting it more than is necessary. 1915 ‘B. Ruck’ Miss Million's Maid ix. 66 ‘But if you don't want to have luncheon here the first day, perhaps—’ ‘I don't; oh, not me. I couldn't get anything down.’ 2000 M. Branton in N. Blincoe & M. Thorne All Hail New Puritans 127 He liked to get his breakfast down before he started. c. To put down on paper, to record or cause to be recorded in writing. ΚΠ 1860 Dwight's Jrnl. Music 8 Sept. 187/3 It has come to me long ago, but I can't get it down on paper. 1896 20th Ann. Rep. Railroad & Warehouse Commissioners Missouri 1895 187 It will be better to have these people sworn..and get the evidence down so that it may be considered. 1943 E. H. W. Meyerstein Let. 7 June (1959) 269 I have made myself go into the front room to get this down after thinking about it since we met. 1987 M. Ignatieff Russ. Album i. 19 The more distant everything became, the more urgent it became to get the story down. 2004 Prediction Apr. 38/1 If there are contracts that have to be settled, get them down in black and white. d. To bring (a person) into a state of depression or weariness; to depress, to weary. Cf. down adv. 17b. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > make dejected [verb (transitive)] drearya1300 discomfortc1325 batec1380 to cast downa1382 to throw downa1382 dullc1386 faintc1386 discomfita1425 discourage1436 sinkc1440 mischeera1450 discheerc1454 amatea1500 bedowa1522 damp1548 quail1548 dash1550 exanimate1552 afflict1561 dank1565 disanimate1565 sadden1565 languish1566 deject1581 dumpc1585 unheart1593 mope1596 chill1597 sour1600 disgallant1601 disheart1603 dishearten1606 fainten1620 depress1624 sullen1628 tristitiate1628 disliven1631 dampen1633 weigh1640 out-spirit1643 dispirit1647 flat1649 funeralize1654 hearta1658 disencourage1659 attrist1680 flatten1683 dismalizec1735 blue-devil1812 out-heart1845 downweigh1851 to get down1861 frigidize1868 languor1891 downcast1914 neg1987 1861 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 21 Dec. 269/2 ‘Then beat the drums.’ ‘There ain't no drums nother, General.’ ‘This gets me down a little,’ said Beauregard, somewhat embarrassed. a1870 C. Dickens in J. Forster Life Dickens (1873) II. 376 Your mind..is too strong for you; it gets you down and treads upon you, Sairey. 1904 ‘G. B. Lancaster’ Sons o' Men 88 It fair gets me down to see the poor brutes dying like flies. 1930 C. V. Grimmett Getting Wickets v. 115 There is quite enough to worry about on the field without allowing the troubles of the game to ‘get you down’ when you leave it. 1953 ‘N. Shute’ In Wet v. 171 It's just being cooped up in the office gets you down a bit. 1992 Times 13 July (Life & Times section) 3/5 There are days when nothing much seems funny at all. Being a comic novelist can get a chap down, you know. 2. intransitive. a. To succeed in coming or going down; to convey oneself to or reach a lower place (esp. downstairs, off a horse or vehicle, etc.) or to a place conventionally regarded as ‘down’. Also: (nursery) (of a child) to leave the table after finishing a meal. Also transitive (reflexive). Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > move downwards [verb (intransitive)] styc825 astyc975 alightOE to fall adownOE hieldc1275 downcomea1300 sink?a1300 avalec1374 to go downa1375 to come downc1380 dipc1390 descenda1393 clinea1400 declinea1400 downc1400 inclinec1400 vailc1400 fallc1440 devall1477 condescendc1485 to get down1567 lower1575 dismount1579 to fall down1632 down?1701 demount1837 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > move downwards [verb (reflexive)] to get down1567 the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (intransitive)] > finish eating or leave table to get down1567 to rise awaya1642 1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxxi. f. 385^v I haue done inough for thee, by making thee to mount so high. Lerne then now so wel how thou mayst get downe. 1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 28 b Then they tell the wall, and the waie, whereby her lover got downe. 1649 Certaine Observ. Tryall J. Lilburne 15 Before the second time I could get down into the Country, to take possession of it, old Sir Henry Vane..seized upon it all. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 43 The day being come..he gets down..leaving his dead Companion upon the Tree. 1757 S. Foote Author Prol. Sirrah? get down, and let your Father ride. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. iv. 93 Then one of the biggest [boys] gets down [from the coach], and begs his pardon. 1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. vi. 50 Bob..get ye down to your supper. 1887 Westm. Rev. June 361 We have now got down to the fifteenth century. 1893 E. F. Benson Dodo (U.S. ed.) xix. 393 Then eat the ham, and then say grace, and then you may get down. 1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 28/3 (advt.) Sani-Flush leaves the bowl clean and gleaming white. It gets down into the hidden, unhealthful trap and cleans that too. 1935 E. Bagnold National Velvet vii. 117 I'm not hungry any more. Can I get down, mother? 1947 N. Marsh Final Curtain x. 150 We all opened our letters yesterday morning, at breakfast. Can you imagine? I got down first and really—such a shock! 1982 P. Redmond Brookside (Mersey TV transmission script) (O.E.D. Archive) Episode 2. 15 You'd do yourself more good getting yourself down to mass every now and then. 1992 N. Bawden Humbug vi. 41 May I get down? I don't want any more breakfast. 2012 S. Townsend Woman who went to Bed for Year v. 35 She yelled, ‘Scott! Get down, you'll break your bleddy neck!’ b. To settle down to (an activity, a topic, etc.); to turn one's attention to. Frequently in to get down to it: to get started; to begin work seriously or energetically.to get down to brass tacks: see brass n. Phrases 2. to get down to business: see business n. Phrases 13. to get down to cases: see case n.² Phrases 2. to get down to work: see work n. Phrases 1f(b). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)] > begin an action or fall to doing something > resolutely or vigorously to sit in1736 strap1823 to get down1826 tackle1841 to buckle down (to)1865 to bite on1904 to wade into1904 to get stuck into1910 to get one's teeth into1935 to sink one's teeth into1935 to get stuck in1938 to get to grips with1947 1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans II. iv. 62 We must get down to it, Sagamore, beginning at the spring. 1889 Western Electrician 19 Jan. 36/1 Let us get down to the point and say exactly what we mean. 1892 ‘M. Twain’ Amer. Claimant xiv. 108 You've got to get right down to it and amuse your mind. 1924 Sunday Times 30 Mar. 6/2 The Bishop of Beauvais, the Earl of Warwick, and Chaplain de Stogumber assemble round a table and ‘get down to it’. 1938 D. Thomas Let. 24 Nov. (1987) 340 Then I could get down to the job of ‘cleaning’ them up. 1957 K. M. Kenyon Digging up Jericho 39 The first stages of a dig..start long before one actually gets down to excavating. 2000 A. Hussein Émigré Journeys i. 3 If a floorboard creaked or a knob fell off the door, I got down to it right there and then. c. U.S. colloquial. to get down on (a person): to develop a dislike for or grudge against; to be hostile or oppressive to. ΚΠ 1875 ‘M. Quad’ Quad's Odds 381 The adult male population of the village got down on John Anderson Tompkins. 1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xii. 105 Dave got down on him fer some little thing or other. 1926 Harper's Monthly Mag. June 324/2 Lots of fellows were giving $25 so I gave him that much... I thought that if I did not maybe the upperclass men would get down on me. 1997 Ice Hockey News Rev. 22 Feb. 12/3 If things are to go my way, I will just have to relax—I know I get down on myself and perhaps it's because I'm trying too hard. 3. intransitive. Golf. To get the ball into the hole. ΚΠ 1890 Golf 21 Nov. 149/1 You can then heavy iron it on to the green and get down in four or five. 1894 Baily's Mag. Apr. 283 He placed his ball, in one, close to the hole, and got down with his second. 1963 Times 25 May 9/4 To ‘get down in one’ naturally needs an extremely well-directed stroke. 1970 D. Schaap Masters 30 From the bunker, Player got down in two shots. 2000 Guardian (Dar es Salaam) 27 Mar. 19/1 Sutton..barely kept his second attempt on the green before needing three to get down. 4. intransitive. U.S. slang (originally in African-American usage). a. To take an (illegal) narcotic drug. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > take drugs [verb (intransitive)] sleigh-ride1845 drug1893 dope1909 to hit the gong, gow, stuff1933 use1951 to get down1952 to turn on1954 goof1962 joy-pop1962 to drop acid1966 1952 H. Ellson Golden Spike xv. 92 ‘Where're you going?’..‘To get down again.’ ‘What with?’ ‘Whatever I can get.’ 1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny i. 12/1 I mean, we have to fix; we have to get down. Not for the fun of getting loaded, but just to keep from getting sicker. 1981 H. Gould Fort Apache xxvi. 157 Maybe she got down every day, snorting sometimes, skin popping when she had a little more time. b. To have sexual intercourse. Also with with. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > have sexual intercourse playOE to do (also work) one's kindc1225 bedc1315 couple1362 gendera1382 to go togetherc1390 to come togethera1398 meddlea1398 felterc1400 companya1425 swivec1440 japea1450 mellc1450 to have to do with (also mid, of, on)1474 engender1483 fuck?a1513 conversec1540 jostlec1540 confederate1557 coeate1576 jumble1582 mate1589 do1594 conjoin1597 grind1598 consortc1600 pair1603 to dance (a dance) between a pair of sheets1608 commix1610 cock1611 nibble1611 wap1611 bolstera1616 incorporate1622 truck1622 subagitate1623 occupya1626 minglec1630 copulate1632 fere1632 rut1637 joust1639 fanfreluche1653 carnalize1703 screw1725 pump1730 correspond1756 shag1770 hump1785 conjugate1790 diddle1879 to get some1889 fuckeec1890 jig-a-jig1896 perform1902 rabbit1919 jazz1920 sex1921 root1922 yentz1923 to make love1927 rock1931 mollock1932 to make (beautiful) music (together)1936 sleep1936 bang1937 lumber1938 to hop into bed (with)1951 to make out1951 ball1955 score1960 trick1965 to have it away1966 to roll in the hay1966 to get down1967 poontang1968 pork1968 shtup1969 shack1976 bonk1984 boink1985 1967 M. Braly On the Yard xiii. 193 It was one of those places..where you could get down. 1978 N.Y. Post 9 Dec. The girl who gets married in certain cliques has to get down with all the boys in the clique. 1984 R. N. Boyd Sex behind Bars 30 In prison, racism is still extremely prevalent. It is suicide for a white queen to get down with a black con. 1984 R. N. Boyd Sex behind Bars 111 He had even been tempted to try some black meat, but it had been made clear to him from day one that he would be killed if he got down with any blacks. 1997 People (Sydney) 30 July 6/1 When Dana Delany got down with legendary cocksman Willem Dafoe. 2002 N.Y. Mag. 29 Apr. 33/2 I told one guy that I'm gay, and he was upset, but then his mind changed and he was like, ‘You know, me, you, and your girlfriend could get down.’ c. To behave in a relaxed and uninhibited way; esp. to dance vigorously and uninhibitedly. ΚΠ 1970 H. E. Roberts Third Ear 7/1 Get down, to do something in a bigger way; to put the intensity of ‘soul’ into dance movements; e.g. He got down last night at the party. 1974 J. Willwerth Jones: Portrait of Mugger i. 16 Jeff has some good smoke tonight—he calls it wacky weed—and..he and Jones get down with a little wine and some weed, and they rap. 1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) lii. 110/2 At seven o'clock, with the party getting down, Harvey came and took Kate aside. 1992 J. Stern & M. Stern Encycl. Pop Culture 543/2 With the twist, America learned how to get down. 1997 S. Grafton M is for Malice xx. 330 ‘You like to dance?’ ‘No, not really.’ ‘Don't worry about it. We'll get you in and you can cut loose. Forget your inhibitions and get down.’ 2013 N.Y. Mag. 7 Oct. 80/1 These clubs are all about getting down... Here, a tour through thirteen new dance parties and clubs..and ten options for brushing up on your old moves. d. With with: to associate oneself or become familiar with (a person). Also: to get to grips with, to cope with; to become familiar with, relate to (a thing). ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate together or with [verb (intransitive)] mingc1275 company1387 joinc1390 meddlec1390 herd?a1400 fellowshipc1430 enfellowship1470 to step in1474 accompany?1490 yoke?a1513 to keep with ——c1515 conjoin1532 wag1550 frequent1577 encroach1579 consort1588 sort1595 commerce1596 troop1597 converse1598 to keep (also enter, come into, etc.) commons1598 to enter common1604 atone1611 to walk (also travel) in the way with1611 minglea1616 consociate1638 associate1644 corrive1647 co-unite1650 walk1650 cohere1651 engage1657 mix1667 accustom1670 to make one1711 coalite1735 commerciate1740 to have nothing to say to (also with)1780 gang?1791 companion1792 mess1795 matea1832 comrade1865 to go around1904 to throw in with1906 to get down1975 1975 High Times Dec. 131/1 It [sc. pure weed] enables me to get down with both men and women. 1992 Entertainm. Weekly 21 Aug. 14/2 He [Dan Quayle] has adopted Midwestern businessman casual..to show he can get down with the guys. 1998 K. Eshun More Brilliant than Sun vi. 73 Nobody else can get down with it 'cause it's too 5th-dimensional. 1999 D. Century Street Kingdom i. 15 But Tommy never got down with the gangs. Tommy was always his own show. 2010 New Yorker 4 Jan. 35/2 It should be mature and catchy enough so that old people can get down with it. And fresh enough so young kids can get down with it. to get forth Now rare and literary. intransitive. To succeed in coming forth; to convey oneself out of a place. ΚΠ ?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Ev^v Snares and great nettes,..From whiche at thy pleasour, thou shalt no meanes fynde The same to lyberte, for to get forth agayne. 1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 603 He saw the King was engreuit, and gat furth glaid. 1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman 30 This Musing is a Maze, where one easily looseth himselfe, and whence without great difficulty he gets not forth. 1652 N. Smith Wonderfull Prophecyes 4 They think they can easily get forth, but they that are withoutside shall keep them in. 1796 H. Macneill Waes o' War iii. 21 Will gat forth; On a cart, or in a waggon, Hirpling ay towards the North. 1845 C. Mathews Big Abel & Little Manhattan vii. 62 When they had got forth, Big Abel and Lankey.., the shower was deepening, and they made quickly for a house not far away. 1889 R. L. Stevenson Master of Ballantrae ii. 26 I was staggered besides at her sudden vehemence of word and manner, and got forth from the room, under this shower of curses. a1930 D. H. Lawrence David in M. Halverson Relig. Drama (1957) I. xv. 257 I got forth [1926 go forth] into the fields, as a hare when the hound gives mouth! 2009 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 25 Sept. 16 We said: Get forth, some of you being the enemies of others. to get forward 1. intransitive. To succeed in coming or going forward; to convey oneself forward; to advance or make progress spatially or in some process. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > forward movement > move forward or advance [verb (intransitive)] wadeOE agoOE forthganga1000 forthgoOE syeOE kenc1275 to-stepc1275 vaunce1303 forthnima1325 passc1330 throc1330 forthpass1382 to pass forthc1384 to carry forthc1390 proceedc1392 to go alongc1400 to be forthwardc1430 get) groundc1436 to set onc1450 avauntc1460 pretend1481 to make way1490 advance?1507 to get forward1523 promove1570 to rid ground (also space)1572 to rid (the) way1581 progressa1586 to gather grounda1593 to make forth1594 to make on1597 to work up1603 perge1607 to work one's (also its) way1609 to pass on1611 to gain ground1625 to make its way1645 vadea1660 propagate1700 to gain one's way1777 further1789 to pull up1829 on1840 to make (up) ground1921 the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)] wadec1374 passc1387 proceeda1393 followa1400 to pass ona1400 to get forward1523 pace1597 step1599 to get on1655 to get along1768 to tide one's way1827 to come along1844 press1870 the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress furtherc1200 profit1340 to go alongc1400 to get forward1523 advance1577 proceedc1592 to take or make strides1600 to get on1655 to get along1768 to get ahead1807 to be well away1821 to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923 ramp1980 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. clxii. f. lxxxi The frenchmen that were behynde and coude nat get forwarde reculed backe. 1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 281 Get forward, for I will come after you a foote. 1651 J. Saint-Amard tr. F. Micanzio Life Father Paul sig. B6 He was already gotten so forward in all the sciences, that [etc.]. 1743 J. Seed Disc. Several Important Subj. II. 77 If all Men were to go the same Way,..it would cause a strange Embarrassment, the Road would be so much crouded, that none could get forward. 1796 S. T. Coleridge Watchman No. 2. ⁋5 They who act up to my precepts, will..be precluded from all the customary means of getting forward in the world. 1815 T. Chalmers Let. 20 July in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1851) II. 8 I..got forward in the coach with Mr. Paul. 1857 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 18 i. 19 The mares are indulged a little as they get forward with foal. 1888 R. H. Lyttelton in A. G. Steel & R. H. Lyttelton Cricket (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) ii. 51 He may, after he has got forward and perceived his error, effect a compromise. 1915 D. Haig Diary 5 Mar. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 107 Bombing parties must act offensively trying to get forward on to the flanks. 1940 K. Roberts Oliver Wiswell xliv. 437 I thought I'd better interrupt this conversation, as it didn't seem to be getting forward with anything. 2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 186 Walker and Fairclough not only nullified our strikers but also somehow managed to get forward into our six-yard box to score from open play. 2. transitive. To succeed in bringing or conveying forward; to bring to a forward position; to promote the progress of (something). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > forward movement > move or cause to move forward or advance [verb (transitive)] to get forward1712 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 5 We lengthen'd our Mizen-Mast..got our Fore-Mast forward. 1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet I. v. 318 But tell me now, were I to give you a letter, what would you do to get it forward? 1884 Harper's Mag. May 961/1 And she was far from telling him that her proper place at this moment was within-doors, to see that the maids were getting things forward. 1918 D. Haig Diary 5 Nov. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 485 The roads were so congested..that it would be most difficult to get cavalry forward. 1965 Boys' Life Sept. 42/1 I got her forward to the stateroom where I could keep an eye on her. 2001 P. S. Jowett Ital. Army 1940–45 33 This form of transport was often the only feasible way to get the necessities forward in the mountainous regions where the Allies spent much of the campaign. to get in 1. intransitive. a. To succeed in entering, to convey oneself into something; (also) to obtain a place in a society, institution of education, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > go or come in [verb (intransitive)] to go ineOE ingoc900 to come inOE incomec1000 infarec1000 enterc1325 enderc1330 ingressc1330 entera1382 to fall inc1384 usha1400 to get ina1425 to step in1534 to set (or put) (a) footing1567 invade1590 to take in1595 to hop in (also out)1914 a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2972 The Roser was..Closed with an hegge withoute..And fast I bisiede..if I myght Haue geten ynne. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lix. 206 He..went toward the posterne the whiche, with muche payne, they gatte in there at. 1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 94 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 264 Our ȝettis ar closit that we may no^t in gett. 1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII v. iii. 17 Port. How got they in? Man. Alas I know not, how gets the Tide in . View more context for this quotation a1691 R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) 84 Although the bar of Porta Nova proved more..dangerous than we were informed; yet our ship got safe in thither. 1782 W. Cowper John Gilpin 38 Three doors off the chaise was stayed, Where they did all get in. 1792 H. H. Brackenridge Mod. Chivalry I. ii. i. 47 There was one [candidate] who had got in by finding, accidentally, the tail of a rabbit. 1803 J. Porter Thaddeus of Warsaw (1831) xiv. 129 He was in hopes to have gotten in as he had stolen out. 1821 M. Edgeworth Let. 30 Oct. (1971) 248 The Colleges are now so full that a young mans name must be written down 3 or 4 years before he can hope to get in. 1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 722/2 The chaise having arrived..Trotter got in. 1893 Earl of Dunmore Pamirs I. 90 It was a..trying march to-day for men and horses, and both were pretty well done by the time we got in. 1906 L. Smyth True Stories Children of All Nations xiii. 163 The still more broken-down shed, where the cold, and the wind, and the rain get in at will. 1918 W. Faulkner Let. 24 Nov. in Thinking of Home (1992) 135 You pass exams to get in and you pass exams to get out. 2006 R. Everett Red Carpets & Other Banana Skins viii. 77 There was a tiny kitchen, an even tinier bathroom with a bath so small one had to perform Houdiniesque contortions to get in. b. Of a candidate or political party: to be elected.Not current in U.S. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > proceedings at election > [verb (intransitive)] > be elected to get in1700 1700 J. Verney Let. 10 Nov. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. (1930) I. x. 159 The Coll. may carry it for the County, & Sir T. Lee get in at Aylesbury. 1755 E. F. Haywood Invisible Spy IV. iv. 690 We know him too well..;—but 'tis thought, however, that he will get in for some place or other. 1835 Reformers' Gaz. 31 Jan. 227 Godsake! give him Plumpers, said the Tories, otherwise this infernal Radical, Colin Dunlop, will get in! 1861 Temple Bar June 395 [He] is trying to get in for Wylminstre at the next election. 1908 G. K. Chesterton All Things Considered 39 When a canvasser says that if the opposition candidate gets in the country will be ruined, he is threatening the voters with certain consequences. 1953 T. A. G. Hungerford Riverslake 202 If his mob gets in next election they'll whip up a nice old depression, just like they did the last time, and we'll all be scratching for jobs again. 2004 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 31 May b2 Ho hum. It's a foregone conclusion. The Liberals will get in with a majority, though maybe not as big as it is now. c. Of a person: to reach a destination, esp. to arrive home. Also: (of a train, bus, or passenger aircraft) to arrive at its destination. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > arrive [verb (intransitive)] to come toOE comeOE yworthOE lend11.. lightc1225 overtakec1225 redea1275 wina1300 'rivec1300 repaira1325 applyc1384 to come ina1399 arrivec1400 attainc1400 alightc1405 to come to handc1450 unto-comec1450 apport1578 to get through1589 reach1591 to be along1597 land1679 engage1686 to get in1863 to breeze in1930 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > reach a point or place [verb (intransitive)] > arrive comeOE to come to townOE yworthOE lend11.. lightc1225 to come anovenonc1275 wina1300 'rivec1300 repaira1325 applyc1384 to come ina1399 rede?a1400 arrivec1400 attainc1400 alightc1405 to come to handc1450 unto-comec1450 apport1578 to be along1597 to drop in1609 to come ona1635 to walk in1656 land1679 engage1686 to come along1734 to get in1863 to turn up1870 to fall in1900 to lob1916 to roll up1920 to breeze in1930 to rock up1975 1863 Message President & Accompanying Documents: Rep. Secretary of Interior 337 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (38th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Document 1, Pt. 3) III After the train gets in, which will be in about a week..he will furnish on my request any number I may think necessary. 1866 Punch 8 Sept. 107/2 While he's away, I think of the first sentence I'll write when we get in. 1877 Marlburian 7 June 80/1 The train gets in before daylight. 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat xi. 168 George went home again... When he got in, he determined to undress and go to bed again. 1902 W. B. Yeats Let. ?25 Nov. (1994) III. 261 I shall set my alarm clock & be ready for you as soon as the train gets in. 1929 A. M. Lindbergh Let. 29 Sept. in Hour of Gold (1973) 94 It's rather hard to get air-mail stamps in all these countries, and envelopes, when we get in so late and leave so early. 1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn iv. i. 163 Shaking his hand and asking him..how come he came to be in New York, when'd he get in? 1978 P. Fitzgerald Bookshop ix. 100 The school bus gets in about five, doesn't it? 1996 I. Welsh Ecstasy 141 Come and see me straight away, son... Phone me as soon as you get in. 2006 S. Margolis Gucci Gucci Coo xvii. 279 The plane gets in at 6 a.m. Don't bother meeting me. 2. transitive. a. To succeed in bringing, conveying, putting, or causing to come or go in; spec. to bring in or buy; to get a stock of. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > supply > provide or supply (something) [verb (transitive)] > lay in a supply of to fet ina1556 to lay in1662 store1719 to get in1869 to turn down1891 a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. iii. 39 Now ar we there As we shuld be. Do get in oure gere, Oure catall and fe. 1599 J. Thomas in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. ii. 8 We spent here very neere three moneths before we could get in our lading, which was Sugar. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) iv. viii. 25 When the Fox hath once got in his Nose, Hee'le soone finde meanes to make the Body follow. View more context for this quotation 1659 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. 464 To get in a good and round supply of Provision into the Citadel. 1755 Connoisseur No. 58. ⁋3 They might also be of great use in maroding, or getting in forage. 1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §158 In getting in the bridle cable by means of its buoys. 1869 Mrs. H. Wood Roland Yorke II. xx. 125 She [sc. the landlady] gets things in for us, and wants to be paid for them. 1893 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 July 414/2 I fetched water, got in sticks, cleaned boots. 1907 R. Brooke Let. July (1968) 92 The Mrs Chaffey, the lady who will land us, wanted to know what food to get in. 1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms ix. 72 Most shopkeepers are getting in their Christmas goods. 1962 Oxf. Mail 22 June 4/7 So long as I can earn enough to pay the rent and get in the odd bottle, I'm happy. 2004 C. Bateman Driving Big Davie xxi. 211 Davie got the beers in and we sat at the bar and talked about nothing interesting or deep, which was a relief. b. To gather in or secure (harvest produce). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)] gatherc950 getc1250 harvestc1400 in?1407 win1487 ingatherc1575 crop1602 enda1616 to get in1699 to get up1764 secure1842 1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxxxiiii. f.cxlix Euery man toke hede to kepe his owne, & the men of the countrey to gette in their cornes, for it was about the begynnynge of Auguste. 1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede Hist. Church Eng. iv. iv. 118 The Scottes in somer tyme when haruest was getting in, wold leaue the monasteries. 1614 T. Dale Let. 18 June in R. Hamor True Disc. Present Estate Virginia (1615) 57 I am resolved to stay till harvest be got in. 1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. xxx. sig. F6 For Death hee is neuer troubled..if hee get in but his Haruest before. 1699 Poor Man's Plea against Price of Corn 7 In all these Three Counties the Crop was good, and the Corn well got in. 1762 S. Foote Orators i. 13 It would be difficult..to get in even our harvests, without the aid of hands..from Ireland. 1772 Carroll Papers in Maryland Hist. Mag. 14 288 We shall get in all our Corn Fother by the middle of next week. 1855 D. Costello Stories from Screen 61 A summons to assist in getting in the vintage..wholly prevented him. 1889 A. V. Carr Margaret Maliphant II. xxi. 107 We had to get the hay in. 1931 E. Bowen Friends & Relations i. vi. 38 The present orchards are magnificent, though the apples are never got in in time; they rot in the grass. 1970 E. Welty Losing Battles 25 Everybody's busy getting in the last of their peas. 2002 T. DePree Can of Peas xxx. 311 Thought we'd see if you could use a few extra hands to get the harvest in. c. To collect or gather (contributions of money, esp. sums owed). ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > charges > [verb (transitive)] > collect money uptake1493 uplift1508 to get in1570 collect1643 1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. iv. 409/1 The pope of them maketh hys Tolners and bankers to get in hys money. 1677 G. Miege New Dict. French & Eng. i. sig. Kkk/2 Se faire paier de ses dettes, to get in his debts. 1754 J. Hill (title) The Young Secretary's Guide..with a true method every honest dealer should take to get in what is owing to him. 1766 G. G. Beekman Let. 7 May in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 501 Unless a Large Sum of money is Struck in this and the neighbouring Government we shall never get in Our Debts. a1807 J. Skinner Amusem. Leisure Hours (1809) 119 Our vestry meets, and I get in my sums; The half year's stipend makes a pretty show, But twenty ways poor fifteen pounds must go. 1884 G. Allen Philistia I. viii. 217 The poor landlords can't get in their rents. 1886 Law Times 80 132/1 Some of the assets had been got in by the receiver, and had never come to her hands at all. 1912 Med. Council Dec. 479/1 Since the Government made its raid, Brown has..put on more pressure in a frenzied desire to get in as much money as possible before his trial. 1992 Lloyd's Rep. 2 418 The task of the liquidators of an insolvent company is first to get in assets and then, secondly, deal with claims against the insolvent company. d. British. To bring (a person) to one's home or establishment for a particular purpose. ΚΠ 1902 Brewers' Jrnl. 15 Feb. 90/1 He..asked if he should get a builder in to prop up the floor. 1938 D. Cooper Diary 12 Sept. (2005) 258 At 6.30 Winston came to see me and I got Backhouse in to meet him. 1962 P. Mortimer Pumpkin Eater xi. 77 We got men in to paint the rooms. 2007 Guardian 2 Jan. 25/5 Getting a man in to paint your walls, fit a lavatory seat or even assemble your Ikea flatpack. 3. to get in with. a. (a) intransitive. To become familiar with, attain to intimacy or favour with. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb (intransitive)] > get on (well) gree?a1513 to get in with1602 cotton1605 to hitch (also set, or stable) horses together1617 to hit it1634 gee1685 to set horses together1685 to be made for each other (also one another)1751 to hit it off1780 to get ona1805 to hitch horses together1835 niggle1837 to step together1866 to speak (also talk) someone's (also the same) language1893 to stall with1897 cog1926 groove1935 click1954 vibe1986 the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb (intransitive)] > become friendly > become friendly or intimate to get in with1602 familiarize1622 pal1848 chum1884 buddy1916 cop1940 1602 A. Copley Another Let. to Dis-iesuited Kinseman 63 He would gladly get in with some of them that be in authoritie. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/2 To get in with one, to scrue himself into his Friendship. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 215 He so contrived his Business as to get in with our Men. 1705 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1885) I. 34 He is got in with the Whigs. 1744 S. Fielding Adventures David Simple II. 284 I got in with a Set of Sharpers, and..was admitted to share some Part of the Booty. 1858 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. Sc. Life (ed. 2) 60 If we can't get in with the nobs,..we will never take up with any society that is decidedly snobby. 1887 A. Elliot Old Man's Favour II. iii. iii. 186 I couldn't get in with him at all;..he's tremendously reserved. 1938 J. Thurber Let. 22 Jan. (2002) 276 He's a fine reporter, the best mixer I know—he can get in with anyone anywhere. 1988 E. Lovelace Brief Conversat. 115 ‘How a nice girl like you could get in with such a vagabond fellar’? 2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) viii. 88 But Rafiq's got in with a bad crowd. (b) transitive. To bring (a person) into favour with. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > favour > win favour with [verb (transitive)] > bring into favour with favourish1490 to get in with1628 1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. ii. sig. B4^v His fashion and demure Habit gets him in with some Towne-precisian, & makes him a Guest on Friday nights. 1873 Melbourne Punch 19 June 193/2 This note will get you in with old Moltke. 1893 M. F. Egan Success of Patrick Desmond xxix. 386 ‘It was your being so thick with the Baroness that got me in with Bayard,’ observed Miles. 1914 Sat. Evening Post 12 Sept. 57/1 All the ten years I've been in the profesh it's been my looks that got me in with the managers and women, and my—my luck. 2005 A. Shearer Hunted 166 You have to grow up and face the world, kid. If I get you in with the Hartingers, you've got a head start. †b. intransitive. Nautical. To come close up to. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > direct or manage ship [verb (transitive)] > set a ship's course > sail close to pikea1522 to get in with1688 1688 tr. G. Tachard Relation Voy. Siam iii. 95 When we were got in with that Land, we advanced by little and little, dropping an Anchor so soon as the wind left us. 1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 181 At 6 at Night we got in with the Land. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. i. 302 We were extremely impatient to get in with the nearest Island. 1797 Sir J. Jervis 15 Feb. in Ld. Nelson Disp. & Lett. (1845) II. 333 I was fortunate in getting in with the Enemy's Fleet before it had time to connect. 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 67 The wind falling, and veering to the westward, we tacked, to get in with the ice. 1848 J. F. Cooper Jack Tier I. vii. 207 The wind was now so light that he saw little prospect of getting in with the reef again. 1894 E. Coast S. Amer. (U.S. Hydrographic Office) (ed. 2) iii. 87 There are numerous rivers along the coast, and in getting in with the land attention should be paid to their streams. †4. transitive and intransitive. Printing. To make or become narrower or more compact; spec. to set close, to fit more on to a line; (of a letter form) to allow closer setting of text. Frequently contrasted with to drive out 5 at drive v. Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1676 J. Moxon Regulæ Trium Ordinum 10 If..you are pinched for room, you may leave no Space between Letter and Letter; and then one or two Spaces between a Word will serve. This by Printers is called Getting in, or Setting close. 1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. i. 11 [The purchaser] ought to take notice..whether it [sc. the type] drives out, or gets in, either at the head, or the foot, and is, as Printers call it, Bottle-arsed. 1771 P. Luckombe Hist. & Art of Printing 218 (caption) A scheme, shewing how one Body of Letter Gets in, and Drives out, more than another, in Width. 1808 C. Stower Compositor's & Pressman's Guide 44 He should consider the best mode of rectifying the accident, either by driving out or getting in above the error or below it. 1824 J. Johnson Typographia II. iii. 62 The hyphen may generally be dispensed with, either by driving out or getting in the word. 1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 267 If copy makes less than it was calculated to do, they say, it gets in. †5. intransitive. Hunting and Falconry. To go to the place of the kill immediately after it has happened. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hawking > hawk [verb (intransitive)] > hawking procedures rebuke1486 whistlea1575 to cast a lure1683 to get in1686 1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation iii. vii. 86 He that first gets in, cries Hoo-up, to give Notice that he is down, and Blows a Death. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 7 To go up to a hawk when she has killed her quarry is to ‘get in’. 1891 J. E. Harting Bibliotheca Accipitraria 223 Get in, to reach the hawk as soon as she has killed. 6. transitive. a. To yoke or harness (a horse). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [verb (transitive)] > harness or yoke yokeOE harness13.. cart-saddle1377 join1377 couple1393 enharness1490 benda1522 bind1535 span1550 team1552 spang1580 inyoke1595 trace1605 enclose?1615 gear1638 to get in1687 reharness1775 reyoke1813 to hook up1825 inspan1834 hitch1844 pole1846 stock1909 1687 J. Weichard in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 16 420 Having got in my Horse, we began our Voyage. 1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies xxii. 163 There was an indistinct cry from some rangers on the summit of the hill, of which we could only distinguish the words, ‘The horses! the horses! get in the horses!’ 1887 H. R. Haggard Jess xxii I will tell the boy to get your horses in. 1963 R. Moody Dry Divide (1994) ii. 29 Whichever one of you can ride, help me get the horses in! 2013 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 6 May 7 ‘Charlie might go for a ride after school if we've got the horses in,’ Ms Casanova said. b. To bring or drive (livestock) into a stockyard. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > herding, pasturing, or confining > [verb (transitive)] > drive or put into enclosure parc1300 foldc1440 house1578 pinfold1605 pen1607 enfold?1611 impen?1623 to get in1698 weara1724 yard1758 to run in1837 corral1847 paddock1847 kraal1865 1698 Mem. E. Ludlow I. 73 After this Deliverance we got in some Cattle for our Provision, but the Enemy drawing into the Villages about us, soon prevented us from bringing in any more. 1859 H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn xxix The captain was getting in the ‘scrubbers’—cattle which had been left..to run wild in the mountains. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 217 A portion of the herd he thought he could get in. 1928 P. T. Kenway Pioneering in Poverty Bay viii. 56 It was said of the Highland shepherd in New Zealand, that he would..work his dogs, getting in stray sheep, every day for a month. 1963 M. Britt Pardon my Boots 142 A small mob of quiet cattle..were used to get in the wild cattle. 2010 Farmer's Weekly 17 Dec. 68/2 As we were getting the cows in, a few were staggering as if drunk. Thinking it was a bit early for festive merriment, I phoned the vet. c. To sow (seed), plant (a crop, a bulb, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] sowc1000 besowc1175 inseminate1623 to put in1657 sprain1744 shed1770 to get in1771 seminate1796 broadcast1807 seed1814 1771 G. Culley Jrnl. 8 July in M. Culley & G. Culley Trav. Jrnls. & Lett. (2002) 74 In seed-time they go always at gee again..that the seed may be got in as fast as possibly. 1843 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 4 ii. 566 I find it [a roller]..useful in getting-in my spring corn, when the ground is dry and rough. 1853 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 14 i. 192 April is the usual time for getting in the seed. 1935 N. Mitchison We have been Warned iv. 426 A great flood of domesticities overwhelmed her..the bulbs to get in. 1959 Home Encycl. 20 The main crop need not be got in until March. 2009 B. Hambly Homeland 157 Papa..left me with instructions for getting in the corn, pumpkins, squashes, etc. next week. 7. transitive. a. To succeed in introducing (a remark, point, question, etc.) into a conversation or discussion; to interpose, contribute. Chiefly in to get a word in: see word n. and int. Phrases 4a. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > interruption > interrupt or interpose [verb (intransitive)] chop in1550 to speak in a man's cast1580 to break through1659 interpose1667 interrupt1667 to break in1705 to catch up1764 to get ina1774 to strike in1791 to get a word, etc. in edgeways1824 a1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1779) 40 Had sae, and lat me get a word in. 1852 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 12 Oct. in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1884) I. v. 238 I enjoy talking to Mr Combe... I sometimes manage to get in more than a negative or affirmative. 1892 Nature Notes Oct. 214 When one of the children does get a remark in, it is always intensely to the point. 1919 W. S. Maugham Moon & Sixpence xi. 62 I flattered myself that I had got in that important question very naturally. 1976 Times 2 Feb. 16/4 Any flexibility in the system must therefore be a concession from his point of view. So he proceeded to get his pitch in early. 1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 101 Jeremiah was trying to get his tanners worth in as well. 2001 S. Brett Death on Downs xxxix. 260 ‘I got my question in first.’ Carole realized that she sounded impossibly girlish. b. to get one's hand in: see hand n. Phrases 3f(a). c. To succeed in delivering (a blow). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > strike [verb (transitive)] > deal or give (a stroke or blow) setc1300 smitec1300 layc1330 drivec1380 slentc1380 hit?a1400 to lay ona1400 reacha1400 fetchc1400 depart1477 warpc1480 throw1488 lenda1500 serve1561 wherret1599 senda1627 lunge1735 to lay in1809 wreak1817 to get in1834 1834 D. Walker Brit. Manly Exercises (ed. 2) 269 To get a blow in, make a step forward with the left foot, and throw the weight on it. 1842 Spirit of Times 3 Sept. 322/2 He went right to work, got in a sharp body blow and stopped a wicked return. 1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 21 Nov. 750/1 The youngster got in a nasty blow, drawing streams of blood from his opponent's face. 1918 D. Haig Diary 3 Aug. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 437 More than once he expressed the opinion that the ‘Germans are breaking up’, and was anxious lest they should fall back before I could get my blow in. 1977 Y. M. Boateng Return vi. 87 He got in a number of painful punches to the noses and ears of his antagonists. 1998 O. Tyaransen in S. Champion & D. Scannell Shenanigans (1999) ix. 156 A real nasty piece of work,..the kind of guy who'd get a sly kick in when there was a scrap in the playground. d. To succeed in performing or achieving (something), esp. within a specified time; to fit (something) into one's schedule. ΚΠ 1838 E. C. Gaskell Let. 17 July (1966) 19 I had engaged a girl..to help in all the extra work, & meant to get all sorts of things in. 1890 Jrnl. Educ. Sept. 479/1 We are not bound to get in a certain period [of history] by a certain date. 1894 Outing Sept. 432/2 Four clerks composed the staff, and they all made haste to get in some practice in the English language. 1944 M. Lowry Let. July in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 455 We were..able to get in many good hours work to-day, however, in spite of the bloody kids. 1975 S. Selvon Moses Ascending 34 This crowd was getting in a little practice for a Carnival or some such prank. 1998 G. Ritchie Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels 33 The only thing I care about is whether you get your rest in. 2003 Muscle & Fitness Jan. 26/1 Now it's the end of the day and you're beating yourself up because you didn't get your workout in. e. to get one's eye in: see to get one's eye in at eye n.¹ Phrases 2j(d). 8. intransitive. Originally U.S. a. To gain entrance into some sphere of activity (esp. a business) so as to secure a share or advantage. Esp. in to get in first: (a) to act in such a way as to pre-empt others; (b) to interpose a remark before another person can speak.to get in on the ground floor: see ground floor n. b. ΚΠ 1901 E. T. Tomlinson Camping on St. Lawrence i. 8 The reason the railroads couldn't make any money was because the lawyers got in first, and the roads had to take what little they left. 1903 Rep. Governor New Mexico to Secretary of Interior 1902 (U.S. House of Representatives, 57th Congress, 2nd Sess.) 301 The buyer got in early and made his contracts before the demand became very heavy. 1933 E. Ferber They brought their Women 192 He got in early..and made his pile, but he isn't one of the big shots. 1940 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 27 Jan. 8/2 Railway administration..permitted private enterprise to get in first, thus pretermitting a magnificent opportunity. 1951 C. P. Snow Masters xv. 136 ‘Do you agree with me or don't you?’ Brown got in first: ‘I'm sure I should be speaking for the college in saying that [etc.]’. 1976 Daily Mirror 12 Mar. 7/6 Getting in quick is the first law of the jungle. 1988 Shoot! 10 Dec. 8/1 Fergie heard that his old club Aberdeen wanted Milne and decided to get in first. 1998 I. Rankin Hanging Garden (1999) xxxvi. 387 The solicitor was about to say something, but Colquhoun got in first. 2008 Victorian July 10/1 Their developers..were rewarded for getting in first and developing a new market. b. to get in on: to involve oneself in (an advantageous venture or activity). to get in on the act: see act n. Phrases 10a. ΚΠ 1905 H. A. Mitchell Keays Work of our Hands v. 71 I hadn't had time yet to do that—I was too busy getting in on things. 1913 Advertising & Selling Aug. 50/2 If you want to get in on these special low prices. 1939 Fortune Nov. 15/3 A barely repressible yen to go whooping off to get in on the excitement. 1963 R. Kaiser in N.Y. Herald Tribune 17 Nov. (N.Y. Suppl.) 17/1 Yale people fancy that when tailgating began..after the last war, they had got in on something new. 1990 J. Cummings & E. Volkman Goombata iii. 66 The guys who sought to get in on the racket. 2007 V. Jewiss tr. R. Saviano Gomorrah (2008) 269 He realized that La Torre's strategy was more than simply about getting in on a huge deal. c. In imperative in get in there: get busy, get to work (sometimes with sexual overtones); get down to it, pitch in. Cf. to get stuck in at stick v.¹ Phrasal verbs 1. ΚΠ 1927 Amer. Speech 3 132 Freshmen are encouraged to study in such terms as:..‘get in there and fight 'em’. 1934 D. Hammett Brother's Keeper in Collier's 17 Feb. 42/4 What the hell are you boxing for? You're a fighter. Get in there and fight. 1955 B. Schulberg Waterfront x. 130 Then knock off the chin music. Git in there. Number two hatch starboard gang. Puh-ronto. 1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect ii. 135 Wherrr! Git in there, Nobby! 1985 B. Zephaniah Dread Affair 19 Come natty dread youths get in there Give away what you have spare. 2006 Whitelines Feb. 26/2 The 9th person goes free—so cobble together 8 of your mates and get in there! 9. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). a. to get in bad (or wrong): to incur dislike; to get into trouble. Also: (transitive) to bring (someone) into disfavour; to get (someone) into trouble; cf. bad n.² 1c. Frequently const. with. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disfavour > [verb (transitive)] > bring into disfavour disgrace1597 deingrate1624 queer1818 to get in bad1902 the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > be or become displeased [verb (intransitive)] > displease loathec893 overthinkc1175 displeasec1400 to stick in the throat (also craw, gizzard, stomach, etc.)c1536 unsavoura1547 distastea1618 disrelish1631 to give (also cause, etc.) offence to1712 spoil sport1869 to get in bad1902 1902 W. S. Stafford Safe Methods of Stock Speculation 47 Most traders are continually figuring on getting out even, in case they get in wrong. 1906 Washington Post 24 Dec. 6/7 I've got in bad with him, fer true. 1910 O. Johnson Varmint xi. 152 Dink, you're getting in wrong again. 1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise i. iv. 144 People are beginning to think he's odd... He certainly is getting in wrong. 1921 S. Ford Inez & Trilby May iii. 56 So much prattle about a rich uncle who couldn't be produced was bound to get us in wrong sooner or later. 1928 Observer 19 Feb. 16/2 Young Woodley..prefers poetry to cricket. That, of course, ‘gets him in bad’ with his house-master. 1966 Listener 27 Oct. 622/2 The speech he made in Chicago which got him in bad with the organizers of Negro protest marches. 1994 H. Burton Leonard Bernstein ii. xiii. 123 It is best to have a thousand friends rather than one enemy so don't get in wrong with the newspapers. 2003 J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude i. xvi. 253 Senior'd done something to get himself in bad with the pimps and dealers running the Times Plaza Hotel. b. to get in good: to get into favour (with a person). ΚΠ 1910 Amer. Architect 13 Apr. 32/2 (advt.) Get in good with yourself now and recommend the best boiler built. 1931 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 7 Nov. The husband, jumping at a chance to ‘get in good’ came home from work the next day with a bundle of books. 1985 N. Shange in T. McMillan Breaking Ice (1990) 587 Bernice pursed her lips, thinking now would be the time to get in good with Mrs. Brown. 2007 Wall St. Jrnl. 20 Apr. a12/3 ‘You figure if you want to make it with the Big Guy,’ he says, ‘you better get in good’ with Brother Nichols. to get off 1. transitive. a. To remove from a surface or place; (also) to rescue (a stranded or trapped person). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > rescue or deliverance > rescue or deliver (from) [verb (transitive)] > rescue or reclaim one from a place or state recover1485 retrieve1568 to get off1577 the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > remove or take away > from the position of being on latcha1225 off-wevec1300 to take offa1400 to get off1577 to lay offa1593 daff1609 off1826 1577 Hill's Gardeners Labyrinth ii. i. 7 A crust or parget, so fast cleaueth or is baked to the sides within, that the same with no scouring can be gotten off. 1647 R. Stapleton in tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 154 The Italians to this day have the fashion of pumicing their skin to get off the haire. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 314 This colour will not be got off in fifteen dayes, though they wash their hands several times a day. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 To get his Coat off, tirer son Justaucorps. 1702 Act 1 Anne Stat. ii. c. 19 [22.] §2 If any Person or Persons..shall..fraudulently cut, tear, or get off any Mark or Stamp from any Piece of Vellum [etc.]. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 42 Two men waiting..by the Shore, for a Portuguese Canoe to get 'em off. 1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) ii. 50 It was such an opperation..to get off some of my clothes, and to get on my night-clothes. 1855 Harper's Mag. June 74/2 They put a strait-waistcoat upon her, but she would contrive to get it off. 1872 W. Besant & J. Rice Ready-money Mortiboy II. vi. 83 Smearing his coarse hands with spirits, to get off the dirt. 1914 V. Bell Lett. (1993) 158 Clive came to her bedroom and she got off her clothes down to her drawers and skipped about with a great deal of coyness. 1954 J. Slaughter Horsemanship for Young Riders 25 Leaf and grass stains are hard to get off. 2009 I. Jack Country formerly known as Great Brit. (2011) 109 While the women and children were got off in the boats, the troops were held in ranks at attention on deck. b. Nautical. To refloat (a grounded vessel). Now historical. ΚΠ 1622 J. Rawlins Famous Recoverie Ship of Bristoll sig. C^v They got her off, being laden with Hides, and Logwood for dying, and presently sent her to Argier. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 35 To get off our Ship from among those Rocks. 1731 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 32/2 The Samuel..ran a-shore..but 'twas thought might be got off. 1774 J. Johnson Let. 18 July in Joshua Johnson's Letterbk. (1979) 149 The Hope..had run ashore on Dungeness Pier. If the weather keeps moderate, I am in hopes she may be got off by unloading. 1840 N. P. Willis Amer. Scenery I. 125 Hudson ran his little craft ashore at Weehawken; but the ground was a soft ooze, and she was got off without damage. 1896 Daily News 5 Dec. 5/7 The pilot-sloop, with half a dozen Exmouth pilots, put off to assist the vessel and get her off. 1904 L. W. Coutlée Digest Cases Supreme Court of Canada 717/1 The master did not give notice of Abandonment nor endeavour to get the vessel off. The purchasers immediately got the vessel off. 1912 Mariner′s Mirror 2 95/2 She..was only got off after 20 guns had been thrown over board. 2006 A. Dalton Baychimo iv. 70 Unable to get her off under engine power alone, he had the crew pump out the aft ballast tanks and run a kedge anchor out forward. 2. a. intransitive. To succeed in coming or going off, to bring oneself away from a place; spec. to leave one's work or other commitment. to get off from: = to get off —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] wendeOE i-wite971 ashakec975 shakeOE to go awayOE witea1000 afareOE agoOE atwendOE awayOE to wend awayOE awendOE gangOE rimeOE flitc1175 to fare forthc1200 depart?c1225 part?c1225 partc1230 to-partc1275 biwitec1300 atwitea1325 withdrawa1325 to draw awayc1330 passc1330 to turn one's (also the) backc1330 lenda1350 begonec1370 remuea1375 voidc1374 removec1380 to long awaya1382 twinc1386 to pass one's wayc1390 trussc1390 waive1390 to pass out ofa1398 avoida1400 to pass awaya1400 to turn awaya1400 slakec1400 wagc1400 returnc1405 to be gonea1425 muck1429 packc1450 recede1450 roomc1450 to show (a person) the feetc1450 to come offc1475 to take one's licence1475 issue1484 devoidc1485 rebatea1500 walka1500 to go adieua1522 pikea1529 to go one's ways1530 retire?1543 avaunt1549 to make out1558 trudge1562 vade?1570 fly1581 leave1593 wag1594 to get off1595 to go off1600 to put off1600 shog1600 troop1600 to forsake patch1602 exit1607 hence1614 to give offa1616 to take off1657 to move off1692 to cut (also slip) the painter1699 sheera1704 to go about one's business1749 mizzle1772 to move out1792 transit1797–1803 stump it1803 to run away1809 quit1811 to clear off1816 to clear out1816 nash1819 fuff1822 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 mosey1829 slope1830 to tail out1830 to walk one's chalks1835 to take away1838 shove1844 trot1847 fade1848 evacuate1849 shag1851 to get up and get1854 to pull out1855 to cut (the) cable(s)1859 to light out1859 to pick up1872 to sling one's Daniel or hook1873 to sling (also take) one's hook1874 smoke1893 screw1896 shoot1897 voetsak1897 to tootle off1902 to ship out1908 to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909 to push off1918 to bugger off1922 biff1923 to fuck off1929 to hit, split or take the breeze1931 to jack off1931 to piss offa1935 to do a mick1937 to take a walk1937 to head off1941 to take a hike1944 moulder1945 to chuff off1947 to get lost1947 to shoot through1947 skidoo1949 to sod off1950 peel1951 bug1952 split1954 poop1961 mugger1962 frig1965 1595 R. Hasleton Strange & Wonderfull Things sig. C I..crept as fast as I could to get off the pipe to land: where before I could get downe, they shot some of their Muskets after me. 1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies iii. lvii. 424 If you chance to be so neere the lande, that you can find no meanes to get off from it. 1642 N. Bernard Whole Proc. Siege Drogheda 43 That night by the help of a fresh, and lightening her Ballace, with the change of a fit winde, she got off, and lanced into the Poole. 1651 Mercurius Politicus No. 74. 1180 But she..cannot get off till a High-Spring-tide fetch her. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iii. 146 The crazy condition of the ship..prevented her from getting off to sea. 1799 Scots Mag. Mar. 205/1 She touched ground; but after a short time had the good fortune to get off. 1813 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) III. 446 I am like a Boat getting off from the shoaly Shore—every ten yards I am grounded & detained. 1847 R. Anderson Let. 7 Apr. in Artillery Officer in Mexican War (1911) 121 He is very desirous of getting off, and has gone to the City to ascertain if a vessel will sail today. 1861 Amer. Agriculturist July 202/3 Every man is anxious to get off to the war. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 2/1 When they get off at mid-day to eat their ‘piece’, there is talking and laughing among the field workers. 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. vi. 128 It was almost like a log-rolling or a barbecue... The men didn't get off from work every day like this. 1955 ‘Miss Read’ Village School x. 88 You git off home to your poor wife! 2005 J. McGahern Memoir 19 ‘Daddy wrote that he'd love to be here but wasn't able to get off,’ our mother said. b. intransitive. To start on a journey; to begin a race.to get off on the right foot, to get off on the wrong foot: see foot n. and int. Phrases 3. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > departure, leaving, or going away > depart, leave, or go away [verb (intransitive)] > set out forthfarec888 foundOE seta1000 to go forthOE to fare forthc1200 partc1230 to pass forthc1325 to take (the) gatec1330 to take the wayc1330 to take one's waya1375 puta1382 treunt?a1400 movec1400 depart1490 prepare?1518 to set forth1530 to set forward(s)1530 busklea1535 to make out1558 to take forth1568 to set out1583 sally1590 start1591 to go off1600 to put forth1604 to start outa1626 intend1646 to take the road1720 to take one's foot in one's hand1755 to set off1774 to get off1778 to set away1817 to take out1855 to haul out1866 to hit the trail (less commonly the grit, pike, road, etc.)1873 to hit, split or take the breeze1910 hop1922 1778 M. Flinders Diary June in Gratefull to Providence (2007) I. 71 We got off early in the Morn, viz. 5 o'clock, and reached Peterborough by 8. 1839 Spirit of Times 11 May 115/2 In the second heat Coloradian did not get off very well, and the bay horse got the start some hundred yards or more. 1847 B. Disraeli Tancred I. ii. ix. 228 ‘You promised to recommend me a servant who had travelled in the East.’ ‘Well, are you in a hurry?’ said Lord Eskdale... ‘I should like to get off as soon as practicable.’ 1878 Sat. Rev. 26 Oct. 527/1 When a crowd of horses get off for a comparatively short race there is generally a tremendous scramble at starting. 1897 A. Morrison Dorrington Deed-box i We..got off comfortably by the ten o'clock train from Euston. 1922 Harper's Mag. Feb. 339/1 Come, we must be getting off, or we sha'n't be home till it's too late to explain. 1964 H. S. Thompson Let. 25 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 474 And when you tell me to get off to Berkeley for the sit-ins I say no thanks. 2012 Times & Transcript (New Brunswick) (Nexis) 31 July a4 He took it [sc. a boat's starter] all apart, cleaned it up and it was good to go. ‘He allowed us to get off at seven o'clock in the morning.’ c. intransitive. In imperative. colloquial. Used as an exclamation expressing impatience or incredulity; = to get away 1b(b) at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressions of disbelief [interjection] to go toc1275 in good timea1470 Walker1811 to get off1818 this beats my grandmother1819 to go on1835 your granny!1837 to get away1847 I ask you1855 great guns!1875 sure1907 oh yeah1927 Aunt Fanny1928 go 'long1974 to sod off1976 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection] whatOE well, wellOE avoyc1300 ouc1300 ay1340 lorda1393 ahaa1400 hillaa1400 whannowc1450 wow1513 why?1520 heydaya1529 ah1538 ah me!a1547 fore me!a1547 o me!a1547 what the (also a) goodyear1570 precious coals1576 Lord have mercy (on us)1581 good heavens1588 whau1589 coads1590 ay me!1591 my stars!a1593 Gods me1595 law1598 Godso1600 to go out1600 coads-nigs1608 for mercy!a1616 good stars!1615 mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616 gramercy1617 goodness1623 what next?1662 mon Dieu1665 heugh1668 criminy1681 Lawd1696 the dickens1697 (God, etc.) bless my heart1704 alackaday1705 (for) mercy's sake!1707 my1707 deuce1710 gracious1712 goodly and gracious1713 my word1722 my stars and garters!1758 lawka1774 losha1779 Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784 great guns!1795 mein Gott1795 Dear me!1805 fancy1813 well, I'm sure!1815 massy1817 Dear, dear!1818 to get off1818 laws1824 Mamma mia1824 by crikey1826 wisha1826 alleleu1829 crackey1830 Madonna mia1830 indeed1834 to go on1835 snakes1839 Jerusalem1840 sapristi1840 oh my days1841 tear and ages1841 what (why, etc.) in time?1844 sakes alive!1846 gee willikers1847 to get away1847 well, to be sure!1847 gee1851 Great Scott1852 holy mackerel!1855 doggone1857 lawsy1868 my wig(s)!1871 gee whiz1872 crimes1874 yoicks1881 Christmas1882 hully gee1895 'ullo1895 my hat!1899 good (also great) grief!1900 strike me pink!1902 oo-er1909 what do you know?1909 cripes1910 coo1911 zowiec1913 can you tie that?1918 hot diggety1924 yeow1924 ziggety1924 stone (or stiffen) the crows1930 hullo1931 tiens1932 whammo1932 po po po1936 how about that?1939 hallo1942 brother1945 tie that!1948 surprise1953 wowee1963 yikes1971 never1974 to sod off1976 whee1978 mercy1986 yipes1989 1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck II. 27 Get aff wi' your Hieland impudence. 1958 J. Wain Contenders 29 ‘Get off,’ I said. I should explain that ‘Get off’ is an expression much used in North Staffordshire as an ironic rejoinder to obvious remarks. 1977 B. Bainbridge Injury Time (1978) xiii. 115 Get off... You don't know what you're talking about. 2000 Independent 13 Aug. 38 I was like, ‘Get off!’ I honestly didn't believe him. d. transitive. To send (a letter, message, etc.) away from where one is. Also: to send (a person) away for some purpose. ΚΠ 1821 E. H. MacLeod Tales of Ton 2nd Ser. II. 197 I can get a letter off to Emma before that time. 1887 W. D. Howells Minister's Charge xxviii. 402 I've been trying to get off a letter to you..but I've been round so much, and upside down so much..that I've not been able to fetch it. 1918 E. Wharton Let. 7 July (1988) 406 I meant my very darndest to get off a letter last Friday. 1952 J. Thompson Killer inside Me xviii. 113 And she fixed her folks an early dinner, and got them off to a picture show about seven. 1961 I. Fleming Thunderball xxiii. 240 I'm going to..get a signal off to Navy Department. 1992 R. Condon Venerable Bead x. 56 It was essential that he get a signal off to Beijing. 3. intransitive. To escape, get away. to get off of: to get out of (now nonstandard). ΚΠ 1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love Praeludium sig. A4^v I would I knew how to get off with any indifferent Grace: Here take your Cloake, and promise some satisfaction in your Prologue. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. i. 126 They fought together, but Auffidius got off . View more context for this quotation 1693 tr. J. Le Clerc Mem. Count Teckely iv. 61 The Right Wing of the Christian Army, having..abandoned its attack..gave opportunity to the Janizaries..to get off on this side. 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 13 Apr. (1948) I. 242 I sent my excuses, adorned with about thirty compliments, and got off as fast as I could. 1749 W. Dodwell Free Answer 109 I was wondering..how he would get off of this difficulty. 1837 W. T. Moncrieff Sam Weller ii. iv. 23 I have strange misgivings—this letter that I've received from my landlady, calling upon me to fulfil my promise of marrying her..troubles me—I must get off of it somehow. a1854 E. Grant Mem. Highland Lady (1988) I. xi. 232 An alarm was given that the soldiers were in pursuit; they..got off to a different part of the forest, before the little pursuing detachment came. 1871 J. E. Cooke Out of Foam i. vii. 49 ‘Now is the time to get off,’ whispered the gypsy. ‘No: now is the time to discover more,’ returned Earle, coolly. 1913 W. New Eng. Mag. Oct. 420/1 They'll slip out of sight, and even if you foller their tracks for days they'll get off. 1983 Irish Times 18 June (Weekend section) 7/3 Will they get off to safety in time? 1991 W. Reynolds in V. LoBrutto Sel. Takes ii. 25 At that point I called Warren and said, ‘As this is the procedure she is going to follow, you don't need three editors anymore, can I go?’ That's how I got off of it. 4. a. transitive. To deliver (a person) from punishment, or procure a modified penalty for. ΘΚΠ society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > be exempt from (a liability or obligation) [verb (transitive)] > free from obligation freeeOE unbind1297 quitclaima1325 acquit1340 excuse1340 loose1340 releasec1350 assoil1366 soilc1384 dischargea1387 quita1387 relieve1416 absoil1440 deliver1440 acquittance1448 quiet1450 acquiet1453 absolve?a1475 defease1475 skill1481 relax1511 redeema1513 exoner1533 exonerate1548 solvec1550 distask1592 disgage1594 upsolve1601 disoblige1603 disengage1611 to get off1623 exclude1632 supersedea1644 to let off1814 to let out1869 1623 P. Massinger Duke of Millaine iv. ii. sig. M3 I am got off, Sir Iew, a bribe hath done it. 1646 Earle of Carberyes Pedegree 1 The said Earle is about London, making all the friends he can to get him off of these ills. 1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 46 I'll see and get you off if I can. 1790 E. Butler Jrnl. 24 Apr. in E. M. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) 250 She threatened to ‘wand him’ but we got him off. 1862 Temple Bar 5 452 He promised to get my master off on payment of a fine. 1885 Times 18 May 5 Riel's friends were powerful enough to get him off with five years' banishment. 1937 W. M. Raine Bucky follows Cold Trail ii. 12 He'll hire some slick lawyer to get him off. Let the folks he has ruined cook his goose for him, I say. 1983 R. Rendell Speaker of Mandarin xviii. 205 He got Henry off, of course he did, considering Henry never done it. 2003 Independent 2 Dec. i. 15/5 His solicitor bottled out on the day before the Old Bailey trial and the replacement was unable to get him off, despite an alibi provided by workmates. b. intransitive. To evade or avoid punishment, defeat, injury, loss, etc., entirely, or to a specified degree; to escape with or for a specified (comparatively lenient) loss or penalty; to be acquitted in a criminal trial. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [verb (intransitive)] > escape unscathed escapec1330 to get off1640 to come out smelling of roses1960 1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes i. 81 The Christians got off with the losse of two thousand men. 1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes i. 146 The Christians having got off for seventy two thousand horse, and two and twenty thousand of their infantry. 1664 R. Hooke Let. 10 Nov. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 400 It was Mr. Rich: Reves that has kild his wife, but he now hopes, that he shall be able to gett off. 1691 W. Nicholls Answer Naked Gospel Answer to Pref. sig. B4^v But perhaps the Trinitarians will not so easily get off here. 1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 288 He got off for 4000l. 1759 W. H. Dilworth Life of Pope 98 By this artful compliment Mr. Pope got off. 1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge lxxiii. 367 He had got off very well with a reprimand. 1881 E. Lynn Linton My Love! III. iv. 79 The Pennefathers got off with fewer rebukes than usual. 1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke xxxvi. 408 The leaders of the insurrection got off much more lightly than their followers. 1928 E. Waugh Decline & Fall i. xiii. 145 He'll get off on a plea of insanity. Loopy, you know. 1943 Signalman's Jrnl. Jan. 27 The United States got off lightly in the first World War. 1954 A. White Beyond Glass i. ii. 25 But that's barbarous! He gets off scot free and she has to be dragged through the mud. 1989 T. M. Albert Tales Ulster Detective 34 The burglary at the Rectory was never solved, and the lads who had been the catalyst in the whole thing got off with a caution. 1997 V. Suvorov & A. Sabelnikov Fist Manned Spaceflight xvi. 109 Fortunately he got off lightly: only minor injuries and a pair of bruises. 2008 Independent 8 May 33/1 Against the odds the celebrity gets off, usually because a dozy policeman or prosecutor has failed to follow the correct procedure. 5. a. transitive. To get off one's hands; to find a market for (goods); colloquial to get (one's daughter) married (now rare). Also intransitive: to get married or engaged to be married. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (transitive)] > get (someone) married to put off1631 to get off1677 1677 R. Ferguson East-India-trade 24 They fall the price, and under-sell one another, to get off their Goods. 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 248. ⁋8 The common Design of Parents is to get their Girls off as well as they can. 1724 J. Swift Let. to Shop-keepers of Ireland (new ed.) 6 Woods..to get them [his Half-Pence] off offered an Hundred Pounds in his Coin for Seventy or Eighty in Silver. 1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. ii. 41 There's no less than six of her nieces, whom she has got off within these four winters—Not one of 'em now, that has not made a catch-match. 1848 Punch 15 153 We are not aware that ‘high moral attainments’ were required to get off ‘fifty thousand straw bonnets’. 1868 F. C. Burnand Hit & ‘Miss’ i. 14 You should have got her off as she's a daughter—Why, noblemen in numbers must have sought her. 1915 B. Ruck Courtship of Rosamond Fayre iii ‘Miss Urquhart's got off herself.’ ‘She has and she hasn't. Her chap's always away.’ 1923 E. Bowen Encounters 116 It had been difficult to get poor Cicely off. 1989 Financial Post (Canada) (Nexis) 31 May (sport section) 52 A rights offering would have got the stock off at a touch under $50. †b. intransitive. to get off with: to get rid of, have done with. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > get or be rid of refusea1387 to be rid of (also on)c1450 beskyfte1470 to be, get shut of, (dialect) shut on?a1500 to claw off1514 get1558 to put away1577 to get rid of1591 quit1606 to get off with1719 ding1753 shoot1805 to stay shet of1837 shuck1848 shunt1858 shake1872 to dust off1938 1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 148 I thought to have gotten off with my young Priest, by telling him [etc.]. c. transitive. To succeed in uttering (something, esp. a joke). ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > succeed in uttering to get off1843 1843 Trumpet & Universalist Mag. 21 Jan. 121 Mr. H. chuckled into his sleeves when he got off his joke on the Millerites. 1849 Yale Literary Mag. 14 187 There is the writing of one who tried to ‘get off’, as the boys say, something comic on every occasion. 1858 J. G. Holland Titcomb's Lett. (1873) vii. 58 Have you a good set of teeth, which you are willing to show whenever the wit of the company gets off a good thing? 1886 K. S. Macquoid Sir J. Appleby II. vi. 83 If [he] had to speak at any public occasion, he could never get a sentence off without hesitation. 1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 618/1 They would..get off their jokes on him and insult him. 1939 Business Week 25 Feb. 36/2 You've heard some radio comedian crack, after getting off a poor gag, ‘There goes my Crossley’. 1978 D. Norden in F. Muir & D. Norden Take my Word for It 87 Descartes was able to get off quite a few zingers relating to..rationality. 2008 Washington Post (Nexis) 25 Feb. c1 Carell got off a joke when he introduced the nominees for Best Animated Feature by calling ‘Ratatouille’ a scathing indictment of health code violations, when it is actually about a cute rodent in the kitchen. 6. intransitive. a. Originally: to dismount from a horse. Subsequently also: to alight from a railway carriage, tram, bus, etc. Also (esp. in early use) with from or (now nonstandard) of. Cf. to get off —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride a horse (or other animal) [verb (intransitive)] > dismount lighteOE alightOE falla1300 avoid1485 demountc1540 elight1542 descend1548 avale1590 dismount1594 alighten1600 unlight1623 unhorse1633 unmount1655 to get off1688 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 To get off from his Horse, descendre de Cheval. 1722 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack 113 Ha, Brother Jack, says I, get off of the Horse this Moment. 1774 J. Woodforde Diary 16 Mar. (1924) I. 125 When I came to Shepton I got of at Mr. White's. 1834 Jamestown (N.Y.) Jrnl. 29 Jan. 1/5 The Massachusetts Masons,..like the rummy deacon, who fell from his horse—have merely ‘got off to get on better’. 1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table viii. 204 Many people can ride on horseback who find it hard to get on and to get off without assistance. 1885 Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe 24 Apr. This persistent practice of the dear public in getting off of moving cars. 1896 G. Ade Artie i. 5 If he gets on a street-car where I am, I get off and walk. 1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms ix. 73 He entered the train at Oxford Circus and got off at Piccadilly. 1935 E. Bagnold National Velvet viii. 137 Velvet flung herself off... ‘What have you got off for?’ said Mrs. Brown. 1969 J. Singer tr. I. B. Singer Estate ii. xii. 187 A stout woman in a fur coat and a velvet hat got off. Someone carried her basket and a small valise. 1986 D. Arkell Alain-Fournier ii. 35 They were getting off at the same stop near the Luxembourg Gardens. 1994 S. E. Ambrose D-Day xix. 370 The GIs were trying to get off, but when the first two got shot as they jumped off the ramp, the others refused to leave. b. colloquial (originally U.S.). to tell (someone) where he or she gets off (also to tell (someone) where to get off) and variants: to rebuke for presumption or interference; to tell off. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)] threac897 threapc897 begripea1000 threata1000 castea1200 chaste?c1225 takec1275 blame1297 chastya1300 sniba1300 withnima1315 undernima1325 rebukec1330 snuba1340 withtakea1340 reprovec1350 chastisea1375 arate1377 challenge1377 undertake1377 reprehenda1382 repreync1390 runta1398 snapea1400 underfoc1400 to call to account1434 to put downc1440 snebc1440 uptakec1440 correptc1449 reformc1450 reprise?c1450 to tell (a person) his (also her, etc.) own1450 control1451 redarguec1475 berisp1481 to hit (cross) one over (of, on) the thumbs1522 checkc1530 admonish1541 nip1548 twig?1550 impreve1552 lesson1555 to take down1562 to haul (a person) over the coals1565 increpate1570 touch1570 school1573 to gather up1577 task1580 redarguate?1590 expostulate1592 tutor1599 sauce1601 snip1601 sneap1611 to take in tax1635 to sharp up1647 round1653 threapen1671 reprimand1681 to take to task1682 document1690 chapter1693 repulse1746 twink1747 to speak to ——1753 haul1795 to pull up1799 carpet1840 rig1841 to talk to1860 to take (a person) to the woodshed1882 rawhide1895 to tell off1897 to tell (someone) where he or she gets off1900 to get on ——1904 to put (a person) in (also into) his, her place1908 strafe1915 tick1915 woodshed1935 to slap (a person) down1938 sort1941 bind1942 bottle1946 mat1948 ream1950 zap1961 elder1967 1900 G. Ade More Fables 163 He said he was a Gentleman, and that no Cheap Skate in a Plug Hat could tell him where to Get Off. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt vii. 93 Once in a while I got to assert my authority, and..I told him just exactly where he got off. 1953 J. Trench Docken Dead vi. 90 I'm sure you knew how to deal with the police. Told them where they got off, I expect. 1963 D. Lessing Man & Two Women 128 If just for once she told us where to get off. 1998 P. Jooste Dance with Poor Man's Daughter (1999) xi. 156 He could have told her any time he liked exactly where she could get off. 2001 C. Petit Hard Shoulder (2002) 25 Ach, tell her where to get off, that's what I would do. You're the one that fucking came back to lend a hand, so she can bloody well respect that once in a while. c. U.S. colloquial. where does —— get off doing (also to do)?: what right has —— (to do something)?, how dare —— (do something)? Also: (without gerund or infinitive as complement) where does —— get off? ΚΠ 1922 McClure's Mag. Apr. 62/1 Where does he get off challenging the champion? 1948 Life 1 Mar. 13/2 Where does John G. Nichols get off calling Wyoming's capitol building a sprawling mess…? 1954 V. Delmar & E. Delmar Mid-summer iii. 69 Where does he get off to make a proposition like that—. 1959 G. Paley Little Disturbances of Man 114 Where does he get off? That fat slob... What does he think I am? 1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities (1988) iii. 70 Where did she get off, giving him such a hard time? 2006 C. Messud Emperor's Children (2007) 410 Where the fuck do you get off, you little nullity, you common little piece of shit, snooping around in my papers and crapping all over them? 7. transitive. To learn, commit to memory. Also to get off by heart (cf. sense 20). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > memorization > memorize, learn by heart [verb (transitive)] record?c1225 renderc1380 to can by rotec1405 con?a1425 to con by heartc1449 can1496 to bear away1530 get1540 commend to memory1550 commit?1551 to con over1605 rotea1616 lodge1622 to get off by heart1709 memorize1834 rehearse1902 memorate1983 1709 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 308 He would always make them set about his own [Grammar], and spend time in getting it off intirely. ?1786 J. Nares Conc. & Easy Treat. on Singing 3 The Scholar ought..to get this Table off by Heart. 1856 Children's Mag. 211 We..hope every one of you will get them [sc. religious verses] off perfectly; and never forget them as long as you live. 1861 Temple Bar 3 141 Read the Times..and get off by heart that portion..devoted to the news of the money-market. 1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xvii. 201 Our religious system has no set form of liturgy to be got off by heart and repeated. 1927 W. Katzin tr. J.-J. Bernard Glamour ii. ii. in Eight European Plays 43 Gérard. Then will you hear my fable now? Olivier. [Far off.] If you like. Gérard. I've got it off pat, you'll see. 1942 Scotsman 29 Oct. 4/2 The young lecturer had got it off by heart, but at sight of the dignified assembly he found to his horror that he had forgotten every word. 2012 Express (Nexis) 31 May 15 I made an effort in my 20s to get off by heart Coleridge's gorgeous poem Frost At Midnight. 8. a. transitive. To succeed in getting (a child) to go to sleep. colloquial. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [verb (transitive)] > put to or cause to sleep swevec725 to fall, lull, lay (bring obs.) asleepa1500 slumber?1533 soporate1623 insomniatea1657 to get off1836 sleepa1843 1836 Mag. Domest. Econ. 1 210 On no account should it be considered indispensable that a child should be ‘got off to sleep’. 1951 N. Mitford Blessing i. iii. 25 Well, I only hope he won't overexcite the poor little fellow. You know what it's like getting him off, evenings. 1968 A. Laski Keeper ii. 23 Gavin's been playing up; teeth; I think she may have just about got him off. 2006 N. Monaghan Killing Jar (2007) ii. 11 Mommar used to take me for drives when I was little, to get me off to sleep. b. intransitive. To succeed in falling asleep; to fall asleep. Frequently in to get off to sleep. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [verb (intransitive)] > go to sleep or fall asleep to fall, lull, lay (bring obs.) asleepOE to fall overa1752 to go off1813 to drop off1820 to fall off1822 to get off to sleep1837 to fall off1862 tope1863 sleepy-baw1907 to go out1928 to zizz off1962 1837 United Service Jrnl. Sept. 50 I..at last found a snug berth on the booms under the bow of the launch, and got off to sleep. 1855 Ladies' Repository Oct. 596/1 When I went to bed I found it very difficult to sleep; and when I did get off at last, my thoughts shaped themselves into a singular dream. 1891 Cassell's Family Mag. Mar. 212/1 I find I can get off to sleep by trying to count up to 100. 1922 V. Woolf Jacob's Room i. 17 I thought he'd never get off—such a hurricane. 1934 L. A. G. Strong Corporal Tune iii. iv. 267 If you find you can't get off tonight..don't lie awake. Ring your bell, and ask sister to give you my ‘A’ drink. 1969 A. Laski Dominant Fifth v. 182 The doctor gave me some very good sleeping-pills and said I must take one every evening, and so I did, though not until I'm sure Tess has got off. 1998 A. Hollinghurst Spell (1999) i. 11 Actually I was asleep. I'd just got off, I'm extremely tired. 2011 T. Slater No More Time-outs 102 After one of her funny cigarette things, a couple of Valiums and a pint of Remy Martin VSOP, she got off to sleep. 9. intransitive. slang (originally U.S.). Frequently with on. a. To achieve sexual satisfaction; to experience an orgasm; cf. to get one's rocks off at rock n.¹ Phrases 9. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > effects of drugs > be under influence of drugs [verb (intransitive)] > become intoxicated by drugs to get off1867 the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > [verb (intransitive)] > experience pleasurable excitement to get off1867 buzz1927 the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > [verb (intransitive)] > experience sexual ecstasy or climax to get off1867 to feel the earth move1940 climax1971 orgasm1973 1867 A. Doten Jrnls. (1973) II. 959 She didn't get off at all—too much in a hurry [printed in cipher Shz tltn'd gzd jvv xd xii-- Djj mcuh ln x hcrrw]. 1973 D. Lang Freaks 30 Another time..Annie got off on her own fingers while describing exactly what it felt like to her ex-husband on the telephone. 1976 N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone ii. 55 And the shrink getting off on it all, sitting there with one hand stuck in his fly. 2006 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 136/3 What a strange little game, orgasmic cat-n-mouse—he wants me to come; I don't want him to know for sure that I did, but I never leave his hotel room without getting off. b. Of a jazz musician: to improvise skilfully. ΚΠ 1933 Fortune Aug. 47/1 Returning to Trombonist Brown, he can get off, swing it, sock it, smear it, or go to town (all of which mean syncopate to beat the band). 1937 Amer. Speech 12 182/1 Lick, what a soloist plays when he gets off, if it is hot. 1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang 579/9 Play ‘hot jazz’; ‘swing’, get off on it. 1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues 4 When I get off on my horn the joint still jumps. 1955 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (ed. 3) xii. 289 The present-day solo is esteemed modern and full of ideas in direct proportion to the more unrecognizable it makes the melody. Such ‘getting off’ conceals lack of true invention. 1966 Downbeat 5 May 23 You can bet a man that they can get off on them horns. 1997 Spectator (Hamilton, Ont.) 24 July c7 Trombonist Keith Bilinsky and trumpeter Even Champion got off some ripping solos. c. To experience an emotional high; to enjoy or be turned on by something. ΚΠ 1952 C. Himes Cast First Stone xxi. 239 It was just..a substitute for sex. Just getting off, I thought. 1973 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 May 43/3 Yeah, there are hockey chicks, girls who get off on jocks. 1973 Rolling Stone 8 Nov. 20/3 I remember buying their album and getting off. 1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) ii. 10/2 She really got off on weddings. 1984 N. Mailer Tough Guys don't Dance ii. 29 I could get off on my plans for the day if only the dream that I was in Prison would not persist. 2009 M. A. Taylor-Hall At Breakers iii. 172 She seemed..to be getting off on this largely female, elderly atmosphere of comfort and routine. d. To be under the influence of or stimulated by an illicit drug; to get high. ΚΠ 1952 H. Ellson Golden Spike xxv. 138 I'm dying to get off. 1969 R. R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z 82 Get off, to inject heroin. 1980 A. Kukla in L. Michaels & C. B. Ricks State of Lang. 521 Did you get off on that acid you took last night? 2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 77 His pupils were pinpricks: Could you have a tea high? As Adam said, if you take enough of anything you'll get off on it. 10. intransitive. colloquial (chiefly British). To become acquainted or friendly with (a potential sexual partner); (also) to have a sexual relationship with. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > flirt with [verb (transitive)] > become amorously acquainted with to get off1913 cop1940 1913 in P. Farrer Confid. Corr. on Cross Dressing (1997) 54 He was walking past as if he did not know me, but I gave him the glad eye in the approved fashion, and actually got off with him! 1914 W. L. George Making of Englishman III. 300 She had come into the restaurant on the chance of ‘getting off’ with ‘one of the boys’. 1925 ‘F. Lonsdale’ Spring Cleaning i. 13 What fun it would be if one of us could get off with him. 1936 W. H. Auden Look, Stranger! 35 The lady who admires us, you Have thought you're getting off with too. 1967 J. G. Davis Hold my Hand I'm Dying xx. 176 ‘It's the same every party’, I said, ‘everybody getting off with everybody else's spouse.’ She nodded... ‘Is she attractive?’.. ‘Listen, Suzie. I wasn't messing around with her. She just makes a bit of a fuss of me’. a1971 S. Smith Coll. Poems (1975) 316 Mother said if I wore this hat I should be certain to get off with the right sort of chap. 2000 M. Beaumont e 153 What happened to you Friday night? Did you get off with that Bosnian barmaid? to get on 1. transitive. a. To put on (an article of dress). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] > put on to do oneOE graitha1375 puta1382 to take on1389 to let falla1400 takea1400 to put on?a1425 endow1484 addressa1522 to get on1549 to draw on1565 don1567 to pull on1578 dight1590 sumpterc1595 to get into ——1600 on with1600 array1611 mount1785 to cast on1801 endoss1805 endue1814 ship1829 1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Eph. vi. f. xiv^v Get on all your harnesse. 1565 J. Fisher Copy of Let. describing Woorke of God sig. A. viii^v Vntill the women had gotten on her hosen. 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. iii. 130 Get on thy boots, weel ride al night. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. ii. 68 Get on your Night-Gowne. View more context for this quotation 1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xli. 14) 318 And should not we get on our best [raiment], when we are to come before God? 1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) ii. 50 It was such an opperation..to get off some of my clothes, and to get on my night-clothes. 1891 ‘L. Malet’ Wages of Sin III. vi. i. 63 As the vulgar little boys say, Carr has ‘got 'em all on’ to-night, hasn't he? 1985 J. Winterson Oranges are not Only Fruit 77 Get that mac on. 2002 J. Thompson Wide Blue Yonder i. 13 He hopped around the room one-legged to get his pants on, then fell back, oof, on the bed. b. In the perfect (compare sense 33). to have got on: to be wearing; = have v. 6a(b). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [verb (transitive)] wearc893 weighc897 beareOE haveOE usea1382 to get on1679 sport1778 to stand up in1823 take1868 1679 Tryall R. Langhorn 53 He is no Quaker, for he hath got a Perriwig on. 1752 S. Foote Taste ii. 29 He has got a black Wig on, and speaks outlandish. 1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy I. xxi. 141 A new pair of black-plush-breeches which he had got on. 1865 C. Dickens Lett. (1999) XI. 89 I have got a boot on to-day,—made on an Otranto scale, but not very discernible from its ordinary sized companion. 1882 Ballou's Monthly Mag. Sept. 240/2 I wanted Fred to ride just now, but he would not. He has got on his ball toggery. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers vi. 122 She had got a new cotton blouse on. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock iii. i. 76 He hadn't got a vest on, or a tie. 2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy vi. 141 Her and Delilah had got the work gear on, and stiletto-tripped down to their usual patch. c. To place on the fire or (in recent use) switch on (a kettle, etc.). ΚΠ 1710 D. Hilman Tusser Redivivus June 14 Before the Maid hath got her Kettle on. 1839 Thirty-six Yrs. Seafaring Life 332 We soon lit a good fire not far from the tent, got the kettle on, had supper. 1888 R. Dowling Miracle Gold II. xvi. 56 I've got the kettle on and must run down. 1921 ‘E. Mordaunt’ Laura Creichton (1922) xxiv. 224 I'll get the kettle on and make you some tea. 1990 J. McGill That Rubens Guy (1991) 29 Phil shouted at them to get the kettle on for his shaving water. 2014 L. Bardugo Ruin & Rising 274 ‘You can start by getting water boiling for breakfast.’ Misha nodded once, then jogged back through the gravel to get the water on. 2. a. intransitive. To move or go forward physically, to advance (also figurative). Also: to make haste, get moving. ΚΠ 1602 A. Munday tr. 3rd Pt. Palmerin of Eng. xxii. f. 55 Blandidon, Pompides, Dirdan, and Francian, had much adoe to get on toward the Cittie, because one of Ristoranos brethren.., had so narrowly beset them in euery place. 1647 O. Sedgwick Nature & Danger of Heresies 23 Though truth gets on very slowly,..yet erroneous and false opinions do break out with ease and spread swiftly. 1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xix. 64 You do get on at a tearing rate. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 131 Then, prithee, get on—get on, my good lad, said I. 1777 M. Hunter Jrnl. (1894) 25 The guns got on so slowly that we did not arrive at Brunswick before ten the next morning. 1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 28 Apr. (1939) 162 In walking I am like a spavined horse, and heat as I get on. 1891 Leisure Hour Jan. 151/2 Let us get on and lose no time. 1977 B. Bainbridge Injury Time (1978) ii. 23 ‘I must get on,’ said Binny, worriedly, rising from her seat. 2000 K. Atkinson Emotionally Weird (2001) 114 ‘Yes, well, must be getting on,’ she said..; ‘things to do, people to see—you know how it is.’ b. transitive. To put on, succeed in acquiring (speed, etc.). Frequently in to get a move on: see move n. 3f. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > rate of motion > move at specific rate [verb (transitive)] > put on (speed) to get on1836 1836 Spirit of Times 30 July 187/1 By a quick horse, I mean one that is quick in getting on his speed again after having been stopped at his fences. 1891 Field 21 Nov. 770/1 Their forwards often got on a good deal of pace, but were never really dangerous. ?1973 R. Galton & A. Simpson Best of Steptoe & Son (1989) 131 I've got my horse on a meter outside. Could you get a wiggle on, please? 2005 T. Hafer Split Decision ii. 31 ‘Have a good one, Chop,’ he said. ‘Get your speed on.’ 3. intransitive. Originally: to mount a horse; (also, in sexual context) to get on to a person. Subsequently also: to go on board a railway carriage, tram, bus, etc. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride a horse (or other animal) [verb (intransitive)] > mount worthOE mountc1330 lighta1450 horse1535 to get up1553 to get on1613 to take horse1617 saddle1834 to saddle up1849 1599 W. Perneby Direction to Death 251 The euill committed in getting wil creepe also vpon those that shall after haue the same in keeping, and being gotten on, it will cleaue so fast to, as neither the receiuers shall prosper with their gifts receiued, nor the things receiued with the receiuers.] 1613 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (rev. ed.) i. lxviii. 156 Alexanders horse..suffered no man to get-on and sit-him, but his master. 1624 W. Browne His Fiftie Yeares Pract. iv. Then come to him [sc. a colt] and offer to get on, and if hee will stand gently, then goe on as before. 1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 365 You ride so near the Rumple, you'll let none get on behind. 1742 Select Trials Old-Bailey (new ed.) II. 297 He threw me down again, and committed a Rape upon me; and, as soon as he got off, the Prisoner got on, and ravished me again. 1856 Country Gentleman 2 Oct. 220/2 If he is not inclined to stand for you to get on—make him stand while you get off and on. 1886 Cases Courts of Appeals Missouri 18 610 Plaintiff called a gentleman to witness that he did get on at Harlem. 1932 Prairie Schooner 6 2 On his thin face was written a fear that the train might start before he had got on. 1986 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 15 July 30 The bus girl had the final say as to who got on if the bus was too crowded. 2003 E. Gregg & R. Trillo Rough Guide to Gambia 30/1 They don't normally run to a timetable, and passengers can get on or off anywhere along the fixed route. 4. intransitive. a. Of a person: to advance, make progress, or continue in an activity. Also with with (work, a business, etc.). Also: (of a process, a piece of work, etc.) to proceed, progress, develop. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > progress or advance in an action [verb (intransitive)] wadec1374 passc1387 proceeda1393 followa1400 to pass ona1400 to get forward1523 pace1597 step1599 to get on1655 to get along1768 to tide one's way1827 to come along1844 press1870 the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > advance or make progress furtherc1200 profit1340 to go alongc1400 to get forward1523 advance1577 proceedc1592 to take or make strides1600 to get on1655 to get along1768 to get ahead1807 to be well away1821 to get somewhere (also anywhere)1923 ramp1980 1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (xi. 178) iii. 152 This should put us on cheerfully to get on in the work and way of the Lord. 1789 Proc. Old Bailey 14 Jan. 102/2 The putrefaction was getting on so fast at that time, Mr. Read and I had agreed that Mr. North, another surgeon, should be called in. 1798 R. Southey in C. C. Southey Life & Corr. R. Southey (1849) I. 347 The more the work gets on, the better does it please me. 1803 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) I. 328 Don Manuel cannot get on for want of such knowledge and of a book of the roads. 1813 T. Moore in Mem. (1853) I. 350 I am more anxious than I can tell you to get on with it [sc. my poem]. 1819 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) III. 353 I am getting on with the ‘Book of the Church’. 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 446 We began to flench; but..we only got slowly on. 1891 G. Gissing New Grub St. I. iv. 84 ‘What is the matter?’ she began. ‘Why can't you get on with the story?’ 1954 G. Durrell Bafut Beagles (1956) 225 A bag of twenty specimens, which I thought was quite enough to be getting on with. 1983 H. Evans Good Times, Bad Times xii. 249 They had grown used to getting on with the job with little guidance. 2002 C. Newland Snakeskin ix. 108 All right, mate. Lemme go and get on wiv my job then. b. colloquial. to get on with it: to continue with one's affairs, to pursue one's course without help or interference; (frequently in imperative) to hurry, get a move on. ΚΠ 1895 ‘A. Hope’ Heart of Princess Osra in McClure's Mag. Aug. 222/2 The Bishop..asked if he were now to perform his sacred duties. ‘Aye, get on with it,’ growled the Lion. 1905 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 450/1 ‘If you will, you will,’ I said. ‘Get on with it then; I'll reach down.’ 1932 R. Fraser Marriage in Heaven ii. vi. 161 I've always just let people get on with it, especially men, if they didn't like what I said or did. 1955 J. Bingham Paton Street Case v. 91 I started out with some idea of serving the community and bunk like that, and now the community can get on with it as far as I'm concerned. 1983 R. Curtis & R. Atkinson Black Adder in R. Curtis et al. Blackadder: Whole Damn Dynasty (1998) 15/2 King. He shall be struck down. Richard III. Then get on with it, you stupid oaf: there he is! 2000 G. Marinovich & J. Silva Bang-Bang Club (2001) xvii. 245 Joao listened for a while, eventually losing his temper, and told Kevin to ‘Get on with it’. 2003 C. Birch Turn again Home iii. 48 ‘Well, we all feel like that sometimes,’ said Bessie briskly, ‘but we just have to get on with it, don't we?’ 5. a. intransitive. To prosper, succeed. Frequently in to get on in the world: see world n. Phrases 16c. Also: to fare (in some specified way, or with a suggestion of some success or progress). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed or be a success [verb (intransitive)] > achieve success (of persons) speed993 achievec1300 escheve?a1400 succeed1509 to turn up trumps1595 fadge1611 to nick ita1637 to hit the mark (also nail, needle, pin)1655 to get on1768 to reap, win one's laurels1819 to go a long way1859 win out1861 score1882 to make it1885 to make a ten-strike1887 to make the grade1912 to make good1914 to bring home the bacon1924 to go places1931 the world > action or operation > doing > a proceeding > proceed or carry on an action [verb (intransitive)] > be carried on or proceed > in specific way goeOE farec1230 speeda1250 to get on1813 the world > action or operation > doing > a proceeding > proceed or carry on an action [verb (intransitive)] > get on well or badly farec1000 speeda1122 wendc1325 hapc1350 wieldc1384 frame1509 shift?1533 to make out1776 to get on1861 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 192 This poor blighted part of my species, who have neither size or strength to get on in the world. 1785 J. Trusler Mod. Times I. 115 So it is in society, we labour to get on and become conspicuous. 1797 in Rep. Comm. Secrecy House of Commons Ireland (1798) 21 Aug. App. xxix. 47 He asked the prisoner Matthews, how he was getting on in the company? He said, ‘Very well.’ 1813 T. Moore in Mem. (1853) I. 342 She had to come down and see how her crocuses and primroses before the window were getting on. 1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xii. 420 Not the way to get on in life, you'll tell me? 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. i. 11 According to promise, I write to tell you how I get on up here. 1885 Manch. Examiner 13 Apr. 5/2 Mr. Courtney seemed to get on swimmingly till he got to Bodmin. 1911 G. B. Shaw Getting Married Pref. in Doctor's Dilemma 124 It used to be said that members of large families get on in the world. 1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier vii. 145 It is still dimly felt that a Northerner will ‘get on’, i.e. make money, where a Southerner will fail. 1965 G. Jones Island of Apples ii. vii. 135 Boys he knew who had called in to see how she was getting on lately. 1971 C. Bell & H. Newby Community Stud. v. 158 Social mobility in Franza proceeds by a kind of spiralism. Individuals must ‘get out’ in order to ‘get on’. 2000 L. McTaggart Being Catholic Today xxii. 194 Nobody gets on in life by blubbering after a bad meeting or refusing to take decisions. b. transitive. To advance a person's interests. Usually reflexive. ΚΠ 1793 C. Smith Old Manor House IV. x. 277 Before your youngest son goes the way of your eldest, think a little of making him do something to get himself on in the world. 1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park II. i. 12 It is very uncertain when my interest might have got William on. View more context for this quotation 1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 18 Using men as his tools to get himself on. 1914 McClure's Mag. May 194/1 And you learned, somehow, that the thing to do was to get yourself on, get up out of it, make a success of your life? 2003 in R. Bryant-Jefferies Counselling Recovering Drug User viii. 113 Doing things without getting bored by them, studying, getting myself on in life and in work. 6. intransitive. Esp. in the progressive. a. to be getting on for (to, towards): to be advancing towards, coming close to (a certain age, time, number, etc.). getting on for: (followed by a quantity) nearly, not quite (British colloquial). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > approximate quantity or amount > approximate to (an amount) [verb (transitive)] to want little (also naught)a1500 to be getting on for (to, towards)1784 touch1851 approach1871 1784 Proc. Old Bailey 15 Sept. 1062/1 It was getting on towards the evening. 1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 183/1 I was about getting on for twelve when father first bought me a concertina. 1861 Temple Bar 3 145 It's getting on for eleven. 1874 G. W. Dasent Tales from Fjeld 64 When it was getting on towards gray dawn in the morning, down fell snow. 1892 St. Nicholas Mag. 14 502/2 Lott was taller than ever. ‘He's getting on for six feet’, said Tom. 1892 Rev. of Reviews 15 Mar. 301/1 We have an overcrowded population getting on to 40,000,000. 1908 C. B. Larymore Resident's Wife in Nigeria ix. 149 Our new three-guinea mackintoshes had vanished! This was getting on towards ‘the last straw’. 1931 W. S. Maugham Six Stories 130 ‘You talk as though you were going to live here all your life,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I am,’ she smiled. ‘What nonsense! At your age.’ ‘I'm getting on for forty, old boy.’ 1951 C. P. Snow Masters xv. 132 I've been coming to these feasts now for getting on for sixty years. 1961 Bulletin (Sydney) 17 May 32/1 Towards the end of a cane season, getting on to Christmas, it was so hot that you used to wish you could work at night instead of in the day. 1985 Listener 6 June 21 (advt.) Gas provides getting on for sixty per cent of all the heat used in British homes. 2003 I. Banks Raw Spirit (2004) vi. 114 There were getting on for ten thousand people swarming over the place. b. Of time: to be getting late. ΚΠ 1809 ‘Miss Byron’ Celia I. iii. 33 Time is getting on—you are now five years older than I was when I married. 1855 J. H. Newman Callista (1856) vi. 47 Here the rushing of the water-clock which measured time in the neighbouring square ceased, signifying thereby that the night was getting on. 1882 W. Besant Revolt of Man (1883) ii. 52 He took out his watch and remarked that the time was getting on. 1905 H. B. M. Watson Twisted Eglantine iii. 58 Sir Piers, I hope you are come to stay to dinner. The hour is getting on, and we shall be ready soon. 1934 Punch 31 Oct. 500/2 As a matter of fact I'm on my way to buy some lump sugar, and it's getting on. 2003 H. Holt Death in Practice (2004) xiv. 177 Time was getting on and the best charity cards always seem to get snapped up by the middle of November nowadays. c. Of a person: to become old. (a) to get on in years or life. ΘΚΠ the world > life > source or principle of life > age > old age > be or seem old [verb (intransitive)] > grow old oldeOE eldc1175 to fall in (also to) agea1398 forlive1398 hoara1420 runa1425 age1440 veterate1623 senesce1656 olden1700 wane1821 to get on in years1822 senilize1841 1822 W. Irving Bracebridge Hall II. 47 As I get on in life, I find it more difficult to deceive myself in this delightful manner. 1826 Remarks on Exodus Mar. 14 These, with some other vanities and grosser sins, are the pleasures of youth:—as you get on In years, the nature of them changes. 1885 ‘L. Malet’ Col. Enderby's Wife (ed. 3) I. ii. i. 102 As one gets on in years. 1891 Temple Bar Oct. 149 He was getting on in life, whereas his fiancée was not yet twenty. 1957 M. Goudeket Close to Colette xv. 111 As she got on in life, she needed more instruments of control, as if navigation were becoming more difficult. 2003 M. A. Doody in C. Fox Cambr. Compan. Jonathan Swift v. 96 To be getting on in years, plain, respectable, and poor—these are not splendid qualities. (b) Without prepositional phrase as complement. ΚΠ 1862 L. M. Alcott Jrnl. Dec. in E. D. Cheney L. M. Alcott (1889) vii. 141 I felt as if I was getting on... My thirty years made me feel old. 1902 Ainslee's Mag. May 317/2 I'm getting on, Dorothy... I'm forty-one... I've quite a lot of gray hairs. 1921 J. Galsworthy To Let i. v. 60 It's a great comfort to have you back, my dear boy, now that I'm getting on. 1972 J. Johnston Captains & Kings 36 One's eyes start playing up as one gets on. 1992 B. Gill Death of Love xx. 271 The old fella's getting on now, and he doesn't fancy splashing out for every new drug that comes on the market. 7. intransitive. To manage with (something regarded as inadequate) or without (something regarded as useful or necessary). ΚΠ 1786 J. Jay Let. 29 Mar. in Corr. & Public Papers (1891) III. 188 It is hard to tell whether your government gets on with one leg, or runs on those of the Executive Council. 1788 European Mag. Oct. 289/2 Even in the Blue-stocking Society, formed solely for the purpose of conversation, it was found, after repeated trials, impossible to get on without one card-table. 1835 J. F. Cooper Monikins II. vi. 104 As for the principles and forms of the monikin law,..I do not pretend that they are faultless;..—but we get on with them as well as we can. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vii. 359 Be a good fellow, and let's try if we can't get on without the crib. 1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues II. 39 A State may get on without cobblers. 1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship I. xiii. 173 The universe could get on very well without them. 1915 Irish Times 18 Mar. 4/5 Now that these things cannot be imported, we are discovering that we can get on perfectly well without them. 1942 R. H. Blyth Zen in Eng. Lit. & Oriental Classics xxi. 323 You are only a Jonah, not a captain, and you had better chuck yourself off the ship and see how it gets on without you. 1964 New Scientist 2 Apr. 27/1 The addicts will not be able to get on with just the controlled dosages they receive at the State hospital. 1986 P. Barker Century's Daughter xiv. 248 Not a lisp, exactly, more the result of his missing front teeth. He had some, but he coundn't get on with them. 2007 M. Long Ma, He sold Me for Few Cigarettes (2008) 272 We were happy on our own, but ye took him back. Ye can't get on without him, Ma. 8. intransitive. Of a person: to enjoy or maintain friendly relations or intimacy with (another); (of more than one person) to agree, harmonize, fraternize, or enjoy friendly relations (together). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > be friendly [verb (intransitive)] > get on (well) gree?a1513 to get in with1602 cotton1605 to hitch (also set, or stable) horses together1617 to hit it1634 gee1685 to set horses together1685 to be made for each other (also one another)1751 to hit it off1780 to get ona1805 to hitch horses together1835 niggle1837 to step together1866 to speak (also talk) someone's (also the same) language1893 to stall with1897 cog1926 groove1935 click1954 vibe1986 a1805 J. Hodgkinson Man of Fortitude (1807) i. i. 3 They seem determined never to get on with us. 1816 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 101 His manner is brusque and short, and I got on but little with him. 1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton (1854) I. 177 We entered into conversation, and got on (as the phrase is) very well. 1853 C. Dickens Bleak House vii. 380 They get on together delightfully. 1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 36 You can see for yourself that we shouldn't be likely to get on together. 1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge II. xxviii, 283 [She] had none of the usual misgivings about getting on with her mother-in-law. 1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship II. xv. 163 I am an easy sort of fellow to get on with. 1950 K. Ferrier Let. 28 Sept. (2003) iv. 128 He has a nice silly sense of humour and we got on like a house on fire. 1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day v. 324 They got on well together without one vibration of sympathy. 2002 C. Malone in L. Purcell Black Chicks Talking 149 A lot of people say that we're just so much alike, I'm so much like her. Maybe that's why we don't get on? 9. transitive. slang. To lay (a bet) on (a horse, etc.). Also intransitive. Now rare. ΚΠ 1836 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 5 Mar. 20/1 Other parties were anxious to ‘get on’ at this price, but could not succeed. 1863 E. Farmer Scrap Bk. (ed. 3) 53 When a ‘sov’ or ‘fiver’ can be got on, We're game to risk it. 1865 Austral. Jrnl. 7 Oct. 82/2 He will go and try to get a bet on with somebody, for he wants to back the filly. 1906 Minutes of Evid. Royal Comm. Worcester Election 41/1 Yes. I am not a betting man at all, but I could not get a bet on. 1978 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 4 May (Racing) 2/2 Years have passed since I could get a bet on with any of the big bookies without seeing the price assassinated. 2002 Northern Echo (Electronic ed.) 1 June 3 [He] phoned me from Sweden as soon as the draw was made and said we had no chance, so I've got a bet on with him for 100 kroner. 2013 Racing Post (Nexis) 22 Feb. 98 The Windies are just 4-7 to win the series 3-0 although punters who lumped on them to win December's series in Bangladesh may not be rushing to get on at that price. 10. intransitive. slang. a. To become progressively more drunk; to get drunk. Now U.S. ΚΠ 1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack l. 366 They are getting on pretty fast, for Frenchmen haven't the heads for drinking that Englishmen have. 1855 G. A. Sala in Househ. Words 10 Mar. 137/1 He sang a song, which showed that he was getting further on; then he essayed to dance, which showed that he was getting drunk. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxxii. 283 I don't think there was much water drunk... And the blacks were here too, and, of course, they got pretty well on. 1921 Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang May 40 And while I sat there drinking, getting on a mighty stew, A dead swell dame came in the place and sat beside me, too. 1972 D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White Amer. 66 Gettin' on, reaching inebriation due to excessive drinking. b. U.S. To be under the influence of or stimulated by an illicit drug; to get high. ΚΠ 1952 G. Mandel Flee Angry Strangers 171 You got a couple of joints to take along?.. I know I'll want to get on. Take some pod, Dinch. 1963 M. Braly Shake him till he Rattles (1964) 61 I can't get on with this, not even if I shot the whole piece at once. 1972 D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White Amer. 66 Gettin' on, becoming dazed and intoxicated by using drugs. 1980 H. Huncke in Evening Sun turned Crimson 81 He was anxious by now to get some stuff and get on. 11. transitive. slang (originally U.S.). to get it on. a. To embark on an activity, to get going; to get into full swing; esp. to act or perform music with enthusiasm. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > undertake or set oneself to do [verb (intransitive)] > resolutely or vigorously buckle1627 yokea1630 to buckle to1712 square1849 to get it on1954 the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > resolutely or energetically to go to it1490 busklea1535 settle1576 to lay on1587 to put in (also get into) one's gearsa1658 to put (occasionally lay, set) one's shoulder to the wheel1678 yark1721 to get going1822 to pitch in1835 to roll up one's sleeves1838 square1849 to clap on1850 to wire in (also away)1864 to dig in1884 hunker1903 tie into1904 to get cracking1937 to get stuck in1938 to get weaving1942 to get it on1954 1954 Chicago Defender 29 May 2/6 There's no need to wait. Let's get it on! 1956 S. Ross Hustlers 63 Let's get going. Get it on! 1970 J. Grissim White Man's Blues 51 He doesn't give the audience two seconds to comprehend before he gets it on with some great Cajun fiddling and a magnificent gap-toothed smile. 1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 65 Ah feel sortay dynamic, ken, likesay, ah'm really lookin forward tae this interview. Rents sais: Sell yirsell, Spud, n tell the truth. Let's go for it cats, let's get it on. 1994 Vox July 126/1 As soon as the first track starts, it's very easy to imagine a scene in any Colombian village when the local musos are getting it on. b. Originally in African-American usage. To start, or take part in, a fight or argument. ΚΠ 1959 A. Anderson Lover Man 101 I got you on two counts, so..let's git it on! 1963 Amer. Speech 38 276 In a potential fight situation, one boy can indicate his willingness to have a fight by saying ‘Get it on.’ 1973 H. S. Thompson in Great Shark Hunt (1979) 75 At least 10,000 of them were out there..to get involved in serious violence... Anybody who couldn't get it on anywhere else could always..try to get into..[the] ‘Men's Room’ through the ‘Out’ door; there were always a few mean drunks lurking around to punch anybody who tried that. 1996 C. Bateman Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men xxx. 233 Like Tyson, he had no neck. He had a thick body, a thick head, and all of it looked dangerous. He slapped his gloves together. Let's get it on. c. To have a sexual encounter, esp. to have sexual intercourse (with). ΚΠ 1970 ‘S. Forest’ On my Throbbing Engine v. 57 He hefted her weight, turning her over, his weight forcing itself upon her back, eager to get it on. 1971 B. B. Johnson Blues for Sister 31 She gripped him with her legs and they got it on. 1973 M. Gaye & E. Townsend Let's get it On (song, perf. M. Gaye) in Let's get it On (1994) (CD booklet) 8/1 If you feel like I feel, baby Then come on—oh, come on Let's get it on Let's love, baby. 1988 Star (Tarrytown, N.Y.) 12 Apr. 38/1 This one should have been arrested for public obscenity, she was so eager to get it on. 1995 FHM Sept. 59/1 He pretended not to know a damn thing, but a week later I heard through the grapevine that he'd been getting it on with a girl about a foot away from me. 2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 101 Me and Dean are set rigid in the same position, my feet up on his shoulders, our love-bits touching, not that there's any chance of getting it on now. to get out 1. intransitive. a. To succeed in going or coming out; to convey oneself out of something; to leave a place of confinement.to get out from under: see under adv. 4c. ΚΠ a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 17350 (MED) Þai..did to sper þe dors fast..þat he suld noþer-quar get vte. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xvi. 199 Gett out of thise wonys, Ye trattys, all at onys. a1556 T. Cranmer in J. Strype Memorials T. Cranmer (1694) App. 105 Because the Devil could not get out at his mouth, the man blew him, or cacked him out behind. 1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 121 I found them [vegetable growths] just gotten out, with very little or no stalk. 1683 E. Leedes in More Eng. Examples (ed. 7) Ep. Ded. sig. A2 The loytering Book could not get out till now. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 19 Seven more got out after me, and 35 before, so that 43 of us only escaped. 1791 J. Ingraham Jrnl. 6 July (1971) v. 95 The wind was unfair to get out, and the passage was narrow to beat. 1831 R. Sharp Diary 30 Mar. (1997) 303 I got out pretty well but rather hurt my Ancle Bone of which I dare not complain. 1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 1 Aug. 231/3 A syringe, in many cases, will be preferable to the water-pot, as the oil and water will have a better chance of getting out. 1885 A. S. Hill From Home to Home 66 We got out—into the mud and into the dark. 1898 E. F. Benson Money Market (1899) iv. 43 She saw..a hansom drive up and a young man get out. 1917 Sphere 31 Mar. 286/3 At Oxford Circus they got out. 1957 Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Indiana) 13 Sept. 5 Heat gets out through these leaks in a steady stream all winter long. 1973 A. Storr Jung iv. 70 Within the ascetic is a sentimentalist trying to get out. 2010 B. Agbaje Off Endz xiii. 74 The best thing is for you to get out—get far away—a new place where you can get your head around things. b. In imperative. colloquial. (a) Commanding a person or animal to leave a room, house, etc.: ‘go away’, ‘be off’. ΚΠ 1711 R. Molesworth tr. F. Hotman Franco-Gallia xix. 133 You have nothing to do here (said She) get out. 1771 J. Ryland Serious Ess. on Truths of Gospel xxxvii. 86 Get out, get out, you stink of the whore of Rome. 1835 J. P. Kennedy Horse Shoe Robinson (1852) v. 60 ‘Get out, you varmints,’ he shouted, with a sudden vivacity of utterance, at three or four dogs that were barking around him. 1887 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 763/2 ‘I shan't, then’, said the boy sulkily..‘He belongs to my father—you get out’. 1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song 19 He would throw a bottle at Ellison and shout ‘Get out, you bloody dish-clout!’ so loud it was heard across at the Manse and fair affronted the minister's wife. 1972 A. Draper Death Penalty v. 36 ‘Get out, you fucker,’ screamed a youth. 2007 Nylon Feb. 46/2 I'm so disoriented that I start screaming—‘Who are you? Get out!’ Then, after a long staredown, we both burst out laughing. (b) Expressing disbelief, dissent, or refusal to hear more. ΚΠ 1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. x. 143 Kit only replied by bashfully bidding his mother ‘get out’. 1851 ‘G. Seaworthy’ Bertie vii. 78 Thrue as the tin commandhers! Git aout! 1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Grey Granite iii. 208 Christ, that his mother? I could sleep with her the morn and think her his sister... Sulky-looking bitch... Get out, she's fine. 1998 P. Mehlman Apartment in L. David et al. Seinfeld Scripts 288 Jerry. And the rent's only four hundred dollars a month. Elaine. Get out. Four hundred a month? Only four hundred a month? 2002 Washington Post 14 Mar. (Home ed.) c3/4 (cartoon caption) ‘And to think I started as just a flight attendant.’ ‘Get out. What an unusual story.’ c. To leave one's home or lodgings for some purpose, esp. habitually. Hence figurative: to mix with other people frequently (chiefly in the negative, esp. in to not get out much, with the implication that a person is out of touch). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > go or come out [verb (intransitive)] outgoeOE to come outOE forthcomeOE to go outOE to go outOE ishc1330 to take forth one's way (also journey, road, etc.)a1375 proceedc1380 getc1390 exorta1400 issue?a1400 precedec1425 purgea1430 to come forthc1449 suea1450 ushc1475 to call one's way (also course)1488 to turn outa1500 void1558 redound1565 egress1578 outpacea1596 result1598 pursue1651 out1653 pop1770 to get out1835 progress1851 society > society and the community > social relations > have social communication [verb (intransitive)] > mix in society show1631 to go out1735 to see life1763 mix1816 to get out1835 1835 M. R. Mitford Belford Regis I. 270 I have been building a pretty cottage there for him and his wife..; and now that I see you do get out sometimes, if you would but come and see it—. 1864 Lady Duff-Gordon in F. Galton Vacation Tourists & Trav. 1862–3 151 I..hope to go again when the south-easter season is over and I can get out a little. I could not leave the house at all; and even Lady Walker and the girls..got out but little. 1884 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 14 Feb. 154/1 During the last year he had been obliged to keep his bed much of the time, yet he always got out a little whenever possible. 1909 M. Reed Old Rose & Silver xii. 134 She needs to get out more. If someone would take her for a walk or a drive every day, it would do her good. 1931 A. Christie Sittaford Myst. xvii. 134 She was an invalid and quite unable to get out. 1994 N.Y. Mag. 21 Feb. 48/1 Maybe I don't get out enough, but I seem to have missed the public outcry for a remake of The Getaway. 2002 R. Williams Sing yer Heart out for Lads i. 22 Lawrie Oh yes, nuttin more sexier than a landlady pouring a smooth top. Gina Don't get out much, do yer, Lawrie? d. To leave or abandon a course of action, business enterprise, job, etc.; esp. in to get on or get out, expressing the importance of being dynamic in one's business or employment. ΚΠ 1906 P. Keary Get on or get Out 3 Get on or get out. Don't be afraid of that phrase. It's the whole of the ten Commandments of Business rolled into five small words. 1911 Punch 1 Nov. 319 Get on or get out! 1923 Daily Mail 13 Feb. 9 Railwaymen to ‘get on or get out!’ 2003 BusinessWeek 5 May 82 He has established a Darwinian code that encourages managers to take risks and gives them six months..to show they can succeed—or get out. 2013 Independent on Sunday 27 Jan. 46 The most sinister thing about the ‘get on or get out mentality’..is its newfound technological underpinning, so that every mid-evening train in England is filled with nervous men in suits, anxiously awaiting their boss's final call. 2. transitive. a. To bring out, to take from a place of confinement, storage, etc.; to remove; to obtain, esp. by extraction (also figurative in proverbial phrase to get out what one puts in). ΘΚΠ the world > space > place > removal or displacement > extraction > extract [verb (transitive)] unteeOE to take out of ——c1175 forthdraw?a1300 out-takea1350 to take outa1382 excludec1400 dischargec1405 to get outc1432 tryc1440 extraya1450 out-have1458 to take fortha1550 extract1570 reave1640 eliciate1651 roust1658 uncork1740 to put out of ——1779 to break out1840 c1432 in PMLA (1934) 49 456 If he come nat geteþ out a warant fro my mayster. c1440 (?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) l. 2064 Perceuell the gode, He [read Hys] swerde owt he get. c1450 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (BL Add. 36983) p. 1666 (MED) A! þat wrech Frende withoute, þat non frende gete may hym oute. ?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xlix^v The bolles of flaxe..made drie with the sonne, to get out the sedes. 1569 J. Hawkins True Declar. Troublesome Voy. sig. B.iii^v So leesinge hyr hedfastes, and haylinge awaye by the stearne fastes she was gotten out. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 123 Much after the manner that Fell-mongers beat their Furs, to get out the Worms. 1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 53 If by mischance Wine should be shed upon their cloaths, the greatest Drunkard that is, endeavours to get out the stain. 1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 46 Some of them were gotten out by the Caulkers with their Spike-Irons. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 105 It falling calm, we both got out our Oars. 1764 S. Foote Lyar i. ii. 10 My dear Miss Godfrey, what trouble I have had to get you out! 1801 R. Cecil Wks. (1811) I. 138 He was led to invent an instrument for transferring the form of the model to the marble (technically called getting out the points). 1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. v. 42 That rascal Blackland got the bones out, and we played hazard on the dining-table. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. iii. 275 You've been making all these foolish marks on yourself, which you can never get out. 1884 Instr. Mil. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 67 The excavation in which the shaft is placed is got out. 1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 49/2 To get the jail taste out of my mouth and the jail smell out of my clothes and hair! 1919 Wire & Pipe Feb. 28/1 I remember the words of Branch Rickey, the baseball leader, in a lecture I heard some time ago: ‘You put in what you get out, and you get out what you put in.’ 1947 H. Eustis Horizontal Man 85 I had dreams of getting out my pipe and slippers and pulling up to a big open bar with you tonight. 2001 Church Times 16 Feb. 23/4 Exegetes try to get out what the original authors put in. 2013 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 10 Mar. 5 They were not happily married... I am surprised she didn't get the champagne out and say, ‘Thank God I have got rid of you after all these years’. b. To draw out (information), elicit, find out by inquiry. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)] > by asking or enquiring askOE speer1390 to get out1530 hark1561 hearken1590 outlearn1596 elicitate1642 elicita1676 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/1 I get out the truthe of a mater that is in doute, je saiche and je espluche. 1611 Bible (King James) Ecclus. xiii. 11 Smiling vpon thee [he] will get out thy secrets. View more context for this quotation 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 230 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors They endeavour to get out the truth by fair means. 1718 J. Breval Play is Plot iv. 39 Ply him with Liquor, get out his whole Story. 1861 Temple Bar 2 139 In cross~examination I had ‘got out’ some facts. 1905 S. E. Baldwin Amer. Judiciary xiv. 207 A large discretionary power..in limiting or extending the examination of a witness so as..to get out the truth and nothing but the truth. 1988 Mother Jones May 4/1 It surely will not advance the uphill battle to get out the truth about who has controlled our government in the last three decades. c. To succeed in bringing out (a sound or utterance). ΚΠ 1628 Z. Boyd Last Battell Soule 390 If once they can get out but these few wordes, God bee mercifull to mee, they thinke that they shall be in heauen. 1718 E. Settle Lady's Triumph iv. 41 I can't get out one Word for Sobbing. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 269 I could not find it in my heart to get out a negative. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Gardener's Daughter in Poems (new ed.) II. 23 The lark could scarce get out his notes for joy. 1919 Current Opinion June 369/1 If the high notes of the series are faint and the low notes loud, composers will naturally make their bass move slower than their treble, since loud notes take a longer time to get their sound out. 1976 M. Apple Oranging of Amer. 116 ‘Your grandpa,’ he got out, ‘was a dumbass son of a bitch.’ 2000 I. Edward-Jones My Canapé Hell (2001) iii. 66 Occasionally he stutters as his gurning teeth are moving too quickly for him to get the words out. d. To publish (a book, news, etc.).Occasionally (as in quot. 1786) intransitive in the progressive with passive meaning or with implied object. ΘΚΠ society > communication > printing > publishing > publish [verb (transitive)] to put forth1482 to put out1529 to set forth1535 promulge1539 to set abroada1555 present1559 to set out1559 utter1561 divulge1566 publish1573 print?1594 emit1650 edition1715 edit1727 to give to the world1757 to get out1786 to send forth1849 to bring out1878 run1879 release1896 pub1932 1786 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 6 A bad French translation which is getting out here. 1846 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. Mar. in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1885) I. ii. 141 I wish we could get the book out in May. 1870 D. G. Rossetti Let. 3 Feb. (1965) II. 787 I suppose I cannot get out till April. 1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road xiv. 99 But if I do succeed in getting out the news, I shall expect to have my expenses refunded and to be paid adequately for my work. 1981 K. Vonnegut Palm Sunday (1982) v. 89 The Viking Press, which gets out collections of Paris Review interviews. 2011 D. Gibson Stories about Storytellers xx. 341 We refused to let our grief delay the book, and moved fast to get it out in June. e. Originally U.S. (a) To induce (voters) to go to the ballot at an election. ΚΠ 1838 Proc. & Deb. Convent. Pennsylvania Amendments Constit. XI. 331 You cannot get out the voters of this state to any special election, or to any election for the President of the United States, as generally as they will attend at the election in October. 1882 Papers New Haven Colony Hist. Soc. 3 305 At that period there was no drumming and bannered or mousing politicians to get out the voters. 1949 L. R. Taylor Party Politics in Age of Caesar iii. 59 An attraction that doubtless aided in getting out the voters. 1985 J. Mortimer Paradise Postponed xvi. 194 They were both there ‘to get out’ Labour voters. (b) to get out the vote: to encourage and facilitate voting, esp. by supporters of a particular political party. Frequently attributive, designating efforts to do this. Abbreviated GOTV. ΚΠ 1861 Daily Commerc. Reg. (Sandusky, Ohio) 28 May (heading) Get out the vote. We especially urge it upon the friends of Judge Worcester to be active to-day in securing a full vote for him in the city. 1906 U. Sinclair Jungle xxv. 314 On election morning he was out at four o'clock, ‘getting out the vote’: he had a two-horse carriage to ride in, and he went from house to house for his friends. 1940 P. Sturges Down went McGinty (release dialogue script) reel 1-B 1 That ain't no reason why Mayor Tillinghast should get cheated outta their support! All we're doin' is gettin' out the vote. 1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 Oct. 20/1 The law allowed unlimited individual and corporate contributions to political parties of money that can be used to elect candidates for state office and for so-called ‘party-building’ activities, including..voter-registration campaigns and ‘get out the vote’ drives. 2015 Observer (Nexis) 17 May Our ‘get out the vote’ operation had been a huge success. 3. intransitive. Stock Market. To get rid of one's shares in an enterprise. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (intransitive)] > specific operations soften1565 to get out1728 bear1837 to rig the (stock) market1841 stag1845 cornera1860 to straddle the market1870 raid1889 to make a market1899 to job backwards1907 to mark to (the) market1925 short1959 daisy-chain1979 to pitch for ——1983 society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (intransitive)] > pay to delay transfer to get out1728 contango1922 1728 Advantages South-sea Scheme (rev. ed.) 29 Far from taking the Opportunity of the exorbitant Rise of the Stock to get out,..they rather bought more. 1736 Dialogue between Gentleman & Broker 18 You may venture now with a seeming very good Prospect, and get out again with Profit. 1887 Daily News 21 July 6/1 Until they shall have retailed their wares, and, to use the expressive slang of the Stock Exchange, ‘got out’. 1958 Life 15 Sept. 96/2 They bought stocks on the narrow margin (down payment) of 10% or 20% and hoped to make a quick killing and get out fast. 1992 Daily Tel. 24 July 23/3 Against a closing level on Wednesday of 34p, the mid-price collapsed to 18p, with one holder of 50,000 shares getting out at 17p. 4. intransitive. Of information, news, etc.: to leak out, become generally known. Also with it as subject and that-clause. ΘΚΠ society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or make revelations [verb (intransitive)] > be disclosed or revealed > inadvertently to get out1792 to leak out1832 slip1848 1792 H. H. Brackenridge Mod. Chivalry I. 33 The report, so unfavourable to the clergyman, had..got out. 1877 W. H. Russell Prince of Wales' Tour (1878) xiv. 478 For, says he, if it gets out that we say we seed the sea-serpent, there's not a man will ever be employed again! 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn 368 It ain't right and it ain't moral, and I wouldn't like it to get out. 1891 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 28 Nov. 2/3 The fact that this step was to be taken did not get out till the charges were safe in the hands of the Governor. 1948 C. Rice Big Midget Murders xiii. 112 It would raise absolute hell with him if the news got out he'd married a chorus girl while on a bender. 1995 M. Kesavan Looking through Glass 249 He didn't want it getting out that the hero of his film, the most bankable star in the industry.., had disappeared. 5. transitive. Cricket. To cause (a batter or side) to be out (out adv. 3c), to put out, dismiss. Also intransitive: to be put out. to get oneself out: to be dismissed, to be got out, frequently with the implication that one is oneself largely to blame. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > dismissal of batsman > put out [verb (transitive)] to put out1735 take1828 to get out1833 remove1843 to send back1870 dismiss1875 out1899 get1901 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > dismissal of batsman > put out [verb (intransitive)] > dismissal (of player) fall1829 to get out1833 1833 J. Nyren Young Cricketer's Tutor 89 They were devilish troublesome customers to get out. 1837 Globe 22 Sept. Wenman..took it very quietly, and for a length of time defied all their efforts to get him out. 1897 K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iv. 198 People get themselves out off slow bowling more often than the bowler gets them out. 1908 E. P. Oppenheim Missioner i. vi. 62 Stephen is in now... If he gets out, the match is over. 1912 A. A. Lilley Twenty-four Years Cricket x. 137 He [sc. Victor Trumper]..never gave one the remotest suggestion that he would ever get out. 1926 J. B. Hobbs My Cricket Mem. xvi. 214 We did well to get them out for this total. 1999 Cricketer Mar. 9/3 Hick was left stranded as a procession of batsmen got themselves out to lose the match by 16 runs. 6. intransitive. Horse Racing slang. To back a horse against which one has previously betted. ΚΠ 1845 Spirit of Times 28 July 208/2 Persons who had backed him, who were anxious to ‘get out’, were reluctantly forced to stand to be ‘shot at’, with the agreeable consolation of finding that they were unexpected winners to a very large amount. 1884 H. Smart From Post to Finish xlii Johnson..had taken more than one opportunity of what is termed ‘getting out’, that is, backing the horse against which he had previously laid. 1971 N.Y. Times 26 Dec. For the average $2 bettor, the superfecta represents a chance..to ‘get out’ for all those losing bets on horses who got blocked along the rail, went too wide or broke into an illegal gallop at a crucial point. †7. intransitive. Of the weather: to turn out, become (fine, etc.). Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > [verb (intransitive)] fall1633 to get out1852 1852 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 13 ii. 336 The afternoon got out very fine. 8. transitive. colloquial. To succeed in solving or finishing (a puzzle, game, etc.); (also) to untangle (something knotted). Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > patience or solitaire > [verb (transitive)] > solve to get out1852 the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > find solution, solve [verb (transitive)] findOE assoilc1374 soil1382 contrive1393 to find outc1405 resolvea1438 absolvea1525 solute?1531 solve?1541 dissolve1549 get1559 salvec1571 to beat out1577 sort1581 explicate1582 untiea1586 loose1596 unsolve1631 cracka1640 unscruple1647 metagrobolize1653 to puzzle out1717 to work out1719 to get around ——1803 to dope out1906 lick1946 to get out1951 1852 ‘A. Lothrop’ Dollars & Cents II. xxxi. 300 Both boys come rushing in with a fishing line in a puzzle. ‘You never can get it out Miss Grace, but we thought maybe you'd try.’ 1924 B. Dalton Games of Patience 34 Lady Betty..The game..is not easy to get out. 1928 R. A. Knox Footsteps at Lock xvi. 158 He had ‘got it out’. ‘The cipher?’ ‘No, the patience.’ 1931 N. Coward Post Mortem ii. 16 Lady Cavan is seated at a bridge table playing Canfield Patience... Lady C. I got it out yesterday. 1951 C. P. Snow Masters iii. xli. 328 I've got it out!.. I've got the answer to the slow neutron business. 1999 C. R. Swindoll Moses vii. 112 The knot was so tiny and tight it would take an act of God to untie it. I had told him time and again, ‘Son, when you pull the strings and it won't open like it's supposed to, don't jerk harder... ’ He would usually reply, ‘Well, I keep thinking I can get it out. That's why I pull harder.’ 2010 G. J. Derbyshire Stand up for Autism i. 32 I had very long hair... I had to cut it because he twisted part of it into a knot and I couldn't get it out again. to get over 1. intransitive. To succeed in coming or going over an elevation, barrier, or expanse; to bring oneself over. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)] to come overeOE passc1300 to pass byc1390 overwend?a1400 to go over1415 to pass througha1425 overdrawa1450 to make over1488 to get overa1500 transita1500 transire1592 to make through1606 transpass1626 to get through1694 a1500 (?c1450) Merlin x. 155 (MED) Kay..payned that his company gate ouer. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 (1623) i. i. 170 You knew he walk'd o're perils, on an edge More likely to fall in, then to get o're. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) i. 89 Capt. Henchman..as soon as he could get over with six Files of Men..followed after the Enemy. 1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xiv. 259 They [sc. Camelions] have also several times been sent to Europe, and got over alive. 1709 Tatler No. 86. ⁋4 Sir Giles got over; but a Run of the Coaches kept the rest of us on this Side the Street. 1802 W. Forsyth Treat. Fruit-trees xxiii. 219 An oak paling..with a cheval-de-frise at top, to prevent people's getting over. 1881 G. A. Henty Cornet of Horse (1888) xiii. 134 Fascines had to be laid down, and the rivulets filled up, before guns could get over. 1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms 73 He was standing in the way, so I told him to get over. 1965 E. Bradford tr. F. Balbi Siege of Malta, 1565 viii. 106 Aware that our reinforcements had got over by way of Salvador, the Turks now took possession of the hill. 2003 Irish Times (Nexis) 18 June 63 None of my family could go to America; there was no way of getting over, probably too expensive. 2. transitive. To succeed in bringing, conveying, putting, or causing to come or go to the other side of an intervening elevation, barrier, or expanse; to take or bring over.to get one's leg over: see leg n. Phrases 3e. ΚΠ 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccclxxii. f. ccxlvii^v Bycause the bridge was broken, they had moche trouble to make it agayne, to gette ouer their cariages. 1624 R. Eburne Plaine Path-way to Plantations i. 33 They that goe ouer to such a businesse, haue many things to doe; as..to get ouer good and profitable cattell, to plant and sow their grounds, and the like. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 197 So I told him, I would get him over, and bid him stay there. 1856 G. W. Curtis Prue & I 159 The Shah of Persia has just sent me word that he has presented me with two thousand pearl-of-Oman necklaces, and I don't know how to get them over, the duties are so heavy. 1880 J. Nixon Among Boers vi. 135 He had some other waggons on the opposite side, but before he could get a second one over, the water came ‘down’ and cut him off from them. 1900 G. Patten Rockspur Nine xvii. 154 He did not succeed in getting it over, but he lined one down against the fence, and it bounded glancingly past Highland's right fielder. 1960 L. Masters Back-country Tales 59 Next morning the creek in front of the hut was going a roarer, making it useless my attempting getting the horses over. 2000 S. Williams & R. Petersen Serious Tennis ix. 173 In the defensive phase of play, you want to get the ball over one more time, hoping that you can improve your situation. 3. transitive. To finish with, have done with (esp. something troublesome or disagreeable). a. Without adverb. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] > something disagreeable to get over1629 1629 T. Taylor Man in Christ (ed. 2) 57 Hee slubbers it over, and contenteth himselfe to doe it in any fashion, to get it over. 1775 H. L. Thrale Jrnl. 9 Nov. in French Jrnls. Mrs. Thrale & Dr. Johnson (1932) 163 They said their Mattins of an Evening the last thing they did to get them over. 1813 J. Austen Let. 16 Sept. (1995) 220 At 9 we are to set off for Grafton House & get that over before breakfast. 1861 G. D. Ruffini Dr. Antonio (new ed.) xi Yes, let us get it over at once. 1889 J. Masterman Scotts of Bestminster III. xx. 248 The sooner you get the interview over the better. 1890 I. D. Hardy New Othello II. ix. 207 He had made these three engagements for the one day so as to get them all over together. 1933 T. O. Beachcroft in M. Roberts New Country 78 Would he never get it over? Surely the tension of nerves must rack the strength from his limbs? 1962 J. L. McClellan Crime without Punishment xii. 199 Well, let us get this thing over and we will get a suit of clothes out of the deal and forget it. 2010 E. Watters Crazy like Us i. 55 In hopes of getting the ordeal over as quickly as possible, she would sometimes bolt her food, willfully scalding the inside of her mouth. b. With with (adverb). Esp. in to get it over with: to complete an unpleasant or tedious but necessary task promptly. ΚΠ 1860 E. Prentiss Stepping Heavenward i. 16 I do not love to pray. I am always eager to get it over with..so as to have leisure to enjoy myself. 1899 Vassar Misc. (Vassar Coll., N.Y.) Feb. 211 The thing had to be done, and the sooner he got it over with the better. 1910 E. Johnson & A. Johnson Game of Golden Ball xxii. 289 This business has to be got over with, and got over with quickly. 1922 W. L. Fletcher How to get Job you Want x. 222 Let's go over to your office and get it over with as soon as possible. 1947 R. Allen Home Made Banners iii. 18 Figure I might as well sign up tomorrow and get it over with. 1970 W. H. Auden in New Yorker 21 Feb. 118/1 I have one slight criticism..which I will get over with at once. 1992 S. Fry Paperweight (1993) 283 As with removing old sticking plasters, these things are best got over with quickly. 2004 S. Mehta Maximum City 332 I sense that he is dog-tired and just wants to get the meeting over with. 4. transitive. To win over, gain to one's side. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > school of thought > acknowledge belief [verb (transitive)] > win over infecta1387 reduce1546 disciple1645 discipulize1652 to get over1656 convert1814 1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. vii. 148 If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again. 1704 D. Defoe Hymn to Victory (new ed.) 2 How often have we seen thee try'd? And Rebels get thee over to their Side? 1799 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1800) 3 395 John has got over most of her servants..and he has made large promises to others. 1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist I. xix. 317 Do you mean to tell me, Bill,..that neither of the two men in the house can be got over? 1913 Spectator 9 Aug. 201/2 But does any sane person imagine that at a heated general election..we should get any voters over from the Liberal side to the Unionist? 2001 Bombay Times 8 Aug. 1/1 Why should we offer money to anybody to get them over to our side. 5. transitive. Originally U.S. colloquial. to get one over on: to have an advantage over; to trick, cheat, swindle, or defraud. Cf. to put over 7b(b) at put v. Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)] > outwit, get the better of undergoa1325 circumvene1526 crossbitec1555 circumvent1564 gleek1577 outreach1579 fob1583 overreach1594 fub1600 encompassa1616 out-craftya1616 out-knave1648 mump1649 jockey1708 come1721 nail1735 slew1813 Jew1825 to sew up1837 to play (it) low down (on)1864 outfox1872 beat1873 outcraft1879 to get a beat on1889 old soldier1892 to put one over1905 to get one over on1912 to get one over1921 outsmart1926 shaft1959 1912 Machinists' Monthly Jrnl. Sept. 876 (advt.) No one can ever ‘get one over on you’ if you buy Brotherhoods. 1958 M. Sandoz Cattlemen (1978) i. iii. 51 We can't let them damnyankees get one over on us. 1990 J. Foster Villains iii. 73 Episodes where individuals had ‘got one over on the Old Bill’ were repeated with fervour. 2008 Independent 17 June 8/2 Keeping up with the Jones—the old-fashioned habit of not letting your neighbours get one over on you. 6. Originally Theatre. a. transitive. To convey (words, a message, etc.) so that they are understood or appreciated; = to get across 2a at Phrasal verbs 1. ΚΠ 1914 N.Y. Times 2 Aug. It lacks that mysterious something that gets a play ‘over’. 1916 Picture-play 3 122 If he works from characters and uses..bits of effective business to ‘get his plays over’, he [sc. the scenario writer] should keep such material in handy files. 1936 M. Mitchell Let. 8 July in Gone with the Wind Lett. (1986) 23 And I felt..that I had utterly failed in getting my ideas over. 1995 J. Miller & M. Stacey Driving Instructor's Handbk. (ed. 8) viii. 231 Flip pads containing pictures of road signs and photographs can be used to get your points over quickly and simply. b. intransitive. (Of a message) to be conveyed so as to be understood or appreciated; (of a person) to convey a message so as to be understood or appreciated; = to get across 2b at Phrasal verbs 1. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > communication > [verb (intransitive)] > successfully to get across1913 to get over1918 connect1942 to come over1946 communicate1959 1918 Everybody's Mag. Jan. 35/1 We'll try yuh out in the Bronx house Friday night and if yuh get over big—and I think you're gonna, we'll have yuh inside the Palace inside three weeks. 1920 P. G. Wodehouse Jill the Reckless xviii. 321 Dramatic critics..were telling each other that ‘The Rose of America’ was just another of those things but it had apparently got over. 1921 H. A. Vachell Blinkers viii. §3 Mrs. Merrytree, delighted to perceive that she had, in stage parlance, ‘got over’, held the situation firmly. 1928 Sunday Express 29 Apr. 5/6 Her friendliness ‘gets over’. 1946 P. G. Wodehouse Let. 4 June in Yours, Plum (1990) vii. 169 If this book gets over with the public, I am going to suggest to the Jenkinses that in the future we deal direct with ye pub and ignore the critics. 7. intransitive. U.S. slang (originally in African-American usage). a. To achieve an object; to be successful; to gain acceptance or approval. Also with with. ΚΠ 1865 W. T. Brande & G. W. Cox Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art I. 55 Get over, to cross barriers; to make it; to get a job; to be functioning in the White World. To do well... Watts. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 88 To get ‘over’ is to accomplish an objective. 1983 T. Logan Hey Cabbie 152 As a cab driver, I hear all kinds of shit coming from ladies mouths relative to how they get over with men. 1984 A. F. Loewenstein This Place 8 You could get over with almost anyone if you listened good enough. 1986 Women's Rev. Sept. 31/1 I can..buy all the black records I wanna buy and learn their thing and get over. 2009 Wire Jan. 45/1 Hiphop got over purely on the strength of its exuberance and esprit de corps. b. With on. To take advantage of; to defraud, rob, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > exploit or take advantage of to take (the) advantagea1393 milk?1531 presume1580 to play upon ——1603 milch1614 to grow on or upona1616 play1656 impose1670 exploit1838 manipulate1862 over-exploit1899 slug1946 to get over1979 1979 Washington Post 29 May b3/5 ‘Get over’, meaning to succeed or persuade, usually with illicit overtones, as in ‘Look at that dude trying to get over on that sweet lady’. 1985 N. Pileggi Wiseguy 25 The best part of the night for Paulie came from the fact that he was getting over on somebody... He was robbing someone and getting away with it. 1994 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 12/3 Disregard of the law in order to ‘get over’ on the system. 2004 E. Conlon Blue Blood v. 167 Because Alicia was petite and female, perps sometimes thought they could get over on her, which was a mistake. On the street, Alicia was as tough as anyone. to get round 1. intransitive. To succeed in passing from one place to another by a roundabout or circuitous route; to pass through a number of places on a circuit; (also) (of a rumour, etc.) to circulate. Also: to move by rotation. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > move in a certain direction [verb (intransitive)] > from place to place to get round1653 circulate1691 1653 T. Taylor Moses & Aaron xxiv. 294 Even in Countries, above a hundred yeares reformed, it [sc. Popery] gets round? 1677 E. Coles Eng. Dict. (new ed.) at Shingles A heat arising in the body, if it get round, it kills. 1679 Earl of Castlemaine Eng. Globe i. v. 31 Never having the Sun but on one side of them (as still setting before he gets round). 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iv. 160 Pizarro's squadron..had got round into these seas. 1756 J. Ferguson Astron. Explained iv. 55 When the planet has got round to B, it's projectile force is as much diminished..as it was augmented. 1842 J. F. Cooper Two Admirals II. x. 151 They got round, and headed north-north-east. 1858 R. T. S. Lowell New Priest in Conception Bay xx. 182 The vane of suspicion having, within twenty-four hours,..got round, and pointed straight to Mr. Urston's house. 1887 W. B. Allen Northern Cross xi. 139 Somehow the word got round that mischief was brewing between the Second Class and the Third. 1930 Oxf. Ann. Girls 26/2 The street beyond..grew steadily narrower... Some of the corners were so sharp that it was only by repeated tackings of an inch or so at a time that we were able to get round. 1968 A. S. C. Ross in Proc. Leeds Philos. & Lit. Soc. (Lit. & Hist. Section) 13 ii. 59 The player who had got round most times..might be the winner. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline x. 116 How long do you think I'd last if word got round that I'd been snouting? 2008 F. Ashbee Child in Jerusalem xviii. 109 After that, September and the other months with long names filled up the year till you got round to Christmas and January again. †2. intransitive. To recover from illness, get well. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > recover or be healed [verb (intransitive)] wholeeOE botenc1225 cover1297 amendc1325 recovera1375 warisha1386 recovera1387 healc1390 recurec1400 soundc1402 mendc1440 convalesce1483 guarish1489 restore1494 refete?a1505 revert1531 to gather (or pick) up one's crumbs1589 cure1597 recruit1644 to perk upa1656 retrieve1675 to pick up1740 to leave one's bed1742 to sit up and take nourishment1796 to get round1798 to come round1818 to pull through1830 rally1831 to fetch round1870 to mend up1877 to pull round1889 recoup1896 recuperate1897 1798 D. Crawford Poems 88 It's dung me fairly down, Nor ken I, gin I'll e'er get roun! 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. vi. 349 Did they tell you..that poor Thompson died last week? The other three boys are getting quite round, like you. 1885 C. L. Pirkis Lady Lovelace III. xli. 64 She would get round fifty times as quickly in the lighter, brighter room. 3. intransitive. With to: to succeed in finding the time, energy, or inclination for (doing something); to come to the point of dealing with. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > do [verb (transitive)] > come to the point of doing to get around1852 to get round1873 1873 Rep. Vt. Central Railroad Managem. 202 Then when I got round to it I would make out a voucher and take up my receipts. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xiv. 221 Everything in Lost Haven was put off until someone should have enough time to ‘get round to it’. 1961 J. Seymour Fat of Land viii. 106 Our neighbour Richard cans hares, but we never got round to that. 1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds viii. 145 He must take Elizabeth there for a weekend, he resolved, with a slight undertone of sadness at the thought he would probably never get round to it. 2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 117 There was so much cooking, cleaning, doling out pocket money, rowing over TV programmes that we never got round to doing any proper work. to get through 1. a. intransitive. To succeed in passing through a passage, barrier, obstacle, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)] to come overeOE passc1300 to pass byc1390 overwend?a1400 to go over1415 to pass througha1425 overdrawa1450 to make over1488 to get overa1500 transita1500 transire1592 to make through1606 transpass1626 to get through1694 1577 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. Ephesians i. f. 36 God..will haue vs too passe by this world through the midds of thornes and breers, so as wee shall haue much a doo to get through. 1664 tr. F. Plater et al. Golden Pract. Physick (new ed.) ii. v. 253 To Cure an Ulcer in the Ear, a Fume is excellent, because it gets through and drieth. 1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 13 The Ice was already-fixed to the Land, so that we could but just get through. 1720 J. Quincy Medico-Physical Ess. iv. 61 in tr. S. Santorio Medicina Statica (ed. 2) What..cannot get through this way..must be either re-absorbed, or taken back by the refluent Blood. 1798 A. L. Barnard Jrnl. 23 May in Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 464 A milk-basket..which they weave so close with certain rushes that, after once using, the milk cannot get through. 1807 New Encycl. II. v. 437/2 Fill up the hollow between the two rows with rushes and mud, ramming them together so hard, that no water can possibly get through. 1853 E. Bennett Clara Moreland xxvi. 314 We had several other narrow escapes, but got through in safety. a1927 D. Hammett Man who killed Dan Odams in Nightmare Town (1999) 76 A horse couldn't get through, let alone a car. 1999 J. Elliot Unexpected Light (2000) xi. 404 He guided my fingers to his sternum, where I felt muscles as hard as stone, ‘not even a sword can get through.’ b. transitive. To cause to pass through a passage, barrier, obstacle, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (transitive)] > through > cause to pass through pass1530 to pass through ——1530 to get through1813 thread1851 1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia at Midwifery It will be possible to get hold of a part of the fetus, and so get it through and relieve the woman from danger. 1847 Lloyd's Entertaining Jrnl. 10 Apr. 28/1 Cannot you..give him your shoulder to push against, and that may help him out... You may thus get him through quicker. 1900 A. R. Dugmore Bird Homes v. 26 So that the bird may not be able to get his beak through. 1986 R. Alvarez in Sun Mag. (Baltimore) 12 Oct. 20/4 Inspired by the fashion of his Mexican friends, the look included pants so pegged at the ankles that one could hardly get his foot through. 1990 M. Harris Hemingway's Suitcase xl. 278 The door was half ajar and she kicked it..open..so she could get the wheelchair through. 2. a. intransitive. To reach a destination; to complete an activity; to endure an experience. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] enda1340 finisha1400 conclude1526 to get through1589 get1594 dispatcha1616 to shut up1626 to wind up1631 finale1797 to top off1836 to top up1837 through1894 to roll up1963 society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > arrive [verb (intransitive)] to come toOE comeOE yworthOE lend11.. lightc1225 overtakec1225 redea1275 wina1300 'rivec1300 repaira1325 applyc1384 to come ina1399 arrivec1400 attainc1400 alightc1405 to come to handc1450 unto-comec1450 apport1578 to get through1589 reach1591 to be along1597 land1679 engage1686 to get in1863 to breeze in1930 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > reach a point or place [verb (intransitive)] overtakec1225 covera1375 accede1465 penetrate1530 to get through1589 pervene1589 reach1591 1589 P. Ive tr. R. Beccarie de Pavie Instr. Warres 132 But what one way and other, they did so get through, that they assembled at the townes that were appointed them by their principall Chiefe. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World ix. 273 Others have spent the Summer, in first searching on this more known side nearer home, and so before they got through, the time of the year obliged them to give over their search. 1744 W. Horsley Treat. on Maritime Affairs 93 The superficial Reader would have dosed before he had got half through. 1787 J. Q. Adams Diary 19 Feb. (1981) II. 163 He was rather tedious, and before he got through, the Sophimores and Freshmen, shew their impatience, by shuffling. 1848 E. Bennett Renegade xii. 92 You must get through alive, or else not at all; for we can't spare you quite so soon. 1885 U. S. Grant Pers. Mem. I. 411 Troops after a forced march of twenty miles are not in a good condition for fighting the moment they get through. 1943 Ld. Alanbrooke Diary 4 Feb. in War Diaries (2001) 378 They had just succeeded in bringing in a 2,900 ton ship, the first to get through. 2004 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 2 May a12 As with rapids farther upstream, pilots had to be taken on board to get through. b. intransitive. to get through with: to succeed in accomplishing, completing, or enduring. ΚΠ a1632 A. Hildersam CLII Lect. Psalme LI (1635) cxl. 735 As their tryals shall increase, so shall their strength increase to beare and get through with them. 1666 S. Pepys Diary 2 Apr. (1895) X. 245 So home, and to my accounts which I cannot get through with. a1739 C. Jarvis tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote (1742) II. i. xv. 72 It is easy to design and begin an enterprize, but very often difficult to get through with it. 1839 A. Constable Let. 4 Feb. in J. Constable Corr. (1962) 306 Your Uncle Golding's affairs I have not got through with yet. 1870 B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp & Other Sketches 2 Bets were freely offered and taken..that ‘Sal would get through with it’. 1878 Scribner's Monthly 15 866/1 You would be surprised to know the number of books young girls manage to get through with. 1888 J. McCarthy & R. C. Praed Ladies' Gallery II. xii. 234 I must have had pretty well all the heart-throbs a sinful man could get through with. 1893 Punch 29 Apr. 199 Don't know how I should get through with my work, if I were tied down to eight hours a day. 1941 D. F. Swenson tr. S. Kierkegaard Concluding Unscientific Postscript ii. ii. 146 It is not the zealous individual but only the restless one who manages to get through with life before life gets through with him. 1961 F. O'Connor Let. 21 Jan. in Habit of Being (1980) 427 When the psychiatrist got through with her, her emotions flowed magnificently and she believes nothing and herself is her God. 2010 J. Wendt Nice Work vii. 178 If you didn't get through with the sculpture that was one thing; if you didn't get through with building your character that was another. c. transitive. To cause to reach a destination; to bring to completion; to enable to endure an experience. Also: †to bring about the acquittal of (obsolete). ΚΠ 1833 J. J. Abert Let. 24 Nov. in Corr. Emigration of Indians (1835) IV. 734 This will be rather a worrying job, but patience and perseverance will get it through. 1860 J. Funnell Poet. Dialogues 52 He told him, too, he could not get him through, But sent him to a lawyer whom he knew Could plead in such a case whene'er desired. 1865 Rep. Trade with Rebellious States (U.S. House of Representatives, 38th Congr., 2nd Sess.) 103 They represented to me that Tucker could get to Richmond if he could procure a permit to take some cotton through. They wanted a permit to get him through. 1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Mar. 84/3 Having no corn..will it do to feed fresh cows rye chop and oats unground, to get them safe through to pasture? 1908 Mod. Business Sept. 165/1 If a merchant can, by bulking several parcels, get them through at a much lower rate. 1937 Boys' Life Dec. 46/2 I paid good money for my ticket..and it's up to the bus company to get me through. 1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road xiv. 99 But if you get the news through you'll find the [New York]World very generous. 1989 K. Smith Inside Time xxvii. 153 And me with not a fucking brass farthing to get me through to fucking Christmas. 2011 N.Y. Times Mag. 24 July 34/1 What really got them through was cocaine. 3. a. intransitive. Of a bill: to pass in a legislative assembly. ΚΠ 1722 R. Wodrow Hist. Sufferings Church of Scotl. II. x. 597 A Declaration..from the English Judges,..much more useful for the inbringing of Popery and arbitrary Power, than our Scots Act of Parliament would have been, though it had got through. 1828 Niles' Weekly Reg. 29 Mar. 78/1 The prospect is a gloomy one; even if a favorable law gets through, the manufacturers will have to wade through most discouraging difficulties. 1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 175 The Irish Tithe Bill..got through at last, though much cut about by the Opposition. 1950 Kiplinger Mag. May 3/1 The bills that can't be postponed and the politically ‘safe’ bills are getting through, but little else. 2001 B. Ames Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil 236 The Congress may ultimately approve a proposal, but almost nothing gets through quickly. b. transitive. To secure the implementation of (a bill or other political measure). ΚΠ 1757 Parl. Hist. Eng. XX. 189 The House..revived the Consideration of the Bill, never got through in the last Parliament. 1786 T. Jefferson Let. 14 Dec. in Papers (1954) X. 595 I am glad to hear my bill of scantling is nearly got through. 1859 S. Smith My Thirty Years out of Senate lxii. 320 If we could get that bill through, it would be of immense importance to us and our friends for a good many years to come. 1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age xx. 190 The Senator..favored the appropriation and he gave the Colonel..to understand that he would endeavor to get it through. 1900 Congress. Rec. 6 Feb. 1556/2 No such disfranchising scheme as this could ever be gotten through a Democratic caucus. 1970 H. Fish in S. Terkel Hard Times (2000) 288 I wrote and got through a bill creating the Un-American Activities Committee, which came a few years later, chairmaned by Mr. Dies of Texas. 2010 I. Kabashima & G. Steel Changing Politics in Japan vi. 116 To get his proposals through, Koizumi had to battle stiff resistance from toll-road corporations. 4. intransitive. To succeed in an examination. ΘΚΠ society > education > educational administration > examination > examine [verb (intransitive)] > pass examination to get through1805 through1830 pass1843 to shave through1860 scratch1890 1805 Port Folio 25 May 153/3 I was admitted to an examination. How I got through I know not; for, worthy sir, I have not..sufficient ‘science in the law’ to enable me to discriminate when I answered right or when wrong. 1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) xi. 100 So you see, Gig lamps, I'm safe to get through!—it's impossible for them to plough me, with all these contrivances. 1895 A. F. Warr in Law Times 99 547/1 An articled clerk of average sharpness may rely upon getting through with three month's coaching. 1978 Times of India 9 Jan. 12/3 You will be able to accomplish whatever you attempt. Students can hope to get through with distinction. 2012 Irish Times (Nexis) 14 Feb. (Health section) 6 A young person who felt diminished by a poor exam result knuckles down and gets through on the repeat. 5. a. transitive. To send or receive (a message) by telegraph, radio, or telephone. ΘΚΠ society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)] > transmit or relay to get through1819 relay1872 transmit1877 uplink1975 downlink1978 1819 J. Macdonald Circumstantial Acct. Exper. 247 They get over the ground, as will a powerless Telegraph get through a communication, by tediously hammering out..the figures or letters one by one. 1860 W. S. Russell Remarks in Reply to Statement Messrs. Hewitt, Field, Raymond & Others 58 But they could not get their messages through to New York; the old American Telegraph Company refused to send them. 1912 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 61/2 When several ships are ‘talking’ to the shore-station, some delay may arise in getting a message through. 1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 189 They haven't had time since they got my message through. 1938 Life 6 June 38/1 Then the search was for means of getting radio messages through in spite of ‘atmospherics’. 1994 J. Birmingham He died with Felafel in his Hand (1997) iii. 61 He got a phone call through to a friend in Canberra, also called Tim, who worked for Defence Intelligence. b. intransitive. To establish communication by radio or telephone. ΘΚΠ society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (intransitive)] to get through1886 1886 Manch. Guardian 21 Apr. 4/6 Everybody knows that the only advantage of a telephone consists in quickly getting ‘through’. 1895 A. R. Bennett Telephone Syst. Europe 11 The delay and uncertainty in getting through would probably deter him from using the telephone at all. 1902 M. Beerbohm in Sat. Rev. 27 Dec. 805/1 We feel..that he has rung up a messenger-boy after failing to ‘get through’ on the telephone. 1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 188 The signallers leaped to their instruments, buzzed off the call, and getting through, rattled their messages off. 1929 L. Rea Six Mrs. Greenes 257 ‘Lavinia dear,’ she began as soon as she got through, ‘I want you to help me a little to-night.’ 1954 G. Durrell Three Singles to Adventure iv. 85 I tried to contact McTurk to let him know that we were coming, but I could not get through. 2010 S. Thirsk Not quite White (2011) 118 She may be trying to phone in. The mobile networks are solid. You were fluky to be getting through. 6. intransitive. colloquial. With to: to reach the attention or understanding of (someone); to communicate with. ΘΚΠ society > communication > [verb (transitive)] > communicate with to get to ——1853 to get on to ——1879 reach1886 to get through1917 contact1927 1917 Spectator 26 May 584/2 Then the doctor would emit a curious whistle, the only sound which could get through to her, and nod and smile. 1962 J. Braine Life at Top iii. 54 He had defeated me; I couldn't think up any way to get through to him. 1969 A. Hunter Gently Coloured ii. 14 You don't have to answer them, but you can do. Am I getting through to you, Osgood? 2003 S. Brett Murder in Museum vi. 53 He remained hypersensitive and twitchy, but Jude liked to think that she had begun to get through to him. † to get to Obsolete. rare. intransitive. To begin eating. Cf. to get to —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (intransitive)] > begin to eat to fall aboard1498 to fall to1577 to stand toa1616 win to1816 to get to1827 to dig in1912 1827 T. Carlyle tr. J. A. Musæus in German Romance I. 57 The traveller's appetite was gone. The host endeavoured to encourage him. ‘Why do you not get to? Come, take somewhat for the raw foggy morning.’ to get together 1. transitive. To collect, gather together (persons or things). ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (transitive)] somnec825 heapc900 gathera975 samc1000 to set togetherc1275 fang1340 assemblec1374 recueilc1380 drawa1393 to draw togethera1398 semblea1400 congatherc1400 congregatec1400 to take together1490 recollect1513 to gather togetherc1515 to get together1523 congesta1552 confer1552 collect1573 ingatherc1575 ramass1586 upgather1590 to muster upa1593 accrue1594 musterc1595 compone1613 herd1615 contract1620 recoil1632 comporta1641 rally1643 rendezvous1670 purse1809 adduct1824 to round up1873 reeve1876 to pull together1925 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. xcviii. f. xlvii^v They gotte togyder a company of knyghtes and soudyours. 1534 G. Joye tr. Jeremy Prophete iv. f. vii^v Blow forth trompettis into the lande, fil it al with your noise sayng: Get ye togither and go into your stronge defensed cytes. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 178 The Golde was all gotyn & the grete sommes Of qwhete & of qwhite syluer qwemly to gedur. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxij He gat together a great nauy of shippes. a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) i. iii. 133 Let's away And get our Iewels and our wealth together. View more context for this quotation 1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 50 Betooke himselfe to spend foolishly, what he had so unjustly gotten together. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 184 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors They get together fourscore of the handsomest young Women. 1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 364 The Governour's Deputy..had the Fatigue to get our Provisions together. 1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 52 There never was so small a number of persons got together oppressed with so many misfortunes. 1848 A. Jameson Sacred & Legendary Art (1850) 278 Seven of the wisest masters that could be gotten together. 1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 42 Argyll had got together a fair-sized army. 1942 Pop. Sci. May 142/1 ‘Tell him I'm on my way,’ he instructed Joe briefly. Then he got together a few tools..and was out of the shop. 1967 A. Christie Endless Night ii. 21 He'd got such a yen for a picture that he managed to get the money together. 2000 M. Keyes Sushi for Beginners (2001) xviii. 152 Get a group of married women together and they compete to see who can diss their husband the most. 2. intransitive. a. To meet, assemble; esp. to meet for the purpose of conferring. Also: (occasionally) to come to agreement. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (intransitive)] > specifically of people or animals gathera975 ensemblea1300 drawc1300 semble1389 herd1393 assemblea1400 routa1400 sanka1400 trume?a1400 musterc1425 convene1429 resemblea1450 to draw together1455 forgather1513 accompany1534 troop1565 congregate1570 to get together1575 parliament?1589 accoil1590 join1706 to roll up1817 congressa1850 to round up1879 the mind > language > speech > conversation > converse [verb (intransitive)] > confer, consult, or deliberate roundc1275 to speak togetherc1275 to take counselc1290 counsel1297 treat1297 advisea1393 communea1393 to take deliberationc1405 common1416 to put (also bring, lay, set, etc.) their (also our, your) heads togetherc1425 janglec1440 bespeak1489 parliamenta1492 intercommonc1540 confer1545 parle1558 consult1565 imparl1572 break parle1594 handle1596 emparley1600 to confer notes1650 to compare notes1709 powwow1780 to get together1816 palaver1877 1575 W. Patten Cal. Script. f. 49^v Congregans..: Getting toogyther. 1631 T. Brewer Life & Death Merry Deuill Edmonton sig. D3^v (heading) How Smug being drunke, lost his fellowes in the Parke, and how when they got together by whooping & hollowing, he tooke them for theeues. 1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 118 They got together in great numbers..so that we were forced to flee. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 25 They use commonly to get together near to the Sea-shore in the morning. 1760 O. Goldsmith in Brit. Mag. Oct. 580/2 I learned my part... We got together in order to rehearse. 1816 J. Austen Emma II. iii. 47 It is such a happiness when good people get together . View more context for this quotation 1889 Judge (U.S.) 10 Aug. 282/1 Five Men..are to be hanged on the same day. In other words, they will follow Mr. Dana's advice and get together. 1889 Puck (N.Y.) 14 Aug. 418/2 ‘I saw you conferring with Congressman Shouter this morning.’.. ‘Why, yes; he said that we ought to get together.’ 1904 Chicago Tribune 9 Aug. 4 The representatives of the unions and of the employers should get together and talk it over. 1904 N.Y. Times 23 Dec. 1 The jury was unable to get together, and the Presiding Justice had ordered them locked up for the night. 1923 Illustr. London News 1 Sept. 418/3 So widely divergent are the standpoints that I wonder the police authorities do not get together..and formulate a standard practice. 1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 102/2 I see them irritating people now—a bunch of people who agree and get together and go blah, blah, blah, with nobody listening to them. 2005 J. Canseco Juiced 44 So they got together, talked it over, and cooked up what they thought was a really clever scheme. b. Of a couple: to become romantically attached; to have a sexual relationship. ΚΠ 1981 Weekly World News 10 Mar. 12/1 The steamy couple got together after an intro from Tatum's kid brother. 2005 Daily Tel. 11 Mar. 19/1 Those boring preambles that focused on how the couple got together in the first place. 2012 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 8 July (Herald-Times ed.) (Parade section) 14/1 With shows like Bones and The Mentalist, there's a group of fans who want the leads to get together. 3. transitive. slang (originally U.S.). To organize, harmonize, put in order. to get it together: to bring some order or purpose into one's life, to start performing well.to get one's act together: see act n. Phrases 12. to get one's head together: see head n.¹ Phrases 4d(d). to get one's shit together: shit n. and adj. Phrases 23a. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > put in (proper) order [verb (transitive)] rightlOE attire1330 ettlea1350 to set (also put) in rulea1387 redress1389 dress?a1400 fettlea1400 governc1405 yraylle1426 direct1509 settlec1530 tune1530 instruct1534 rede1545 commodate1595 square1596 concinnate1601 concinnea1620 rectify1655 fix1663 to put (also bring) into repair1673 arrange1802 pipeclay1806 to get together1810 to do up1886 to jack up1939 1810 R. Parkinson Treat. Breeding & Managem. Live Stock II. ii. 99 In galloping on soft ground, she did not sink so deep,..and therefore could more quickly get herself together again. 1878 G. Macpherson Mem. of Life of A. Jameson 141 I am now settled with my sister Louisa in Mortimer Street, and am trying to busy myself about my book; but I find it difficult to get my mind together for a continuous effort. 1911 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 5 Sept. 1/1 I am possessed with an evil spirit... If I could only get my head together I could get out of this and be alright. 1962 Down Beat 12 Apr. 22 I guess I was on my way in '57, when I started to get myself together musically. 1969 It 4 July 10/3 The promoters just hadn't got things together at all and would have made an immense loss. 1975 New Society 20 Nov. 412/3 Tez thinks he'll be a rock star..tomorrow. Meanwhile he's having trouble getting it together and lives off the SS. 1985 D. Lucie Progress ii. i, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business (1991) 130 Love, try to get it together, will you? Please? 2001 M. Azerrad Our Band could be your Life xi. 382 Once you get your own shit together, once you get your own mind together, it makes life for you and the people around you so much more agreeable. 2012 Independent 31 Aug. 15/4 If Russians cannot get it together to run an honest state. 4. Rowing. a. transitive. To cause (a crew) to work together. ΚΠ 1843 in W. F. MacMichael Oxf. & Cambr. Boat Races (1870) 110 Their boat was a bad one, and the crew not properly got together. 1888 W. B. Woodgate Boating (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) xii. 170 The other days are long-course days of long grinds, to get men together, and to reduce weight. 1898 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport II. 280/2 As the day of the race..draws near, the attention of the coach must be given entirely towards getting the crew absolutely together. 1937 Manch. Guardian 24 Feb. 4/2 Mileage is certainly excellent for getting a crew together, but it also has the other effect of making men not exactly stale, but weary. 2011 Cambr. Evening News (Nexis) 21 July Their job is..to motivate the crew with calls to push harder, increase the stroke rate, or using a variety of colourful and often sarcastic comments to get the crew together. b. intransitive. Of a crew: to work together. ΚΠ 1866 Manch. Guardian 21 Aug. 8/2 After a little delay (consequent on some barges coming down stream being in the way) the two crews got together, and very shortly were off to a very good start. 1876 E. D. Brickwood Boat Racing i. viii. 97 If the progress made by the crew is satisfactory, and they have got well together, a regular racing outrigger may be substituted for the tub. 2013 Barking & Dagenham Post (Nexis) 10 July It's a brilliant event to be a part of,..and we all got together as a team which was great. to get under transitive. To subdue, overcome (esp. a fire). ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > crush, stifle, or overwhelm (feelings, etc.) shendOE whelvec1000 allayOE ofdrunkenc1175 quenchc1175 quashc1275 stanchc1315 quella1325 slockena1340 drenchc1374 vanquishc1380 stuffa1387 daunt?a1400 adauntc1400 to put downa1425 overwhelmc1425 overwhelvec1450 quatc1450 slockc1485 suppressa1500 suffocate1526 quealc1530 to trample under foot1530 repress1532 quail1533 suppress1537 infringe1543 revocate1547 whelm1553 queasom1561 knetcha1564 squench1577 restinguish1579 to keep down1581 trample1583 repel1592 accable1602 crush1610 to wrestle down?1611 chokea1616 stranglea1616 stifle1621 smother1632 overpower1646 resuppress1654 strangulate1665 instranglea1670 to choke back, down, in, out1690 to nip or crush in the bud1746 spiflicate1749 squasha1777 to get under1799 burke1835 to stamp out1851 to trample down1853 quelch1864 to sit upon ——1864 squelch1864 smash1865 garrotte1878 scotch1888 douse1916 to drive under1920 stomp1936 stultify1958 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jer. xxxviii. D Y^e men in whom thou didest put thy trust, haue gotten the vnder. 1607 G. Markham tr. P. Desportes Rodomonths Infernall lii. sig. C^v Rodomonth..Spake not a word, but stroue himselfe to sunder From him; or if he could, to get him vnder. 1667 T. Vincent God's Terrible Voice vi. 67 When once the fire was got under, it was kept under. 1752 Convent-Garden Jrnl. 23 June 3/2 Yesterday Morning..a Fire happened at the Swan Alehouse..but three Engines coming immediately, it was soon got under. 1795 Ann. Reg. 1791 (Rivington ed.) ii. 4/1 The fire was got under. 1799 in Spirit of Public Jrnls.* (1800) 3 387 Advices from Limehouse mention that a violent quarrel broke out between Mr. and Mrs. Tarpaulin, which was not got under when the post came away. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. ii. 32 The assault is continued..till every meadow is completely got under. 1884 Manch. Examiner 8 Apr. 4/7 The fires fortunately were got under before much damage had been done. 1900 Gardeners' Chron. 23 June 401/1 I have known the slug-worm to attack Cherry-trees in the open, but this pest is got under by dusting the trees with powdered lime. 1930 F. J. Foakes-Jackson Josephus & Jews xii. 212 He rushed to the scene and tried to get the flames under. 2012 West Briton (Nexis) 6 Sept. 48 Happily the fishermen of Newlyn were on shore, and exerted themselves with great spirit; they got an engine from Penzance, and soon got the fire under. to get up 1. a. intransitive. To rise, raise oneself to a sitting or (more commonly) a standing posture; esp. rise to one's feet. to get up and go: to start moving quickly or acting energetically; (also) to make haste. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > posture > action of standing up or rising > rise or be standing [verb (intransitive)] > rise arisec1000 astandOE standOE to stand upOE risec1175 risec1175 runge?c1225 uprisea1300 upstanda1300 buskc1390 to fare upa1400 to get upa1400 to win upona1400 dress1490 upget1582 up1635 raise1884 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 3721 Fader he saide gete vp in bedde wiþ þis mete þou sal be fedde. 1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 537 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 276 In ane myr he fell..ȝeit gat he vp. 1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 22 He could not possibly cause him [sc. a horse] to get up on his feet. 1735 S.-Carolina Gaz. 2 Aug. 3/1 On Monday night last Capt. Robert Robinson..got up, and was seen by one of the Passengers going forward to the head of the Vessel,..but in the morning was miss'd, supposed to be fallen over board. 1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 98 If you fall by the Way, don't stay to get up again. 1838 E. W. Lane tr. Thousand & One Nights (1839) I. ii. 107 I got up immediately, and followed her until she had quitted the palace. 1885 Manch. Weekly Times 6 June 5/5 As soon as a long-winded orator gets up the members wisely retire. 1940 F. L. Allen Since Yesterday iv. 79 They were exhibiting the same emotional willingness to get up and go, they knew not where, that was being exhibited in Germany by multitudes of men and women. 1951 H. Wouk Caine Mutiny (1952) ii. vi. 60 People who had the gumption to get up and go and make themselves better lives in a new world. 1967 J. Wain Smaller Sky 83 Just get up from your seat and go to another part of the train. 1992 M. Bracewell Conclave iv. 164 ‘Oh, go to hell.’ The girl got up, threw her embroidered shawl across her shoulder and walked quickly away from the bar. 2006 She Caribbean Nov. 100 She has to be able to get up and go without worrying too much about messing up her nails or her hair. b. transitive (reflexive). To rise up (in preparation for action). ΚΠ 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Chron. xiii. 6 But Ieroboam..gat him vp [1611 is risen vp] & fell awaye from his lorde. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Judges xx. 8 So all the people gat them vp as one man. 1640 W. Lithgow Gushing Teares of Godly Sorrow sig. F^v Ag'd Jacob, and his race may starve, Unlesse he flit; then get you up and go. 1677 tr. S. Brémond Cheating Gallant 62 Get you up, and clear your self before him. 1737 W. Whiston tr. Nicolaus of Damascus in tr. Josephus Antiq. Jews i. vii, in tr. Josephus Genuine Wks. 15 But after a long time he got him up, and removed from that country. 1849 A. W. Street Serm. preached Chapelry Bishop's College, Calcutta xv. 246 Get you up, for the sake of Christ's Blood shed for you! 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley's Secret III. viii. 234 He got himself up by holdin' on to me, for it seemed as if his limbs was so cramped, the use of 'em was almost gone. 1965 N. Mailer Amer. Dream (1966) v. 132 I've tried to reach you six times today. I got myself up for it six times, and each time, Steve, I caught your fright-wig answer service. 2012 C. Priest Inexplicables xxix. 347 ‘You're already awake,’ Zeke noted. ‘Might as well get yourself up and do something useful.’ c. intransitive. To rise from bed. to get up early (in the morning): (figurative, originally U.S.) to be alert, wide awake, or quick. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > bed related to sleep or rest > go to bed or retire to rest [verb (intransitive)] > get up or rise arisec950 riseOE risec1175 uprisea1400 to dress upc1400 rouse1577 to get up1583 up1635 unroost1751 to turn out1801 to show a leg1818 to roll out1884 to hit the deck1918 1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 5 Rise, rise vp, Leape foorth of the bed. Get up, get up, out of the idle fethers. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 290 The king was so incens'd..that as soon as he got up the next morning [etc.]. 1712 E. Harrold Diary 3 Aug. (2008) 24 Got up ½ hour past five. Went to morn: prayer, heard Dr Harper, 2 sermons. 1795 Scots Mag. July 418/1 Got up early this morning, to prepare for business. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vi. 118 Getting up early for a journey, with a racking head-ache. 1870 ‘M. Twain’ Let. 4 Sept. in Lett. to Publishers (1967) i. 39 Have written first four chapters of the book, and I tell you the ‘Innocents Abroad’ will have to get up early to beat it. 1884 J. Hawthorne in Harper's Mag. Feb. 433/2 You must get up early to get the better of a man who has been a parson. 1914 Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 28 Nov. 12/1 When one tries to beat Charles Murphy at this base ball game of politics they will have to get up very early in the morning and not be so cock-sure of themselves as the National Leaguers have been. 1939 C. H. Madge & T. H. Harrisson Brit. by Mass-observ. (2009) viii. 220 When they get up in the morning, they knock chairs over. 1981 L. R. Banks Writing on Wall vi. 51 No prizes for guessing how I felt about getting up for school. 2004 E. Edmondson Frozen Lake 359 You have to get up early to catch Mr Grindley out. d. intransitive. Of game: to rise from cover. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > thing hunted or game > action of game > [verb (intransitive)] to stand, be (abide obs.) at bayc1314 to steal awayc1369 stalla1425 starta1425 rusec1425 beatc1470 lodgec1470 trason1486 rouse1532 angle1575 bolt1575 to take squat1583 baya1657 watch1677 fall1697 tree1699 to go away1755 to sink the wind1776 to get up1787 to go to ground1797 lie1797 to stand up1891 fly1897 1787 World 2 Jan. The unfortunate Banker being much fluttered when the Game got up, shot both the Dogs through the head. 1793 Tour through Theatre of War 87 Woe to the game that gets up before them; a hundred soldiers are sure to send after it the contents of their muskets. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 43 Traversing one of our untrodden wildernesses, with..hogs..quail and partridges, getting up on all sides. 1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 614/1 He never missed anything that got up within range. 1922 Forest & Stream Aug. 364/3 An old rouser of a big woods-rabbit got up about thirty yards ahead. 1977 P. Mincher in L. Wevers N.Z. Short Stories (1984) 4th Ser. 191 When he was maybe halfway across, stepping it out but hunting all the way, a big, bright-pelted hare got up out of a clear patch ahead of him and took off. 2012 D. Dobie Legendary Whitetails III xviii. 102/1 After an agonizing pursuit, during which he saw the elusive buck get up and run several more times, Johnny heard his cousin Brad Heisz shoot his rifle and yell, ‘Big buck!’ †e. intransitive. to get up again: (of a person's health) to reach its former (good) condition. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1788 Ld. Nelson Let. 6 May in Dispatches & Lett. (1844) I. 273 My health is got up again, after the Doctors telling me they could do nothing for me. 2. transitive. a. To prepare, make ready; to organize, set going; to bring into existence. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)] yarec888 yarkc1000 graithc1175 readya1225 biredienc1275 to make yarec1290 forgraitha1300 adightc1330 buskc1330 purveyc1330 agraith1340 disposec1375 before-graithea1382 to forge and filec1381 to make readya1382 devisec1385 bounc1390 buss?a1400 address?a1425 parel?a1425 to get upc1425 providec1425 prepare1449 bakec1450 aready1470 arm?a1505 prevenea1522 get?1530 to get ready1530 to get ready1530 to set in readiness1575 apply1577 compose1612 predy1627 make1637 to dispose of1655 do1660 fallowa1764 to line up1934 prep1936 tee1938 c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Vesp. B.xii) (1904) 97 (MED) What houndes þat þei may gete vp, bryng hem to þe next rightes. 1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere vi. p. ccxliiii For some one of them.., kepeth all theyr leuynge alone, sauynge for an harlot taken vnto hym.., and gete vppe a couent of bastardes betwene theym. c1550 C. Bansley Treat. Pryde & Abuse of Women sig. A.i^v For a stewde strumpet can not so soone, gette vp a lyghte lewde fashyon But euerye wanton Jelot wyll lyke it well, and catche it vp anon. 1593 R. Bancroft Daungerous Positions iv. i. 136 The Puritanes in Scotland haue got-vp their discipline. 1663 S. Pepys Diary 2 Oct. (1971) IV. 322 My wife, who is over head and ears in getting her house up. a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) i. 179 Minos..got up a potent fleet. 1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker III. 260 We have got up several farces. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vi. 120 A mob of red-hot cooks and scullions..getting up two or three large dinners. 1832 Ann. Reg. 1831 i. Hist. Europe 153/1 Petitions to the magistrates in his favour were gotten up by his friends. 1849 E. E. Napier Excursions Southern Afr. II. 291 It was deemed more than probable that he would ‘get up a fight’. 1850 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 11 ii. 681 It is..more easy to get up a good breed than to keep it up. 1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. x. 499 It was affirmed that the revolt had been..got up by the secret practices of Harold. 1902 E. Banks Autobiogr. Newspaper Girl 95 A girl artist and I were told by our editor to go out and get up a true story on ‘The Hottest Day among the New York Poor’. 1948 B. Griffith Amer. Me Notes 323 The residents got up a petition to be rid of the owner of a beer joint. 1999 J. Yager Friendshifts ii. 22 (caption) I'm just trying to get up a card game. b. To make (linen or other clothing) ready for wearing. Now rare (chiefly historical). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [verb (transitive)] > prepare for wearing to get upa1712 a1712 W. King tr. Persian & Turkish Tales (1714) II. 629 After the Woman and her Daughters had wash'd and got up their Linen, they used to lay it in Flowers. 1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 12. ⁋3 There would be nothing to do but to clean my mistress's room, get up her linen [etc.]. 1779 Mirror No. 25 A laced suit, which I had worn at my marriage, was got up for the purpose; but the breeches burst a seam. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 77 Hard at work..at what is called getting up frills. 1884 G. Gissing Unclassed II. iii. iv. 86 I was in the laundry nearly six months, and became quite clever in getting up linen. 1968 A. Pomerans tr. J. Presser Ashes in Wind 427 Section VIII was in charge of mending... This section also helped to get up the costumes for the camp cabaret. 1992 C. Hardyment Home Comfort (1997) xi. 220 ‘Getting up’ the lace frills, the goffered ruffs on widows' caps, and the shiny starched evening-shirt fronts provided the laundress with a challenge. c. To dress or arrange (the person, hair, a room, etc.) in a certain way; to produce or turn out in a (specified) style as regards external appearance. Also: to produce (a book) in a specified way. Chiefly in past participle. Formerly also intransitive with reflexive meaning.In quot. 1782 with reference to the mounting of a play. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (transitive)] enact1430 to set out1540 to bring (a person) on or to the stage1602 to bring on1768 to get up1782 to put up1832 stage1879 to put on1885 society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (intransitive)] > be staged in specific style to get up1782 the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > devise, contrive, or make up, compose, or concoct craftOE befind1297 visec1325 contrive1377 temper1390 preparate?a1425 brew1530 to make up1530 forge1549 compact1576 mint1593 feign1690 to get up1828 the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] wrya901 clothec950 shride971 aturnc1220 begoa1225 array1297 graith1297 agraithc1300 geara1325 cleadc1325 adightc1330 apparel1362 back1362 shape1362 attirea1375 parela1375 tirea1375 rayc1390 addressa1393 coverc1394 aguisea1400 scredea1400 shrouda1400 bedightc1400 buskc1400 harnessc1400 hatterc1400 revesta1449 able1449 dressa1450 reparel?c1450 adub?1473 endue?a1475 afaite1484 revestera1500 beclothe1509 trimc1516 riga1535 invest1540 vesture1555 suit1577 clad1579 investure1582 vest1582 deck1587 habit1594 to make ready1596 caparison1597 skin1601 shadow1608 garment1614 riga1625 raiment1656 garb1673 equip1695 to fit out1722 encase1725 tog1793 trick1821 to fig out1825 enclothe1832 toilet1842 to get up1858 habilitate1885 tailor1885 kit1919 1782 Mrs. Thrale Let. 16 Feb. in Lett. to & from S. Johnson (1788) II. 234 I am told the new plays this year are got up (as the phrase is) very penuriously. 1800 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1801) 4 388 The principal novelty is a piece called the Confederacy..which is getting up in great style. 1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 51 Instead of two reflectors, this instrument may be got up with three or more such planes. 1828 L. Hunt Ess. (Camelot) 13 The pocket-books that now contain any literature are ‘got up’, as the phrase is, in the most unambitious style. 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma iii. 7 Miss Willing was extremely well got up. 1864 Eton School Days xviii. 207 He felt confident in his power of ‘getting up’ so that no one would recognise him. 1879 F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 8 The hair is taken great care of and tastefully got up à la Chinois. 1890 Sat. Rev. 22 Nov. 603/2 The book is prettily got up. 1939 A. L. Rowse Diary 22 July (2003) 113 The chapel was got up like a hotel lounge, over-decorated with palms and hydrangeas for a succession of anonymous visitors passing through. 1966 W. Percy Last Gentleman v. iv. 265 Hadn't he got himself up grandly for the occasion: flowing locks, big cigar,..a proper villainous-looking old man if ever there was one. 2007 E. White Chaos (2010) 168 Loti loved drag of any sort..and would get himself up in a fez and baggy trousers and a scimitar and smoke opium and drink sugared tea. d. To acquire a knowledge of (a subject) for a special purpose or by a special effort. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > cram prepare1586 cram1825 to get up1828 to study up1846 1828 H. Alford Jrnl. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) 32 Getting up the Georgics, reading trigonometry. 1866 T. Carlyle Inaug. Addr. Edinb. 172 There is a process called cramming..that is, getting-up such points of things as the Examiner is likely to put questions about. 1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. 157 He would..devote studious hours to getting up the subjects to be discussed. a1902 S. Butler Way of All Flesh (1903) xlix. 223 They got up Beveridge on the Thirty-nine Articles, and Pearson on the Creed. 1966 G. Greene Comedians i. i. 19 She's down there in the cabin getting up her French grammar. She said she couldn't concentrate with me around. 2002 D. Emmott Clergy Training in Victorian York 9 It was not enough simply to pick up a degree or spend a little time ‘getting up’ the subjects for the Bishop's examination. 3. intransitive. a. To ascend, mount, climb up; esp. to mount on horseback or get into a coach, carriage, etc. Also figurative or in figurative contexts: to ascend, rise in dignity; to rise to a certain level. Also †transitive (reflexive). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > rise or go up [verb (intransitive)] styc825 astyc950 ariseOE upstyOE to step upOE upcomec1000 to come upOE to go upOE upwendc1200 runge?c1225 amountc1275 upgoa1325 heavec1325 uparise1340 ascend1382 higha1393 lifta1400 risea1400 skilla1400 uprisea1400 raisec1400 rearc1400 surmount1430 to get upc1450 transcenda1513 springa1525 upmounta1560 assurge?1567 hove1590 surgea1591 tower1618 hoist1647 upheave1649 to draw up1672 spire1680 insurrect1694 soar1697 upsoar1726 uprear1828 higher1889 the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > fame or renown > famous or eminent person > be or become eminent [verb (intransitive)] > rise in fame or eminence mounta1393 to get upc1450 augmenta1533 rocket1929 society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride a horse (or other animal) [verb (intransitive)] > mount worthOE mountc1330 lighta1450 horse1535 to get up1553 to get on1613 to take horse1617 saddle1834 to saddle up1849 c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 132 (MED) Sho gatt hur vp into a tre. ?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 105 Yf he had not wonne a roche vpon whiche he gate vp with grete payne. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 563/2 I get up upon a ladder or any hyghe thyng, je monte. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxlix^v This Marques thus gotten vp, into fortunes trone..was shortely erected to the estate and degree of a Duke. 1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Cij When you attempt to geat vp, to ryde on them. 1629 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. (ed. 5) vi. sig. C2 A verse or some such worke he may sometimes get vp to, but seldome aboue the stature of an Epigram. 1658 Trad. Mem. K. Jas. G ij By what steps the Puritans got up, and the old Clergy degenerated. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 189 After this they took a Ladder..one of the other four got up to the top of it. 1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) viii. 93 The coach stopped and went on... Passengers got up and passengers got down. 1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. v. 85 He used to get up into the trees. 1900 G. B. Grinnell Jack among Indians xvi. 158 It'll do you good to get up onto the high hills and look out over the prairie. 1921 Mentor May 30/1 The average man, whose scheme of things demands devotion of his entire activity, outside of the home, to ‘getting up in the world’. 1991 T. Mo Redundancy of Courage (1992) xxi. 277 Their gunner must have had a struggle getting up to the top of the bluff. 2001 J. Boyle Galloway Street 26 The ragman backs his horse out into the road and gets up on the cart. b. Of fire, wind, the sea: to begin to show action or movement; to increase in force or violence. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > become active or come into operation > be stirred up or aroused > of fire, the sea, etc. to get up1556 the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > blow (of the wind) [verb (intransitive)] > blow strongly > increase rise?1520 fresh1599 to come up1647 freshen1669 ascend1715 to get up1834 to blow up1840 stiffen1844 to breeze up1867 to pipe up1901 1556 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 246 The fire got up. 1623 N. Metcalfe tr. P. Du Moulin Boldnesse & Confidence of Christian 25 in Coales from Altar The winde of persecution getteth vp. 1789 E. Riou Jrnl. 30 Dec. in Last Voy. of Guardian (1990) 79 It blew fresh during the night and the sea got up, which carried away one of the masthead guys of the machine. 1813 I. Pocock Miller & his Men i. ii. 11 Here's a pretty mess!..the sun gone down, a storm got up, and no getting out of this vile forest, turn which way one will. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales II. 136 The wind got up with the sun. 1890 S. Lane-Poole Barbary Corsairs i. xi. 121 The wind was getting up, the sea rising. 1928 E. Cadbury in C. F. S. Gamble Story North Sea Air Station xii. 194 As an awful sea got up about noon we knew he must be done in unless he was picked up. 2006 D. A. Ellis Undergardeners 60 All of a sudden this roarin' gale gets up. Don't know where it came from. c. Cricket. Of the ball: to rise off the pitch higher than usual. ΚΠ 1828 Sporting Mag. Feb. 244/2 Straight-armed bowlers are invariably slow bowlers. Their balls, indeed, get up fast, but they never come fast to the long stop. 1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 139 A ball got up and smashed his hand. 1888 A. G. Steel in A. G. Steel & R. H. Lyttelton Cricket (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) iii. 163 Should the ball ‘shoot’ or ‘get up’. 1930 Oxf. Ann. Girls 92/1 Now suppose the ball pitches short and gets up outside the off stump: that ball wants cutting. 1999 Observer 19 Dec. (Mag.) 24/3 Larwood failed to make the ball get up even waist high! 4. transitive. a. To succeed in bringing, conveying, or causing to come or go up; to raise from a lower place; (figurative) to increase. to get up steam: see steam n. 7d. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [verb (transitive)] echeOE ekec1200 multiplya1275 morea1300 increase13.. vaunce1303 enlargec1380 augmenta1400 accrease1402 alargea1425 amply?a1425 great?1440 hainc1440 creasec1475 grow1481 amplea1500 to get upa1500 improve1509 ampliatea1513 auge1542 over1546 amplify1549 raise1583 grand1602 swell1602 magnoperate1610 greaten1613 accresce1626 aggrandize1638 majoratea1651 adauge1657 protend1659 reinforce1660 examplify1677 pluralize1750 to drive up1817 to whoop up1856 to jack up1884 upbuild1890 steepen1909 up1934 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > raising > make to go up or cause to rise [verb (transitive)] overOE mountc1330 risec1384 raise?c1425 to get upa1500 to screw up?1614 sublime1616 altify1643 a1500 (?a1425) Ipomedon (Harl.) (1889) l. 2162 She lepyd..In to þe water..And he in aftir also faste, Þat vp he gatte hyr at þe last. 1590 R. Ferris Most Dangerous Aduenture B 2 Andrew Hill.., fell ouer boord into the sea; where..we recouered him and got him vp againe. 1593 B. Rich Greenes Newes sig. D.4 They will make a mayde beleeue they loue her, tyll they haue gotte vppe her bellie. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 157 We at last made a shift to get up the great [anchor]. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xv. 416 Having fine handsom weather, we got up our Yards again. 1735 J. Price Some Considerations Stone-bridge Thames 6 The rest of the Piers..are all got up to the Stones above-mentioned. 1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland (1823) 12 All the crew were called to get up the whale-boats. 1826 R. Sharp Diary 24 Oct. (1997) 79 Let them try to get up the prices of Corn again. 1839 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. July 29 The time lost,..in diminishing speed.., and again to get up the speed of the train. 1876 G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto v. 60 Show me where the deer is harboured. The Lord have mercy on him, for I will not, when once I get him up to bay. 1919 Plumbers' Trade Jrnl. 1 Apr. 411/2 When we get up pressure in the boiler the water leaves the gauge. 1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse iii. iii. 242 Now they had got the sail up; now after a little flagging and hesitation the sails filled. 1951 New Mexico Hist. Rev. 26 270 We were kept busy getting up our shelter tents. 2010 S. Junger War ii. ii. 104 They're taking heavy, accurate fire..and it's so effective that much of Second Platoon is having trouble even getting their guns up. b. To make up, make good, recover (an expense, deficiency, loss, arrears). Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (transitive)] > bring in (a revenue) > from a previous financial loss to get upa1535 recoup1764 recuperate1867 the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > put right (a wrong or loss) winc1220 righta1275 astorec1300 addressa1325 reform1405 dressc1410 redressa1413 arightc1420 refound1497 richa1500 redub1531 repair1533 to make good1569 reducec1592 remend1592 to set up1610 to get up1688 a1535 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. (1557) II. 1303/1 The money which he lost by thanoynting of hys mayster, he woulde get it vp agayne by the bytraying of his mayster. 1578 T. Rogers Godlie Treat. Lawfull Vse of Ritches v. f. 8, in tr. P. Cæsar Gen. Disc. Damnable Sect Vsurers [Buyers] wil giue more than a thyng is worthe, and get vp their losse, by some other shifte. 1608 T. Middleton Your Fiue Gallants sig. A4^v Tis got vp at your house in an after-noone ifaith, the hire of the whole month. 1622 T. Weston in W. Bradford Plymouth Plantation (1856) 115 Mr. Beachamp and myselfe bought this little ship..partly to gett up what we are formerly out. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 I am so much a Loser, I must get it up another Way. 1845 New Statist. Acct. Scotl. IV. 284 The proprietor in order to get up arrears of rent, ‘drave the pun’, in other words carried off the hypothecated stock. 1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xv The afternoon was spent in getting up arrears of correspondence. 1902 Weekly Irish Times 5 Apr. 20/4 They had been harrassed during the last three months to get up the arrears of rates. 1924 Daily Times Enterprise (Thomasville, Georgia) 20 June 6/5 Chairman Harris stating that he expected to be able to take steps to get up the deficit in expenses at once. 1964 Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times 16 Dec. 5/1 If any of the freeloaders are going to get up their arrears. c. To work up, create in one's self (an emotion or feeling). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > quality of affecting the emotions > affect with emotion [verb (transitive)] > create an emotion in oneself to screw up1644 to get up1826 1826 Christian Reg. (Boston) 2 Dec. 190/1 The frequent publication of these accounts has a tendency to inflate the pride of those instrumental in getting up the excitement in question. 1837 J. Halley in W. Arnot Life J. Halley (1842) 81 Let him beware of getting up (ὡς εἰπεῖν) certain emotions as due to his views..of the sacred office. 1860 Temple Bar 1 68 She got up a spurious affection for the creature. 1885 R. C. Praed Affinities I. ii. 42 These are the only subjects about which she ever gets up any excitement. 1956 H. Weinberg & A. W. Hire Case Bk. Abnormal Psychol. 166 She had been drinking all that evening to get up enough courage to call to tell her troubles. 1989 E. Gilchrist Light can be both Wave & Particle 96 There was this little roadwhore named Sally in here that Royals knew but I couldn't even get up the interest to talk to her. 2012 New Yorker 24 Sept. 50/3 ‘I personally can get up no enthusiasm for any kind of bird of prey,’ the candidate says. 5. transitive. a. To cause to rise; to lift up, raise from a stooping position (now rare). Also: to improve (one's health or strength). Now rare. ΚΠ 1559 Passage Quene Elyzabeth (new ed.) sig. B.iiii^v The Queenes maiestie..helde vice vnder foote. For if vice once gotte vp the head, it would put the seate of gouernement in peryll of falling. 1605 J. Marston Dutch Courtezan iii. sig. D4 Once married got vp his head aboue A stiffe crooked knobby inflexible tyrannous creature he [sc. a husband] grows then. 1674 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. Northern Countries 106 I awaked at the noise the Master made to get up his Family. a1708 W. Beveridge Thes. Theologicus (1711) III. 410 It is a good while, before we can get up our hearts from earth to heaven. a1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 107 The man naturally bends his force to get off the weight, that he may get up his head. a1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 152 God will..remove the weight so long hung at them..and let them get up their back long bowed. 1815 M. J. Clairmont in E. Dowden Life Shelley (1887) I. 521 Don't you think Papa and Mamma will go down to the seaside, to get up their health a little? 1920 A. C. W. Harmsworth Let. 31 Dec. in R. Pound & G. Harmsworth Northcliffe (1959) xxvii. 779 My dear Steed,—I am going away to get up my health and strength in one final endeavour to get The Times situation right. 1959 Dominion-News (Morgantown, W. Va.) 6 Mar. 17/4 The Wesleyan players have had a long rest in which to get up their strength for the long tournament grind. b. to get one's back up: to become angry or resentful. to get (a person's) back up: to make (a person) angry or resentful. Cf. back n.¹ 24f. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > anger > [verb (transitive)] > make angry wrethec900 abelgheeOE abaeileOE teenOE i-wrathec1075 wratha1200 awratha1250 gramec1275 forthcalla1300 excitea1340 grieve1362 movea1382 achafea1400 craba1400 angerc1400 mada1425 provokec1425 forwrecchec1450 wrothc1450 arage1470 incensea1513 puff1526 angry1530 despite1530 exasperate1534 exasper1545 stunt1583 pepper1599 enfever1647 nanger1675 to put or set up the back1728 roil1742 outrage1818 to put a person's monkey up1833 to get one's back up1840 to bring one's nap up1843 rouse1843 to get a person's shirt out1844 heat1855 to steam up1860 to get one's rag out1862 steam1922 to burn up1923 to flip out1964 1840 N.Z. Jrnl. 1 206 Capt. Nias had ‘got his back up’. 1878 Scribner's Monthly Nov. 86/1 Of course, I got my back up at that and they walked the plank—the whole kit and caboodle. 1887 H. R. Haggard Jess ii. 18 ‘I'm your brother.’ ‘Are you?’ I said, beginning to get my back up. 1930 ‘H. Z. Smith’ Not so Quiet ii. 50 There are many fatigues I detest, but cleaning cook's room gets my back up more than anything. Why should I clean it? 1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side i. 6 In a town where nearly everyone danced, swore and gambled, the only fun Fitz had left was getting his back up. 2007 Washington Post 25 Sept. (Home ed.) f1/1 I can afford to do it, but I got my back up and I'm not going to. 2012 H. Noble Tears of Phoenix 169 There was something about his manner that really got my back up. c. slang (originally U.S.). to get it up: to achieve an erection of the penis. Frequently in negative contexts. ΚΠ c1934 ‘H. Ever’ William Powell & Myrna Loy in ‘Nuts to Will Hays!’ 7 I'll have to suck you off..I just can't get it up again! 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. v. 526 He can't even get it up without a dose of methyltestosterone. a1968 W. W. Smith in P. Smith Let. from my Father (1976) 239 The men looked as if they could never get ‘it’ up again. 1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny ii. 46/1 After the shower we tried to ball. And I couldn't get it up. I was so loaded I couldn't get down sexually. 1993 Social Text 37 26 In Urban Heat she does a torrid scene where she seduced a man in a freight elevator, and the guy was so intimidated by the whole thing that he couldn't get it up. 2010 K. L. Seegers tr. D. Meyer 13 Hours ix. 79 The story is, he can’t…you know…get it up, because of the steroids. 6. intransitive. a. To come up, come close to (also †unto, †with). ΚΠ 1577 N. Breton Floorish vpon Fancie sig. Biv^v If you can make a shift to swim, Though it bee but a stroke or two, yet you may get vp trim Unto the bankes therof. 1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xi. 615 Certayne of the Spanishe footemen got vp to the terrasse or heape of earth, and began to assayle the breache. 1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. xvi. 279 The wind coming at North and by West, they could not get up to them. 1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. xvi. 280 The rest were not able to get up being to the leeward. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 179 This made us the more Earnest to get up to 'em. 1796 Ld. Nelson Let. 25 Apr. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 162 The batteries..opened on our approach and the fire was returned as our Ships got up. 1801 Knight & Mason I. xvii. 186 It is easier to cripple a mast, or a yard, than to get up with a ship that sails nearly as fast as yoursel [sic]. 1857 E. Bennett Border Rover xix. 287 ‘D'ye think you could fotch one, boy—hey?’ ‘If I could get near enough, perhaps I might.’ ‘If they'd only stand till you got up to 'em, hey?’ 1892 J. Fiske Let. 28 Apr. (1940) 602 Next morning we reached Portland, and I got up to Eliot's house early enough for johnny-cake and coffee. 1943 T. W. Lawson Thirty Seconds over Tokyo viii.162 I finally got up to a counter and noticed uneasily that a helmeted Colonial was staring at me. 1985 Truck & Driver June 38/2 (caption) The crowds get up close to the racing trucks. 2000 Observer 18 June (Sport section) 8/2 There's plenty of room along the rail of the walking ring to get right up and see the animals. b. In imperative. colloquial. As a command to a horse: go! go ahead! Cf. giddap int. ΚΠ 1829 G. Griffin Collegians xvi. 125 I see my load is ready... Whup, get up dere, you old garron! 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin vii. 123 Get up!—get up..he says..and once more the horses resume their gait. 1943 Coast to Coast 1942 106 The bottle-o winked to himself and urged his lean brown horse on with a ‘Git up, can't yer, yer brumby.’ 2009 R. A. Koestler-Grack Abraham Lincoln ii. 27 ‘Git up, you old hussy; git up!’ Suddenly, the horse reared up on its hind legs and kicked Abe in the head. c. Horse Racing. (a) Of a racehorse: to catch up with a leading horse. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > engage in horse racing [verb (intransitive)] > actions of horse to carry weight1734 to get up1840 screw1840 to come again1841 to set to1856 to wait off1856 romp1869 to answer the question1875 compound1876 to gallop to a standstill1892 nick1898 to take up1912 rate1920 1840 Sporting Mag. July 274 Dædalus..took up the running, having Scutari in attendance to the turn for home, when the ruck got up, and to within the distance Ruby led. 1862 Illustr. London News 27 Sept. 335/1 On Thursday Lord Clifden, 71b. extra, got up in the last stride and beat Bohemia a head for the Two-Year-Old Stake. 1896 Racing Illustr. 2 Dec. 547/2 Racing in Australia... He kept his place until a couple of strides from the winning-post, where Cremorne, who came with a tremendous rush, got up and won by a head. 1988 Racing Post 28 May 1/2 Jamarj has won six of her last seven starts, getting up on the line to win at York on her reappearance. 1993 Racing Post 8 Aug. 50/4 Though still only eighth with two furlongs left, he stayed on to such effect that he got up to take second place behind the well-regarded Bulwark Hill. (b) Australian slang. Of a racehorse: to take a winning place. Also in extended use: to be successful. ΚΠ 1904 H. Fletcher Dads Wayback 100 When ther public fancies yer nag's chance, an' puts ther beans on, ther books gives yer ther office, an' that prad don't quite get up that time; though he runs close. 1949 L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 48 The way you bet you're up for a bundle if the favourite gets up. 1974 Australian 6 Nov. (Sydney ed.) 22/5 (heading) Rival owner sorry Leilani didn't get up. 1983 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 9 Oct. 9/1 I can't think of one confronting feature film that has criticised our society and got up. 2009 P. Klein Punter's Turf i. 10 We made a killing..when that outsider got up at a hundred to one. 7. transitive. a. To collect, raise (money). ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > get or make money [verb (transitive)] > receive or take money takec1300 perceivea1382 rear1418 draw1591 rake1601 to get up1627 touch1654 1627 Earl of Manchester Let. 4 June in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 267 The loans have brought in 240,000l. at least; therefore the remain must needs be got up, which is not past 50,000l. 1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 314 Having gotten up a good summe of money, hee stole away. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World Introd. p. iii I was willing to get up some money before my return, having laid out what I had at Jamaica. 1721 J. Clarke Introd. to Making of Lat. (ed. 3) 84/1 He had immediately sent away his Companions and other Servants at first to get up Money to redeem him. 1848 J. Moodie Princ. & Observ. for Health of Nations ii. 37 From the congregation subscribing, and getting up the amount at once by subscription, an endowment might be formed. 1957 S. J. Perelman Road to Miltown 125 A couple of shmos like you and me, we can't even get up our rent, whereas them dukes and earls..are rolling in dough. 2010 F. Oberlechner Life is built around If 35 Mama and Daddy talked about getting up the money to make the move to Texas and selling off a lot of our stuff. b. To harvest (a crop). Also: to stack (corn). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)] gatherc950 getc1250 harvestc1400 in?1407 win1487 ingatherc1575 crop1602 enda1616 to get in1699 to get up1764 secure1842 the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > storage or preservation of crops > [verb (transitive)] > make into stacks or ricks mowa1325 rick1623 steep1741 to get up1764 1764 Museum Rusticum (1765) 3 lxxvi. 338 When harvest is done, the stubble may be got up at one shilling per acre,..this is called pecking the haulm, from the method of performing the work. 1791 Trans. Soc. Arts 9 44 Weeding potatoes, getting them up, and pyeing them. 1827 W. Sewall Diary (1930) 120 Mr. Sudduth and myself busily engaged in getting up wood. 1844 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 5 i. 68 The crops having been got up, the land is..sown with wheat. 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 266 If ‘got up’ damp, it [barley] is liable to generate excessive heat. 1919 B. Hunter Dry Farming for Better Wheat Yields 21 Summer-fallow land should always be sown to winter wheat if sufficient rain comes to..get the wheat up in good season in the fall. 2013 Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) (Nexis) 23 Aug. At any rate, that afternoon I found myself in the garden helping get up potatoes. 8. intransitive. to get up to: to become engaged in or bent on (an activity, esp. of a reprehensible nature). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > occupy or engage (a person) [verb (transitive)] > engage in or busy oneself about > become engaged in or occupied with to fall aboard——1593 to get into ——1665 to get up to1864 1864 Mrs. H. Wood Ld. Oakburn's Daughter II. xviii. 209 And you know, when people do get up to mischief on the sly, punishment is sure to follow. 1919 E. M. Dell Lamp in Desert iii. v. 271 Dear Tommy! But he has lots of friends. You don't think he would get up to mischief? 1935 I. Miller School Tie ii. ix. 110 Being a tart. The sort of thing you were getting up to with Black last Easter term. 1968 N. Coward Diary 3 Apr. (2000) 663 I got up to a few highish jinks. 1986 K. Amis Old Devils iii. 56 As anyone might who was as keen as he on what you could get up to indoors. 2009 Wired Feb. 32/2 Make it clear that you'll instantly defriend Mom if she starts getting up to her old nosy tricks. PV2. With prepositions, in specialized senses.Used (intransitively) forming phrasal constructions with prepositional object, and (transitively) forming phrasal constructions with direct object and prepositional object.For less specialized uses see sense 26b and the entries for the prepositions. to get above —— intransitive. To rise or become superior to; to surmount, overcome; to recover from (an illness, etc.). Now rare except in to get above oneself at above adv., prep., n., and adj. Phrases 9a.Cf. to get over —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > [verb (intransitive)] > overcome or surmount an emotion to get above ——1603 the world > action or operation > easiness > find no difficulty in [verb (transitive)] > surmount (difficulty or disaster) overcomea1225 surmount1484 compass1561 superate1598 to get above ——1603 to get over ——1618 overa1800 to tide over1821 the mind > emotion > calmness > self-possession or self-control > maintain self-control [verb (intransitive)] to keep one's countenance1470 to get above ——1603 to keep one's head1717 keep your shirt on1844 to keep one's hair on1883 to keep one's wool1890 not to bat an eye, eyelid1904 to keep one's pants on1928 to play it cool1955 to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1086 Being risen aloft, and gotten above vice and sinne, take their winde and breath againe. a1631 J. Donne Poems (1912) I. 61 Should she Be more then woman, she would get above All thought of sexe, and think to move My heart to study her, and not to love. 1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels II. 315 Contempt of the World, Heavenly Mindedness, Subduing our Appetites and Passions, suppose us present with the Creatures and the Passions we get above. 1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xxviii. 175 Religion..required, as she thought, that she should get above all regards for me. 1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 241 The old world will still be long in getting above its bad institutions. 1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. v. 35 ‘I have let that chap, that young man of mine,’ said Mr. Boffin, taking a trot up and down the room, ‘get above his work. It won't do.’ 2010 M. R. Cunningham Factors that Facilitate Recovery in Individuals with Serious Mental Illness 93 They put emphasis on goals, goals to help you get above your mental illness. to get across —— intransitive. colloquial. To annoy, get on the wrong side of, come into conflict with (someone). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > be annoyed or vexed by [verb (transitive)] > annoy or vex gremec893 dretchc900 awhenec1000 teenOE fretc1290 annoyc1300 atrayc1320 encumberc1330 diseasec1340 grindc1350 distemperc1386 offenda1387 arra1400 avexa1400 derea1400 miscomforta1400 angerc1400 engrievec1400 vex1418 molesta1425 entrouble?1435 destroublea1450 poina1450 rubc1450 to wring (a person) on the mailsc1450 disprofit1483 agrea1492 trouble1515 grig1553 mis-set?1553 nip?1553 grate1555 gripe1559 spitec1563 fike?1572 gall1573 corsie1574 corrosive1581 touch1581 disaccommodate1586 macerate1588 perplex1590 thorn1592 exulcerate1593 plague1595 incommode1598 affret1600 brier1601 to gall or tread on (one's) kibes1603 discommodate1606 incommodate1611 to grate on or upon1631 disincommodate1635 shog1636 ulcerate1647 incommodiate1650 to put (a person) out of his (her, etc.) way1653 discommodiate1654 discommode1657 ruffle1659 regrate1661 disoblige1668 torment1718 pesta1729 chagrin1734 pingle1740 bothera1745 potter1747 wherrit1762 to tweak the nose of1784 to play up1803 tout1808 rasp1810 outrage1818 worrit1818 werrit1825 buggerlug1850 taigle1865 get1867 to give a person the pip1881 to get across ——1888 nark1888 eat1893 to twist the tail1895 dudgeon1906 to tweak the tail of1909 sore1929 to put up1930 wouldn't it rip you!1941 sheg1943 to dick around1944 cheese1946 to pee off1946 to honk off1970 to fuck off1973 to tweak (a person's or thing's) tail1977 to tweak (a person's or thing's) nose1983 to wind up1984 to dick about1996 to-teen- 1888 Sunday at Home 35 5/2 I believe he could be a regular tyrant if once one got across him! 1893 Chambers's Jrnl. 16 Sept. 590/1 I felt sure that in a fight he would kill an enemy without compunction, and I devoutly hoped that he and I might never get across each other in the course of events. 1921 V. Woolf Diary (1979) II. 140 Very soon we should have got across each other. I felt come over me the old aversion. 1960 M. Stewart My Brother Michael xiv. 183 He's got across that damned Greek. 1991 M. Tully No Full Stops in India (1992) ii. 59 I thought that perhaps the two sculptors had got across each other—that there had been a personality clash. to get around —— intransitive. Originally U.S. = to get round —— at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > find solution, solve [verb (transitive)] findOE assoilc1374 soil1382 contrive1393 to find outc1405 resolvea1438 absolvea1525 solute?1531 solve?1541 dissolve1549 get1559 salvec1571 to beat out1577 sort1581 explicate1582 untiea1586 loose1596 unsolve1631 cracka1640 unscruple1647 metagrobolize1653 to puzzle out1717 to work out1719 to get around ——1803 to dope out1906 lick1946 to get out1951 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > speech intended to deceive > beguile, cajole [verb (transitive)] bicharrea1100 fodea1375 begoc1380 inveiglea1513 to hold in halsc1560 to get within ——1572 cajole1645 to cajole with1665 butter1725 veigle1745 flummer1764 to get round ——1780 to come round ——1784 to get around ——1803 flatter-blind1818 salve1825 to come about1829 round1854 canoodle1864 moody1934 fanny1938 cosy1939 mamaguy1939 snow1943 snow-job1962 1803 National Intelligencer & Washington Advertiser 4 Nov. The gentleman thus surmounts, or gets around his own doctrine, and opposes a treaty as effectively as if he had never supported the position. 1875 H. B. Stowe We & our Neighbors iii. 38 Eva is my girl; I sha'n't let anyone get around her. 1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Mar. 283/2 This has got to be learned; there isn't any getting around it. 1894 ‘M. Twain’ Those Extraordinary Twins iv, in Pudd'nhead Wilson (new ed.) 362 There is no getting around proof like that. 1936 B. Spewack & S. Spewack Spring Song iii. i. in Boy meets Girl 199 Trying to get around me now, huh? Trying to make me feel sorry for you so I'll go through with it... Not a chance! 1968 Economist 14 Sept. 27 Censorship is now operating... the Czech papers succeeded in getting around this by reporting, poker-faced and without comment, what the ‘socialist’ press is saying. 2003 Bowling Digest June 16/2 [Tenpin bowling], as legend or fact has it, was invented in 1841 in Connecticut as a way of getting around a puritanical law that banned nine-pin bowling. to get at —— 1. intransitive. colloquial. a. To attack, assail; to make destructive inroads on.In some uses overlapping with sense 2a. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > attack > attack [verb (transitive)] greetc893 overfallOE riseOE assail?c1225 to lay on or upon?c1225 onseekc1275 to set on ——c1290 infighta1300 saila1300 to go upon ——c1300 to turn one's handc1325 lashc1330 annoyc1380 impugnc1384 offendc1385 to fall on ——a1387 sault1387 affrayc1390 to set upon ——1390 to fall upon ——a1398 to lay at?a1400 semblea1400 assayc1400 havec1400 aset1413 oppressa1425 attachc1425 to set at ——c1430 fraya1440 fray1465 oppugn?a1475 sayc1475 envaye1477 pursue1488 envahisshe1489 assaulta1500 to lay to, untoa1500 requirea1500 enterprise?1510 invade1513 assemblec1515 expugn1530 to fare on1535 to fall into ——1550 mount1568 attack?1576 affront1579 invest1598 canvass1599 to take arms1604 attempt1605 to make force at, to, upon1607 salute1609 offence1614 strikea1616 to give a lift at1622 to get at ——1650 insult1697 to walk into ——1794 to go in at1812 to go for ——1838 to light on ——1842 strafe1915 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > attack (of hostile agency) besetOE infighta1300 saila1300 seeka1300 visitc1340 beclipc1380 entainc1380 seizec1381 offendc1385 affectc1425 rehetea1450 take1483 attaintc1534 prevent1535 attach1541 attempt1546 affront1579 buffeta1593 to get at ——1650 assault1667 insult1697 to lay at1899 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > attack with hostile words or measures fangc1320 hurtlec1374 impugnc1384 weighc1386 to fall upon ——a1398 to start on ——a1398 oppugn?1435 to lay to, untoa1500 onseta1522 wipe1523 to set against ——1542 to fall aboard——1593 aggress1596 to fall foul1602 attack1613 appugn1615 to set upon ——1639 to fall on ——1641 to lay home, hard, hardly to1650 tack1720 bombard1766 savage1796 to pitch into ——1823 to begin upon a personc1825 bulldog1842 to down on (also upon)a1848 to set at ——1849 to start on ——a1851 to start in on1859 set on at or to1862 to let into1872 to go for ——1890 swash1890 slog1891 to get at ——1893 tee1955 1650 G. Foster Pouring Fourth of Seventh & Last Viall 28 You would not do as now you do, lay up treasures for the rust and canker to get at. 1823 J. Constable Let. 2 Aug. (1964) II. 283 I fear my great coat is got at by moths, as I find my father's is that I am come down here with. 1893 National Observer 1 July 176/2 The author's burning anxiety to ‘get at’ capital, his profligate disregard of national prosperity. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Stud. Classic Amer. Lit. vi. 119 Nowadays society is evil. It finds subtle ways of torture, to destroy the life-quick, to get at the life-quick in a man. 1977 P. O'Brian Mauritius Command (1996) v. 179 Them wicked old rats got at the coffee, sir. 2008 S. Armstrong Matter of Life & Death 218 Why hadn't the maggots got at him? Oh, because he was in the basement of a house, wrapped up in plastic. b. To unsettle by making fun of, finding fault with, etc.; to jeer at or taunt; to criticize; to make nervous or upset. Also: (transitive) to get (someone) at it: to have (a person) on, to make fun of (rare). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)] > captiously upbraidc1290 bite1330 to gnap at1533 carp1550 cavil1581 carp1587 to pick at ——1603 to pick a hole (also holes) in1614 yark1621 vellicate1633 to peck at1641 snob1654 ploat1757 to get at ——1803 crab1819 to pick up1846 knock1892 snark1904 kvetchc1950 to pick nits1978 1803 J. Jackson Let. 17 Jan. in T. U. P. Charlton Life Major Gen. J. Jackson (1809) I. 188 R—e puffed up by his triumph over Ellery, may be pushed to get at me. 1825 Oriental Herald 5 Suppl. No. 16 176/2 I see that Gentlemen are getting at me that way, but I do not care. 1891 Ally Sloper's Half Holiday 3 Jan. 7/1 ‘Your family don't seem to get on, missie?’.. ‘On! Who're ye gettin' at?’ 1895 Punch 14 Dec. 227/1 Smart women..delight In ‘getting at’ you in a shameful way. 1956 R. Galton & A. Simpson Hancock's Half-hour (1987) 56 Don't keep getting at me, it's not my fault I'm weak. 1957 J. Osborne Entertainer iii. 30 Don't look hurt. I'm not getting at you. I love you very much. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights iii. 136 You see I did this on perpose just to get her at it. 1987 ‘A. Burgess’ Little Wilson & Big God (U.K. ed.) iii. 234 The war was getting at us: our nerves were on edge. 2001 H. Holt Delay of Execution (2002) xi. 125 ‘But what did she do to Margaret?’ ‘I suppose she didn't actually do anything, but she was always getting at her, trying to undermine her.’ c. To mean or intend; to hint, imply. Usually in interrogative clauses, as what are you getting at? ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > hint or covert suggestion > hint at or suggest [verb (transitive)] inkle1340 induce1481 alludec1487 signifya1535 insinuate1561 to glance at (upon, against)1570 thrust1574 imply1581 adumbrate1589 intimate1590 innuate?1611 glancea1616 ministera1616 perstringea1620 shadow1621 subinduce1640 involve1646 equivocate1648 hint1648 subindicate1654 hint at1697 suggest1697 indicate1751 surmise1820 to get at ——1875 1875 Rep. Comm. Finance Expenditures New Capitol Commissioners in Documents Senate State N.Y.: 98th Sess. VII. No. 95. 197 What are you getting at? 1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets (1983) 34 ‘Garn,’ said Lizerunt once more ‘Wot ye gittin' at now’? 1899 D. Belasco Naughty Anthony ii, in Heart of Maryland (1941) 294 What are you getting at? What do you refer to when you call me the husband? 1921 Collier's 26 Mar. 22/1 ‘Say, what are you gettin' at?’ says the kid, interested at last. 1931 N. Coward Post Mortem vi. 75 I wish I knew what you were getting at. 1969 ‘J. Fraser’ Cock-pit of Roses x. 81 I know some bugger's been pinching 'em, if that's what you're getting at. 2007 L. McLane Dancing Shoes & Honky-tonk Blues 42 ‘I know what you mean,’ I say with a nod. In truth I have no clue what he's getting at but I'm thinking that agreement sort of covers all the bases. 2. intransitive. a. To get hold of, come at; to reach, arrive at. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] wieldeOE haveeOE ofgoOE oweOE addlec1175 winc1175 avela1200 to come by ——a1225 covera1250 oughtc1275 reachc1275 hentc1300 purchasec1300 to come to ——c1330 getc1330 pickc1330 chevise1340 fang1340 umbracec1350 chacche1362 perceivea1382 accroacha1393 achievea1393 to come at ——a1393 areach1393 recovera1398 encroach?a1400 chevec1400 enquilec1400 obtainc1422 recurec1425 to take upc1425 acquirea1450 encheve1470 sortise1474 conques?a1500 tain1501 report1508 conquest1513 possess1526 compare1532 cough1550 coff1559 fall1568 reap1581 acquist1592 accrue1594 appurchasec1600 recoil1632 to get at ——1666 to come into ——1672 rise1754 net1765 to fall in for1788 to scare up1846 access1953 1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands xxiv. 150 This vermine hath a particular malice to Books, and their covers. The Wood-lice are as good, if they can get at them. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World ii. 75 Half the hold must have been unstow'd to get at them. 1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 33 We gave him all our handkerchiefs, and what line we could get at. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke & Brooke Farm (ed. 3) x. 117 A ledge of rock which cannot be got at but by his companions letting him down by a rope. 1859 T. De Quincey Style (rev. ed.) in Select. Grave & Gay XI. 175 Augustus was much of a blockhead: a truth which we utter boldly, now that none of his thirty legions can get at us. 1893 Law Times Rep. 68 302/1 The pipe could not be seen or got at without removing a portion of the cargo. 1922 ‘K. Mansfield’ Garden Party 43 There hung a cluster of sand-shoes so extraordinarily mixed that to get at one pair you had to tear apart and forcibly separate at least fifty. 1969 S. Miller On Trials xvi. 99 It is useless to have a load of sections which cannot be got at without a winch and rope gang. 2005 High Country News 7 Mar. 21/2 Western coal, gas and uranium have powered this country since entrepreneurs could get at them with a shovel. b. To attain to knowledge of, to find out, ascertain, learn. ΚΠ 1692 E. Paye Antichrist in Spirit Unmasked Ep. to Rdr. 2 The Author, to unfold their Riddles, hath made use of their own Construing Books, to get at their Meanings. 1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. x. 81 Joseph,..by tampering with Will, got at all my secrets. 1793 J. B. Burges in Hist. MSS Comm.: 14th Rep. App. V: MSS J. B. Fortescue (1894) II. 488 in Parl. Papers (C. 7572) L. ii. 1 Baron Jacobi called; his sole intention appeared to be to get at the nature and extent of Lord Malmesbury's instructions. 1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. i. 9 To get at the truth of any history is good. 1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets iii. 89 There are no means of getting at the thoughts of men. 1883 Law Times 20 Oct. 412/1 I cannot see..the process by which the court will get at the facts on which its judgment is to hinge. 1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 67/2 Her strange mind quietly got at the truth in a way that startled Lynn. 1953 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 53 205/2 More can be done in getting at the cause of blood spitting and in treating the underlying disease than was possible only a generation ago. 2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 2 Mar. (Week in Review section) 3/4 The hard work is getting at the underlying inefficiencies in the health system, the perverse incentives that have everybody operating in the dark. c. colloquial. To influence by underhand means, to corrupt, bribe. Also: to make an aggressive attempt to influence, to pressurize. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe meedOE underorna1325 corrump1387 forbuy1393 hirec1400 wage1461 fee1487 under-arearc1503 bribe1528 grease1528 money1528 corrupt1548 budc1565 to feed with money1567 to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580 sweeten1594 to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598 over-bribe1619 to buy off1629 palter1641 to take off1646 buy1652 overmoneya1661 bub1684 to speak to ——1687 to tickle in the palm1694 daub1699 overbuy1710 touch1752 palm1767 to get at ——1780 fix1790 subsidize1793 sop1837 to buy over1848 backsheesh1850 nobble1856 square1859 hippodrome1866 see1867 boodleize1883 boodle1886 to get to ——1901 reach1906 straighten1923 lubricate1928 to keep (someone) sweet1939 sling1939 to pay off1942 bung1950 the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > persuade (a person) [verb (transitive)] > persuade or prevail upon > by subtle or underhand means undermine1457 compass1563 cozen1599 wire-draw1622 subinduce1646 to get at ——1780 1780 Earl of Malmesbury Let. 21 Mar. in Diaries & Corr. (1844) I. 289 The French had failed in several underhand attempts to get at the Empress. 1865 J. S. Mill in Morning Star 6 July That part of the electors whose minds are to be got at by money—who are to be reached by trickery. 1871 Sat. Rev. 9 Sept. 329/2 It is quite clear that some of them [imported artisans] have been ‘got at’, and it is easy to conceive the terrorism, which [etc.]. 1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. xxxix. 78 The legislator can be ‘got at’, the people cannot. 1937 J. P. Marquand Late George Apley (1940) xxv. 276 I cannot get at him, for he appears to suffer from a species of shell-shock when subjects of which he should be proud are mentioned. 1952 W. J. H. Sprott Social Psychol. (1964) vii. 123 We are all ‘propaganda conscious’ in the sense that we put up a resistance if we feel we are being ‘got at’. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Jan. 57/1 We resent, as the Victorians did not, being ‘got at’ by the social or religious moralist. 1999 J. Arnott Long Firm ii. 78 ‘I wouldn't worry,’ he said with an affable grin. ‘People can be got at.’ d. slang. To tamper with (a horse, etc.) in order to prevent it from winning a race; to nobble. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > ride horse in race [verb (transitive)] > tamper with horse to get at ——1812 nobble1847 1812 Sporting Mag. 39 283 The prisoner said it would be a rare thing to get at that mare which was first favourite. 1870 Spectator 23 Apr. 514/2 That, of course, makes it profitable..for scoundrels to ‘get at’ horses. 1908 Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches 25 160 The cause of the latter's defeat is a mystery to this day... Had he been got at? 1975 T. Fitzgeorge-Parker Great Racehorse Trainers vi. 112 The nobblers got at him not once but twice and..they even attacked his legs to such good effect that he never ran again. 1993 E. Trzebinski Lives Beryl Markham (1995) v. 71 The press suggested that Cam had been ‘got at’. 3. intransitive. colloquial. To begin (an activity); to start work on; to turn one's attention to. ΚΠ 1805 European Mag. & London Rev. Dec. 434/2 We got at it in arnest. Fire away Flannagan—Bow wow—More cartridges and plenty of shot—Batter the hulls, and splinter the decks—Zounds! 1847 H. Melville Omoo liii. 258 We were roused by Zeke's crying out, ‘Up! b'ys; up! rise, and shine; time to get at it agin!’ 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. to Publishers 14 Apr. (1967) 173 Get at your canvassing early, and drive it with all your might. 1923 H. Crane Let. 6 Feb. (1965) 118 I have been so rushed around..that I have not yet got at the review for your study. 1974 B. Bainbridge Bottle Factory Outing (1975) vi. 93 ‘That's it,’ encouraged Brenda. ‘Get at it, luv.’ 1991 T. E. Malis Fools Crow (2001) ii. 32 Ordinarily, we think we must rush and organize to get at the work because there is so little time. to get by —— intransitive. colloquial. To succeed in getting past (someone); to evade; to escape the notice of. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)] > contrive to escape or evade > a person or slip away from aglya1250 outsteala1325 glide?1510 slip1513 betrumpa1522 to give (one) the slip1567 to get by ——1601 outslip1616 to give (a person or thing) the go-by1653 elude1667 to tip (a person) the picks1673 bilk1679 to tip (a person) the pikes1688 to give one the drop1709 jouk1812 double1819 sneak1819 shirk1837 duck1896 1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor ii. i. sig. D4 S'lid I am afeard they will know me, would I could get by them. View more context for this quotation 1691 A. D'Anvers Academia 35 I have sometimes met with some Young Men, may chance with a whole Gown, Holding 'um out as if they'd dry 'um, So that one hardly can get by 'um. 1733 T. Stackhouse New Hist. Bible I. iv. iii. 473/2 The Angel..stood in a Place so very narrow, that there was no Possibility of getting by him. 1770 Yorick's Jests 39 Not being able to get by him unobserved. 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. iii. 55 How the deuce did you get by the lodge, Joe? 1874 C. White Hop of Fashion 12 Ah, there's the door keeper. How to get by him? 1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories ii. v. 199 How he had gotten by the office boy Brown could not conceive. 1919 H. Crane Let. 13 Dec. (1965) 27 I am thoroughly confident about the thing itself since it has got by the particular, hierarchic Josephson. 1951 A. Zaleznik Foreman Training in Growing Enterprise vii. 112 That Rita has an eagle eye. Nothing gets by her. 2008 Roanoke (Va.) Times (Nexis) 20 Jan. b7 How'd that guy get by security? † to get from —— Obsolete. intransitive. To escape from. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)] atwendOE atwindc1000 overfleeOE to come out of ——lOE atstertc1220 atbreak?c1225 aschapea1300 scapea1300 aslipc1325 escape1340 atscapea1350 astartc1374 to wade out ofc1386 starta1400 withscapea1400 withslipa1400 atwapec1400 to get out of ——a1470 evite1503 outstart1513 to get from ——1530 rid1615 skip1630 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 707/2 I scruggell with one to gette from hym, or by cause I wyll nat obey his correction. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 130 He leapes upon his Mule, and spurring him hard to get from the bawling woman [etc.]. 1699 W. Hacke Coll. Orig. Voy. 11 One of the three [Indians]..got from our men, and run to the Town. 1771 Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797) III. 201 I hope she got from him innocent. 1771 Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797) IV. 27 I did get from him, however, and ran to the door. 1840 Central Criminal Court: Minutes of Evid. 11 677 Thinking the prisoner would get from him, I lent a hand to hold him. 1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason xiii. 225 Get from this place, for never more can ye Become partakers of the majesty That from man's soul looks through his eager eyes. to get inside —— intransitive. To investigate closely; to achieve a deep or intimate understanding of, to penetrate. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > thoroughly, with effort through-goOE through-seekOE penetrate?1563 bore1622 bottom1713 to get inside ——1830 underthink1886 to dope out1906 1830 W. Dunlap Trip to Niagara iii. v. 48 Nothing else will you see, among them sarpents, but one slippery trick or 'nother to get inside your head or your pocket. 1867 R. Broughton Not Wisely, but too Well II. 282 It is very, very difficult figuratively to get inside another person. 1875 Athenæum 14 Aug. 222/2 More important..is the power of getting inside a character and revealing it to the public. a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 958 Some people take a very sceptical attitude and point out that we cannot get inside an animal and prove that it is joyous or unhappy, sympathetic or envious. 1959 Listener 16 July 112/3 No need to stress the good qualities of William Parsons as a vocalist or his ability to get inside a song and really interpret it. 2009 R. Dasgupta Solo 342 Those guys aren't very complex, I know how to get inside their heads. It's only a matter of time before they come down on you. to get into —— 1. intransitive. a. To make one's way into (business, favour, office, etc.); to succeed in obtaining; to gain admittance to (an educational establishment). ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > change [verb (intransitive)] > pass into state, become yworthOE worthOE goOE becomec1175 come?a1200 waxc1220 charea1225 aworthc1275 makea1300 fallc1300 breedc1325 grow1340 strikea1375 yern1377 entera1382 turna1400 smitec1400 raxa1500 resolvea1500 to get into ——?1510 waxen1540 get1558 prove1560 proceed1578 befall1592 drop1654 evade1677 emerge1699 to turn out1740 to gain into1756 permute1864 slip1864 ?1510 T. More in tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. f.vi^v So thou that wilt with god gete in to fauoure Garnisshe thi self vp. 1543 T. Chaloner tr. G. Cousin Office of Seruauntes sig. Avi^v Some of them get into seruice. 1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies i. ii. 3/2 I..vsed all meanes I could to get into his seruice. 1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 88 Your Physicians Discourse is..as if they..are pretending mighty Practice to get into Practice. 1704 J. Pitts True Acct. Mohammetans vi. 47 Slaves in such places do always strive to get into the Childrens Affections. 1790 J. B. Moreton Manners & Customs West India Islands 93 When a young man gets into a good employ. 1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene III. xii. 170 That I had no difficulty in getting into society may easily be imagined. 1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 182 Trade grew much more active after he got into office. 1936 ‘P. Quentin’ Puzzle for Fools iv. 26 He was crazy to get into show business; stunts and strong-man acts. 1966 Contemp. Relig. Japan 7 74 There were so many persons who tried to get into favor with the supervisor by a faked conversion to the Christian religion. 1992 D. Lessing Afr. Laughter 155 But what I didn't expect was that these bastards would get into power and then not care about anything but feathering their own nests. 2012 Independent on Sunday 12 Aug. 64/2 One day, he looked round and thought, ‘I know I'm better than this’, so he worked his guts out and got into Oxford. b. To come to be, result in being, in (a certain state or condition).to get into a flap: see flap n. 2c. to get into one's stride: see stride n. 3c. to get into trouble: see trouble n. 5a. ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > change [verb (intransitive)] > pass into state, become > get into specified condition becomec888 fallOE turnc1540 change1583 to get into ——1657 1657 V. de Voiture Lett. of Affaires li. 99 He is got into an humour to let his beard grow. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 81 When they are once got into Wine they mind nothing else. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 284 The King who was got into a pleasant Humour, only Laugh'd at it. 1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §124. 153 Lying is..so much in fashion amongst all sorts of People, that a Child..can scarse be kept, without great care, from getting into it. 1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 82. ⁋1 When one is got into such a Way of Thinking. 1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 151 They were got into full cry before we heard them. 1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen 27 Before ever your horse gets into motion, clap both your spurs into him pretty sharp. 1801 tr. ‘C. F. Damberger’ Trav. through Continent Afr. 177 We got into a sort of discourse together. 1833 Act 3 & 4 William IV c. 46 §104 Where any..spouts, shores, or pipes, drains or common sewers..shall get into disrepair. 1862 Temple Bar 6 401 He used to get into a frightful passion. 1887 H. R. Haggard Jess iv. 29 He very soon got more or less into the swing of the thing. 1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace 101 I'm frightfully sorry. It was cheek. But as I've got myself into a hole, you won't leave me in it. 1959 D. Lessing Each in his own Wilderness 74 Never mind, love, you'll soon get into the way of it. 2001 C. Fowler Devil in Me (2005) 110 But while he was away, right, he got into a fight with some geezer and ended up with a punctured lung. c. To become occupied with; to become interested, involved, or absorbed in. Also: to specialize in.In quot. 1788: to penetrate by inquiry, to get knowledge of. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > occupy or engage (a person) [verb (transitive)] > engage in or busy oneself about > become engaged in or occupied with to fall aboard——1593 to get into ——1665 to get up to1864 1665 W. Johnson Αγυρτο-Μαστιξ 95 I am got into his Elaboratory which is so pitifull a sight, that it minds me of an Expression in his Eighth Chapter. 1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 479. ⁋6 Instead of..Displaying Conjugal Love in its natural Beauties..I am got into Tales to the Disadvantage of that State of Life. 1743 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 16 July (1932) (modernized text) II. 535 As you are now got into sense verses, remember, that it is not sufficient to put a little common sense into hexameters and pentameters. 1788 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 376 I endeavored to get, as well as I could, into the state of national credit there. 1822 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas (new ed.) III. vii. xii.104 I soon got into all his personal history: he related on what occasions he had left an eye at Naples, an arm in Lombardy, and a leg in the Low Countries. 1827 Newcastle Mag. May 222 When men of a poetic genius get into politics they are very apt to lose themselves. 1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 June 2 I got into the way of orchestrating and writing for every instrument. 1938 E. Hemingway Fifth Column (1939) 220 ‘What are you reading?’ ‘Richard Feveral.’ ‘I couldn't get into it.’ 1966 ‘C. Keith’ Elusive Epicure (1968) v. 69 He did advise me one time to get into Early American antique furniture. 1969 It 11 Apr. 11/2 What sort of things are you getting into musically now? 2000 D. Adebayo My Once upon Time (2001) ix. 199 The mass of us, including a couple who stumbled in having lost their way, still got into it enough to shout, ‘Yeah, yeah, yay, yo!’ whenever he requested. d. To start discussing (a subject) extensively or in full. ΚΠ 1940 A. Tate in Southern Rev. 6 243 I do not intend here to get into Aristotle and to argue the difference between history and fiction. 1954 Rotarian July 62/3 Scale-model construction..[is] an interesting field, but I'll not get into that because this is a hobby story. 1969 Computers & Humanities 4 95 It would be especially inappropriate in this context to get into the question of whether scholar/teachers should unionize or professionalize. 1971 Sci. Amer. June 20 (advt.) We use a tiny crystal chip called a light-emitting diode. It works something like a transistor, but let's not get into all that. 1984 Adweek (U.S.) (Nexis) 30 Jan. We have to talk to parents, and parents don't want to get into all the techy things. 2003 National Post's Financial Post & FP Investing (Canada) 6 Mar. fp8/5 Without getting into the hideously abstruse details. 2. intransitive. colloquial. To put on (a garment, shoes, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] > put on to do oneOE graitha1375 puta1382 to take on1389 to let falla1400 takea1400 to put on?a1425 endow1484 addressa1522 to get on1549 to draw on1565 don1567 to pull on1578 dight1590 sumpterc1595 to get into ——1600 on with1600 array1611 mount1785 to cast on1801 endoss1805 endue1814 ship1829 1600 Looke about You sig. H^v Some od mate is got into my gowne, And walkes deuoutly like my counterfeite. 1613 G. Wither Abuses Stript ii. i. sig. M8^v Most of our Courtiers would make much ado, But they would get into that fashion too. 1655 F. G. tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Artamenes IV. vii. 43 She went to her as soon as she had got into a habit of mourning. 1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel i. 22 They [sc. Monks and Friars] pretending to nothing but holiness..whether in these mob'd habits, or got into a more brisk dress. 1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 151 He is gotten into a new dress. 1790 Lady Newdigate Let. 21 Oct. in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels (1898) vii. 101 I..must borrow a Gown which I shall not be able to get in to. 1813 Lady Burghersh Lett. (1893) 38 By that time I shall ‘get into my shoes’ here. 1840 N. P. Willis Romance of Trav. 166 ‘Percie!’ ‘Sir!’ ‘Get into your best suit of plain clothes, and if a foreigner calls on me this morning, come in and forget that you are a valet. I have occasion to use you for a gentleman.’ 1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 11/2 Here he is now! It's lucky I dressed; getting into a cobwebby dress and nice, foolish slippers. 1976 N. Maclean River runs through It 74 I didn't know how a nurse could get into a uniform so fast, but I could hear the swish of starch as she came through the door. 2004 Stardust (Internat. ed.) June 16/1 Anil would get into his spandex cycle shorts and hit the suntanning beaches. 3. intransitive. a. Of liquor: to take effect upon; to render a person's mind, gait, etc., confused or unsteady. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (transitive)] > make drunk > take effect on (of drink) to get into ——a1642 a1642 J. Suckling Goblins iii. 27 in Fragmenta Aurea (1646) The Wine has got into his head. 1661 A. Brome Songs & Other Poems 164 Drink alwayes gets into the head. 1770 I. Bickerstaff 'Tis Well it's no Worse ii. 41 Zounds! my stomach was so empty when I drank, that the wine's getting into my head. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 145 This ale gets into my noddle. 1894 Pall Mall Mag. Dec. 576 Ever since I've been holding off from the whisky the least drop gets into my walk. 1968 Times of India 21 Apr. 11/4 The motor-racing and the whiskey got into his head. 1996 S.-L. S. Yu tr. Jin Yun Nirvana of Grandpa Doggie in S.-L. S. Yu Chinese Drama after Cultural Revol. 377 Their arguments rang in my ears and the wine got into my head. b. In interrogative clauses, esp. in (I don't know) what's got into me (also him, her, etc.): to take possession of, to come over (a person); to cause to behave in an extraordinary way. Cf. to come over —— 1b at come v. Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > unaccustomedness or state of disuse > unaccustomed to [phrase] > why is a person behaving unusually? (I don't know) what came over me (also him, her, etc.)1726 to get into ——1798 1798 W. Milns All In A Bustle 14 Why what the devil has got into the people? 1841 W. G. Simms Kinsmen II. xix. 228 Joe Brydone, what's got into you, that you can't see the road that's safest and most profitable? 1876 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Tom Sawyer iii. 37 All through supper his spirits were so high that his aunt wondered ‘what had got into the child’. 1937 I. Baird John xiv. 163 You, too? Why, what's got into you tonight? 1946 D. Stivens in Austral. Short Stories (1951) 386 I dunno what's got into you to-night. 1972 J. Brown Chancer iii. 46 What's got into you, love?.. I thought you were always one for live and let live. 2006 Ireland's Own Feb. 51/1 I don't know what's got into that boy,..he comes home from school and hides in his room all evening with a face as long as a fiddle. 4. intransitive. colloquial. To have sexual intercourse with (a woman). ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity with [verb (transitive)] > have sexual intercourse with > specifically of a man jape1382 overliec1400 swivec1405 foilc1440 overlay?a1475 bed1548 possess1592 knock1598 to get one's leg over1599 enjoy1602 poke1602 thrum1611 topa1616 riga1625 swingea1640 jerk1650 night-work1654 wimble1656 roger1699 ruta1706 tail1778 to touch up1785 to get into ——c1890 root1922 to knock up1934 lay1934 pump1937 prong1942 nail1948 to slip (someone) a length1949 to knock off1953 thread1958 stuff1960 tup1970 nut1971 pussy1973 service1973 c1890 My Secret Life I. vi. 184 I felt as if I was wicked in getting into her, almost as if I was going to poke my mother. 1922 F. Harris My Life & Loves I. iii. 61 Again I dreamed of Lucille and again I was trying, trying in vain to get into her when again the spasm of pleasure overtook me. 1957 J. Kerouac On the Road i. vii. 44 I've just got to get into her sister Mary tonight. 2001 K. Sampson Outlaws (2002) 180 Go'ead, love! Get into her! Fucking get right into that juicy quim! † to get of —— Obsolete. intransitive. To gain advantage over; (also) to outstrip in speed; to gain upon in pursuing. Cf. sense 10b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > get ahead of to get of ——1548 to get (also have) the start of1569 to get (also gain) a march (up)on1707 to cut out1738 1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. xxi. 43 Euery day they ymagined by what subteltie they coulde gette one of another by dedes of armes.] 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccix The kynges shyp was good with sayle, & so much gat of the Easterlinges, that she came on the coast of Holland. 1583 J. Newbery Let. 28 May in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) i. 208 Notwithstanding, they get of the Persians, and make castles and holds in their countrey. a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 37 It was her boate which I tooke vp, that they had cutt of because my sattia got so mainely of her. 1700 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote II. iv. xii. 499 They, perceiving that the Woolf Galley got of 'em in the chace, all of a sudden laid by their Oars. to get off —— Cf. to get off at Phrasal verbs 1. 1. intransitive. a. Originally: to dismount from (a horse). Subsequently also: to alight from (a railway carriage, tram, bus, aircraft, etc.).to get off one's bike: see bike n.² Phrases 1. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride (a horse or other animal) [verb (transitive)] > dismount from void1470 avoid1557 unstride1635 dismount1638 to get off ——1652 unmount1892 1652 tr. M. de Scudéry Hist. Philoxypes & Polycrite 25 He got off horse-back, leaving his horse with his servant. 1781 P. Beckford Thoughts on Hunting xvii. 211 He seldom will condescend to get off his horse. 1841 Gardeners' Chron. 3 Apr. 221/3 The gentleman refused to give it up, taking it into the omnibus when he got off the train. 1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xxxvii. 358 Have you ever seen Lord Hotspur get off his horse when he thinks nobody is looking? Taken out of his stirrups, his shiny boots can hardly totter up the steps of Hotspur House. 1890 Cent. Mag. July 349/1 When I got off the train, I found myself on a moss-grown platform. 1925 A. Loos Gentlemen prefer Blondes v. 143 He thought that we ought to get off the train at a place called Munich. 1951 A. Baron Rosie Hogarth 166 I gets off a bus in Old Street, all loaded up with clobber. 1961 Mag. Western Hist. Winter 32/1 When they reached the river, the son got off his pony and lay down on the bank to drink. 2007 Wine & Spirit May 57/1 I just got off a plane from Chile. b. To remove oneself or be removed or displaced from (a place, position, route, etc.); to stop resting on (a part of the body). Also: to disengage from (an activity, attitude, topic of discussion, etc.).get off my back: see back n.¹ 23d. to get off one's backside: see backside n., adj., and adv. Phrases 3. to get off the ground: see ground n. 8b. to get off one's perch: see perch n.¹ Phrases 1. to (shit or) get off the pot: see pot n.¹ Phrases 13. ΚΠ 1772 Gentleman's & London Mag. Sept. 573/1 On getting off the horse's back, hold the bridle and mane in the same manner as when you mounted. 1798 W. Clubbe Omnium 33 He got off his box, and went to splicing the fractures [of the harness]. 1806 H. K. White Let. July in Remains (1807) I. 234 As I am much alone now, I never get quite off study. 1845 Rep. Select Comm. Atmospheric Railways 190 (table) in Parl. Papers (H.C. 252) X. 177 Goods-truck getting off the line by the breaking of a coupling. 1855 Startling Facts for Native Amer. 99 They have to get off their knees every time they go round. 1859 All Year Round 31 Dec. 222/2 I know not how I should have ‘got off’ the scene, as actors say. 1919 Outing Mar. 306/3 I felt like shouting to him to get off my land. 1926 National Geographic Mag. Sept. 363/2 We got off the end of the runway at a terrific speed. 1962 J. Clavell King Rat xv. 234 We did all right alone—giving you buggers the time to get off your arse. 1970 Globe Mag. (Toronto) 26 Sept. 8/3 We must get off this kick that every job is a career—it isn't. 1985 D. Lucie Progress ii. ii, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business (1991) 143 Ange Ronee? Can I ask you something? Ronee Trying to get off the subject? 1988 G. Patterson Burning your Own i. vii. 89 Too lazy to get off their behinds and do things for themselves. 1991 Coarse Fishing Feb. 6/2 I have, by the very nature of bringing this subject into debate, got off my butt as you suggested. 2006 Wired Apr. 139/1 When it comes to immersive gameplay, some people just have to get off the couch. c. To give up, to cease to use (medication, an illegal drug, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > drug addiction or craving > cause addiction to drugs [verb (transitive)] > withdraw from addiction to get off ——1951 withdraw1971 the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > reverse or abandon one's purpose or intention [verb (transitive)] > abandon, give up, or discontinue forhightc1000 forswearOE forletc1175 sdeign1590 to think (the) better of1752 to get off ——1951 1951 W. S. Burroughs Let. 5 May (1993) 86 When I got off the junk, I decided I didn't want any more part of it in any way. 1968 H. S. Thompson Let. in Fear & Loathing in Amer. (2000) 9 All these veteran heads keep telling me to get off the speed because it's dangerous. 1979 Maclean's 5 Mar. 34/1 Pierre, a good Catholic, insisted she get off the pill. 1993 Flex Feb. 129/3 Lots of bodybuilders take strange chemicals..; so if you are going to do that, you'd better know just when to get off those substances. 2006 Total Film Feb. 104/2 I'd mended my ways by those days, I'd got off the sauce and all that. d. In imperative U.S. get off it: expressing rejection, rebuke, or incredulity. ΚΠ 1973 J. W. Zeigler Revolutionary Stage xiii. 217 ‘Get with it,’ he was saying to the central theatre. ‘Get off it,’ the central theatre replied. 1978 T. O'Brien Going after Cacciato xliv. 313 ‘Maybe we could explain it... Couldn't we? tell them how Cacciato—’ ‘Get off it man.’ 1985 R. Carver Fires 191 What a hell of a thing to be thinking about... Come on, get off it. 2005 D. Heyn Drama Kings ii. 26 He'd get annoyed, like, ‘Oh, who cares. Just…get off it.’ 2. intransitive. To obtain release from. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from (action) [verb (transitive)] > avoid or shun > get out of doing something evade1722 to get out of ——a1817 to get off ——1835 odds1958 1735 R. Smythe Let. 8 May in A. Pope Wks. I. 482 If I should get off my engagement for this evening, leave word where I shall meet you. 1797 F. G. Waldron Virgin Queen ii. iii. 35 Now to try if we can get off keeping watch! 1835 J. Constable Let. 12 Sept. (1967) V. 27 I wish I could get off going there to lecture. 1893 Sir R. Romer in Law Times Rep. 68 443/1 It appears to me impossible to say that the defendants can get off the contract. 1950 R. Heinlein Farmer in Sky xii. 120 The only two merit badges..that stood in the way of my getting off probation and back up to my old rating of Eagle Scout were agronomy and planetary ecology. 1999 Guardian (Nexis) 20 May 3 A bunch of layabouts who have neither the means, nor the desire, to get off jury service. 2009 J. M. Carroll & K. Schultz Underneath It All 106 Encourage him to get off work a little early. to get on —— Cf. to get upon —— at Phrasal verbs 2 and to get on at Phrasal verbs 1. 1. intransitive. a. To mount (a horse, etc.); to make one's way on to (a cart, train, aircraft, etc.).to get on one's high horse: see horse n. 23b. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride (a horse or other animal) [verb (transitive)] > mount (a horse or other animal) to win upona1400 worthc1400 takea1438 mountc1540 to get upon ——1561 to get on ——1572 back1594 1572 J. Parinchef tr. Extracte of Examples, Apothegmes, & Hist. 85 He came to the horse, and..he so dealt with him, that in the ende he got on his backe. a1607 H. Chettle Trag. Hoffman (1631) sig. H3^v Some got on Rafts..; many strid the mast, But the seas working was soe violent, That [etc.]. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 502 When the keeper employeth him [the elephant] in any burthen, hee getteth first on his necke. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 220 He got on Horse-back and departed. 1732 Visct. Bolingbroke Let. 18 July in J. Swift Corr. (1965) IV. 45 Get on Pegasus..or mount the white Nag in the Revelation. 1788 Calcutta Chron. 31 Jan. The next day they got on a dung-cart, which carried them 4 leagues into the country. 1826 A. N. Royall Sketches Hist., Life, & Manners U.S. 73 He is too fine to work, to be sure; what would he do, but get on his fine horse and ride about, and smoke cigars. 1868 Our Young Folks Nov. 668 The witch had flown. One morning she got on her broomstick and whisked away to Boston. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift in Amer. 67 I watched my chance..and got on a west-bound freight train. 1896 G. Ade Artie i. 5 If he gets on a street-car where I am, I get off and walk. 1905 E. R. Chudleigh Diary 20 Aug. (1950) 428 Huia was bare-footed..so she got on my back and I carried her with ease. 1944 J. Dos Passos Let. 4 Dec. in L. Miller Lett. from Lost Generation (1991) 288 When I finally got on the plane it was with the cosiest feeling of having been wined and dined. 1959 H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker (1965) i. 13 Mr. Jamieson rode a saddle pony for a few miles then got on the wagon with us. 2003 G. Burn North of Eng. Home Service (2004) iv. 108 It was this history that..made Jackie think nothing of getting on his bike and cycling the 72 miles home. b. To convey oneself or be conveyed on to (a place or surface); to move oneself so as to be supported by (a part of the body), as to get on one's knees, to get on one's back. to get on one's feet: to assume a standing position, esp. for the purpose of speaking in public. to get on one's legs: see leg n. Phrases 1b(a). ΚΠ 1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime viii. 84 I saued my selfe and got on shoare as wet as a drowned Rat. 1642 J. Howell Instr. Forreine Travell iii. 32 Some have used to get on the top of the highest Steeple, where one may view..all the Countrey circumjacent..and so take a Landskip of it. 1669 tr. Duc de Guise Mem. ii. 155 He got on his knees and begged his life. 1699 A. Boyer Royal Dict. (at cited word) To get On ones Feet, Se lever. 1704 Nat. Hist. iii, in L. Wafer New Voy. & Descr. Isthmus Amer. (ed. 2) 204 The River Souldier..they say it gets on Land to seek for Water when the Rivers are near dry. 1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxxv. 292 Getting on the roof of the house through the trap-door. 1874 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. 249 If there be a strong ‘outsetting’ tide,..then get on your back and float till help comes. 1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) II. 237 Pray observe how I gallop away when I get on smooth ground. 1903 J. London Call of Wild iv. 116 He did not get on his feet again till harness-up time in the morning. 1943 M. Shulman Barefoot Boy ix. 90 We got on the dance floor just as a Benny Goodman record started to play. 1999 Y. M. Murray What it takes to get to Vegas iv. 67 Told him to get on his knees and beg for his life. c. To enter upon (a subject), esp. by chance. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of > begin or proceed to talk of to get upon ——1704 to get on ——1705 1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea x. 158 Since we are got on this Subject, I must not forget to inform you that [etc.]. 1758 C. Lennox Henrietta II. iv. iii. 127 Mrs. Autumn had got on a subject which she knew not how to quit. 1833 London Lit. Gaz. 7 Sept. 561/2 Every body talks too much; and when once they get on politics, there is no stopping them. 1868 W. Collins Moonstone I. i. x. 137 He lost his foreign smoothness; and, getting on the subject of the medical profession, said such downright things in ridicule of doctors, that he actually put good-humoured little Mr. Candy in a rage. 1906 J. H. Edge Irish Utopia xxx. 243 He and the good old priest soon got on the all-absorbing topic of the trial, and they talked and re-talked it over and over again. 1940 Proc. 31st Ann. Convent. Rotary Internat. 245 If we get on the question of controversial issues, we immediately take a chance on straining the friendships within Rotary. 2010 Financial Times 31 July 3 When he gets on the theme of statistics and research, Greenspan relaxes and becomes almost expansive. †2. intransitive. To produce an effect on. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) v. i. 270 This discourse got somewhat on the slave, but not enough to bring him wholly to himself. 3. intransitive. Hunting. To come upon, meet with (an animal or bird). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hunt [verb (transitive)] > find game to get on ——1711 1711 Narborough's Acct. Several Late Voy. (new ed.) ii. 94 I got on him [a Bird] the 11th of July. 1892 Irish Times 27 Jan. We had at last got on the fox that gave three such splendid runs from here to the Castletown country a few years ago. 1992 Alabama Game & Fish Feb. 48M/3 I was hunting a buck once, and I decided to take my rifle and a video camera. I got on the buck and he came in. 4. intransitive. a. To affect (a person's mind, etc.) in such a way as to harass, obsess, or cause to become a source of worry; esp. in to get on a person's nerves (see nerve n. Phrases 4).to get on (a person's) quince: see quince n.¹ Phrases. to get on one's tits: see tit n.¹ Phrases 1. to get on one's wick: see wick n.¹ 2a. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > state of being harassed > harass [verb (transitive)] tawc893 ermec897 swencheOE besetOE bestandc1000 teenOE baitc1175 grieve?c1225 war?c1225 noyc1300 pursuec1300 travailc1300 to work (also do) annoyc1300 tribula1325 worka1325 to hold wakenc1330 chase1340 twistc1374 wrap1380 cumbera1400 harrya1400 vexc1410 encumber1413 inquiet1413 molest?a1425 course1466 persecutec1475 trouble1489 sturt1513 hare1523 hag1525 hale1530 exercise1531 to grate on or upon1532 to hold or keep waking1533 infest1533 scourge1540 molestate1543 pinch1548 trounce1551 to shake upa1556 tire1558 moila1560 pester1566 importune1578 hunt1583 moider1587 bebait1589 commacerate1596 bepester1600 ferret1600 harsell1603 hurry1611 gall1614 betoil1622 weary1633 tribulatea1637 harass1656 dun1659 overharry1665 worry1671 haul1678 to plague the life out of1746 badger1782 hatchel1800 worry1811 bedevil1823 devil1823 victimize1830 frab1848 mither1848 to pester the life out of1848 haik1855 beplague1870 chevy1872 obsede1876 to get on ——1880 to load up with1880 tail-twist1898 hassle1901 heckle1920 snooter1923 hassle1945 to breathe down (the back of) (someone's) neck1946 to bust (a person's) chops1953 noodge1960 monster1967 the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > irritate [verb (transitive)] gremec893 grillc897 teenOE mispay?c1225 agrillec1275 oftenec1275 tarya1300 tarc1300 atenec1320 enchafec1374 to-tarc1384 stingc1386 chafe?a1400 pokec1400 irec1420 ertc1440 rehete1447 nettlec1450 bog1546 tickle1548 touch1581 urge1593 aggravate1598 irritate1598 dishumour1600 to wind up1602 to pick at ——1603 outhumour1607 vex1625 bloody1633 efferate1653 rankle1659 spleen1689 splenetize1700 rile1724 roil1742 to put out1796 to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823 roughen1837 acerbate1845 to stroke against the hair, the wrong way (of the hair)1846 nag1849 to rub (a person, etc.) up the wrong way1859 frump1862 rattle1865 to set up any one's bristles1873 urticate1873 needle1874 draw1876 to rough up1877 to stick pins into1879 to get on ——1880 to make (someone) tiredc1883 razoo1890 to get under a person's skin1896 to get a person's goat1905 to be on at1907 to get a person's nanny1909 cag1919 to get a person's nanny-goat1928 cagmag1932 peeve1934 tick-off1934 to get on a person's tits1945 to piss off1946 bug1947 to get up a person's nose1951 tee1955 bum1970 tick1975 1880 Girl's Own Paper 30 Oct. 74/2 A continual tapping gets on the nerves of others and worries them. 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism iii. ii. 127 ‘Never mind Arthur,’ she said. ‘I wouldn't let him get on my mind if I were you, mother.’ ?1972 R. Galton & A. Simpson Best of Steptoe & Son (1989) 25 One cannot undertake creative work with somebody who gets on your threepenny bits as much as he does. 1992 S. Coogan et al. Alan Partridge: Every Ruddy Word (2003) 14/2 But these people really just get on my breasts. b. U.S. slang. To unsettle, disconcert, or annoy; to reprimand or criticize; to pester. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)] threac897 threapc897 begripea1000 threata1000 castea1200 chaste?c1225 takec1275 blame1297 chastya1300 sniba1300 withnima1315 undernima1325 rebukec1330 snuba1340 withtakea1340 reprovec1350 chastisea1375 arate1377 challenge1377 undertake1377 reprehenda1382 repreync1390 runta1398 snapea1400 underfoc1400 to call to account1434 to put downc1440 snebc1440 uptakec1440 correptc1449 reformc1450 reprise?c1450 to tell (a person) his (also her, etc.) own1450 control1451 redarguec1475 berisp1481 to hit (cross) one over (of, on) the thumbs1522 checkc1530 admonish1541 nip1548 twig?1550 impreve1552 lesson1555 to take down1562 to haul (a person) over the coals1565 increpate1570 touch1570 school1573 to gather up1577 task1580 redarguate?1590 expostulate1592 tutor1599 sauce1601 snip1601 sneap1611 to take in tax1635 to sharp up1647 round1653 threapen1671 reprimand1681 to take to task1682 document1690 chapter1693 repulse1746 twink1747 to speak to ——1753 haul1795 to pull up1799 carpet1840 rig1841 to talk to1860 to take (a person) to the woodshed1882 rawhide1895 to tell off1897 to tell (someone) where he or she gets off1900 to get on ——1904 to put (a person) in (also into) his, her place1908 strafe1915 tick1915 woodshed1935 to slap (a person) down1938 sort1941 bind1942 bottle1946 mat1948 ream1950 zap1961 elder1967 1904 E. W. Townsend Sure x. 126 Say, dis education game is getting on me, too. 1911 Pacific Monthly June 606/1 This long, dry period is getting on me, sweetheart. I'm losing my nerve—. 1914 Texas Criminal Rep. 69 591 I made some rough talk back to them about getting on me so hot, and told him he was a God dam liar or something that way. 1965 Boys' Life Apr. 21/3 ‘Why's he always getting on me, Al?’ ‘Don't worry about it, kid. Buster needles every rookie.’ 1985 New Yorker 19 Aug. 53/2 I was just about to quit the business, too. What happened, my wife got on me. 1991 M. Mantle My Favorite Summer: 1956 v. 83 He never got on me for striking out. †5. intransitive. Horse Racing. To stake money upon (a horse). Cf. to get on 9 at Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > bet on [verb (transitive)] back1697 to put one's money on1847 to put one's shirt on1856 play1858 lump1864 lay1877 stand1877 to get on ——1884 to bet (also stake) one's shirt (that)1892 to go a (or the) bundle on1938 1884 Punch 18 Oct. 181/1 There is all the difference between getting on an ordinary hack and ‘getting on’ the favourite for the Derby. 1894 G. Moore Esther Waters xxxiii. 270 Get on a winner at forty to one, and you could make as much in one bet as a poor devil of a bookie could in six months, fagging from race-course to race-course. 1909 Times of India 12 Apr. 5/1 The three days' sport have been enjoyed..especially by those who were fortunate to get on the winners ere the bookmakers rubbed the names off their lists. 6. intransitive. To initiate communication by means of (a telephone, etc.). ΚΠ 1916 H. Snowden Marshall: Hearings before Comm. on Judiciary (U.S. House of Representatives, 64th Congress, 1st Sess.) 706 She got on the phone—she asked for Miss Tanzer and my sister answered. 1930 Boys' Life Aug. 46/2 I'll get back to the office and get on the phone. 1951 ‘N. Shute’ Round Bend vii. 217 Somebody must have got on the blower from Bahrein. 1963 Life 19 Apr. 10/1 Every spring I get on the telephone with people who are making syrup. 1987 R. Shilts And Band played On vi. xxv. 250 Gary got on the horn to other people with AIDS. 2011 Private Eye 27 May 26/3 Bibi would get on the blower, and a terrific party would take place that very evening. to get on to —— 1. intransitive. To shift the subject of discussion to, to move in the course of conversation to. ΚΠ 1814 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 23 Apr. 513 I wish to get on to a very important topic. 1837 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 648/1 Let's now get on to what Skelton calls his ‘Derelictions’. 1881 J. Fiske Let. 31 Jan. (1940) 454 From carwheel we got on to contraction and expansion, molecular motion, vortex-atoms, the nebular hypothesis, matter and spirit, and so on. 1923 Humorist 29 Sept. 228/3 He got on to what was probably his favourite theme. 1944 D. Cooper Diary 9 June (2005) 310 When I got on to the question of the francs. 2003 G. Joseph Big Smoke xxvi. 237 They hadn't got on to football talk yet, but Martine knew her stuff. 2. intransitive. To pick up the trail or scent of (an animal). Also: to pick up and follow (the trail of an animal). Now rare. ΚΠ 1837 New Sporting Mag. Feb. 111 Found in High-wood the fastest thing of the season... Got on to him at Beeches, and running hard through it, and on by Oxberry and Meesden, ran into him at Hormead. 1842 Sporting Rev. Mar. 203 They..got on to a good drag, and hunted him slowly, but beautifully, up to Madhams, where they got up to him. 1894 43rd & 52nd Light Infantry Chron. III. 238 After many attempts, this heat was started on a good boar. Kennard got on to him at once and ran him for some time, when Fanshawe got on to him. 1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox (1920) 143 The fox heard hounds get on to his line, And again the terror went down his spine. 1951 Irish Times 15 Feb. 2/7 He got on to another hare, which took him into the country. 1981 Winnipeg Free Press 13 Nov. 55/1 Whenever she got on to the scent of a sharptail, a rabbit would dash across her path to create problems. 1996 D. G. Schueler Handmade Wilderness xxv. 223 In the background, the stir of hounds or bird dogs snuffling in the thickets, wanting to get on to the next quarry. 3. intransitive. To get in touch or communication with (someone). ΘΚΠ society > communication > [verb (transitive)] > communicate with to get to ——1853 to get on to ——1879 reach1886 to get through1917 contact1927 1879 C. M. Greene & S. Thompson Sharps & Flats i. 26 Clever, duecid [sic] clever and just as strong as he is clever. Bully of the board... Get on to him. Get—get on to him. 1895 W. B. Yeats Let. 3 Mar. (1954) ii. 252 I am beginning to think of getting on at Roscommon to Douglas Hyde. I shall go from that to Dublin. 1939 J. Cannan They rang up Police 72 Very well. Get on to him, darling, will you? And then I'll speak myself—that would be more courteous. 1955 Times 30 June 9/5 Then later I read the body was to be exhumed. This thing got on my nerves, so I got on to the police. 1978 J. Sherwood Limericks of Lachasse xi. 133 Get on to that plant hire place..and get them to have an excavator up here..to dig up the car park. 2007 J. Armstrong et al. Thick of It: Scripts Special 2. 318 You, I want you to get on to the press, I want you to tell them I am..all over it. 4. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To grasp the meaning, truth or significance of; to understand; to detect or discover. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [phrase] to know what's whatc1422 to know where to find a person1565 to see the light1812 to be awake to1813 to know a move or two1819 to get on to ——1880 to get the strength of1890 to be (or get) wise to1896 to get the picture1900 the penny dropped1939 to pick up1944 to get the message1959 to take on board1979 the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > reach understanding of > words or meaning takec1175 understanda1225 intenda1400 conceive?1526 accept1587 construe1622 to catch a person's drift1821 comprehend1860 to get on to ——1880 read1956 1880 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 2 June 6/3 The visitors taking kindly to Ward's curves, Dunlap and McCormick especially getting on to him in fine style. 1893 S. Crane Maggie xv. 130 Do yehs want people teh get onto me? 1904 N.Y. Sun 7 Aug. 28 Wise people are getting on to the fact that Eastwood is no ordinary real estate development. 1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves ix. 97 I knew there wasn't a chance of my being able to work this stage wheeze in London without somebody getting on to it and tipping off the guv'nor. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement vi. 277 That was a bit of smart thinking on your part... There aren't many men about here who could have got on to it like that. 1940 E. Percy in Best One-act Plays 1940 70 It's very fortunate I got on to it in time. I'm sure I've saved Ann a great deal of unhappiness. 1998 A. Hollinghurst Spell (1999) xi. 147 He waited there for a moment or two, wondering impatiently how Martin had got on to him, what he hadn't noticed. 5. intransitive. colloquial. To scold or reprimand; to criticize. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)] reprehendc1400 murmur1424 discommenda1500 belack1531 to find fault (with, at)c1540 scan?c1550 fault1563 pinch1567 to lift or move a lip1579 raign1581 reflect1605 criminate1645 criticize1652 nick1668 critic1697 chop1712 stricture1851 to get on to ——1895 chip1898 rap1899 nitpick1956 1895 Nottingham Daily Express 27 Aug. 8/1 If I go home I shall do it. My mother is always getting on to me. 1901 Testimony Select Comm. Hazing Mil. Acad. (U.S. House of Representatives 56th Congress, 2nd Sess.) 988 Mr. Burnett was getting onto Mr. Albert about something. I don't know whether it was about not bracing properly or a slovenly way in which he did the manual. 1962 ‘A. Burgess’ Wanting Seed iii. ix. 145 You stop getting on to me, boy. You keep them dirty words to yourself. 1994 C. Dexter Daughters of Cain xxx. 126 I don't get on to you, for what you like. 2009 R. Bautista in D. E. Davis et al. Voices from Nueva Frontera iii. 53 My dad..didn't like getting on to me for stuff I did bad. to get out of —— 1. transitive. a. To draw out, elicit (information) from (a person). Also: to succeed in obtaining (money, work, etc.) from (a person or animal).not to get any (or much) change out of: see change n. Phrases 5e. ΚΠ a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 134 Þe Abbot badde hym tellen it [sc. a sin] & he seide nay..& algate his abbot gate it out of hym. 1476 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 496 Dyverse have lost mony er they cowde gete ther dywtes owte off th' Estaple. 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. xxvii. f. cxxii^v Hys accusers called vpon the matter, Pilate desiryng to get out of hym, wherby he mighte bee delyuered. 1584 W. Allen True Def. Eng. Catholiques i. 11 M. Thomson..was put to tormentes onelie to get out of him to what end he kept certaine Superaltaries. 1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 189 The Queene, perceiving well what he meant..yet resolved to get it plainly out of him. 1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer v. ii I told you 'twas in vain to think of getting money out of her. 1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 213 This was the Account we got out of them. 1737 S. Berington Mem. G. di Lucca 19 We resolv'd to try what we could get out of him by his own Confession. 1809 M. Edgeworth Ennui iii. in Tales Fashionable Life I. 149 I defy him to get the truth out of them, if they don't wish to tell it. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. ii. 267 You won't get anything out of him worth having. 1880 Science 9 Oct. 178/1 When a horse is ill, the policy of getting as much work out of him as possible is..exceedingly short-sighted. 1916 Overland Monthly Nov. 395/2 Nobody could get a word out of Burke as to what had excited him. He shut up like a clam. 1965 G. Jones Island of Apples ii. i. 68 She was mingier than ever, I couldn't get a penny out of her. 1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes ii. 37 Mother had gone off to hide. She knew something hot, and she did not want me to get it out of her. 1995 V. Stallwood Oxf. Mourning (1996) ix. 187 She would get the truth out of Angel. All of it. b. To extract (juice, etc.) from (a substance). ΚΠ a1551 J. Redman Complaint of Grace (?1556) sig. Di Moyses was faine to get then water out of the hard stone. 1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 218 (heading) Of rosaries [L. rosariis], that is to say instruments wherwith a destilled liquor maye be gotten oute of Roses and other medicines. 1631 E. Pellham Gods Power 22 (margin) These [sc. Frittars or Graves] be the Scraps of the Fat of the Whale, which are flung away after the Oyle is gotten out of it. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 84 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors Opium..is nothing but the juice which is got out of poppy, by an incision made therein. 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 98 The Trencher-maker is..cautious of getting the Sap out of this Wood. 1794 T. Wedge Gen. View Agric. Chester 58 The more perfectly the whey is got out of the cheese, by skewering, thrusting, and pressing, the less air will be left in it. 1854 H. R. Schoolcraft Information Indian Tribes U.S. IV. iii. 68 They do collect old bones if they have the least appearance of marrow or fat in them, and boil them to get the fat out of them. 1876 J. C. Geikie Life in Woods xxv. 399 Science got the beautiful metal aluminium out of the clay which ignorance trod under foot. 1973 J. Seymour & S. Seymour Self-sufficiency xvi. 221 The fish were..pressed with powerful presses to get the last drop of oil out of them. 2008 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Sept. b7 I felt like a lemon; they got the juice out of me and threw me away. c. To gain or derive (something good or beneficial) from (a situation, experience, or thing). ΚΠ 1553 R. Eden in tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India Pref. sig. Aiii I meane by knowledge y^t which we comonly call learning, whether it be gotte out of bokes..or otherwyse by conference & educacion with such as are lerned. 1583 C. Rosdell tr. J. Calvin Comm. Romanes iii. f. 44 For if the lawe make vs subiecte to death, what glorie shall wee gette out of it? 1616 S. Hieron Doctrines Triall 47 Determine if thou wouldest get ought out of Gods booke, by which thy soule may bee satisfied as with marow and fatnesse. 1668 J. Flavell Saint Indeed 124 O that I should have such a bad heart, that can get no good out of such troubles. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xi. ix. 177 He would have got a good Picking out of it. 1787 W. Huntington Justif. Sinner 219 A child of God often gains ground by such stumblings, and gets fresh discoveries out of confusion. 1867 Cheering Words Oct. 161 I read it [sc. the Bible], but I get no comfort out of it; the blessings spoken of there are not for me. 1893 J. Bonar Philos. & Polit. Econ. i. iii. 47 His independence consisted in making the best of the world as it stood, and getting the utmost enjoyment out of the good things of this life. 1909 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 589 A scientist.., when confronted by a complainant committee, is honestly thunderstruck to hear that nobody is getting anything out of his courses. 1962 Financial Times 24 Apr. 16/6 (advt.) The old master craftsmen got great satisfaction out of doing a job as well as it could possibly be done. 2006 K. A. Tufts in M. J. Smith & J. J. Fitzpatrick Best Pract. in Nursing Educ. xx. 151 I got a lot out of that experience by observing which techniques worked and which ones did not. d. to get the most (also best) out of (someone or something): to get the maximum amount of value, effort, satisfaction, etc., from (a person or thing). ΚΠ 1791 Abstr. of Evid. Select Comm.: Petitioners for Abol. Slave-trade (House of Commons) xii. 131 It appears..that pregnant women, to get the most out of them, are frequently worked within a very little time of their delivery. 1866 Q. Jrnl. Sci. 3 71 His power not only of getting into the minds of his students the utmost amount of knowledge, but..getting the most out of them for the advancement of science. 1897 W. B. Yeats Secret Rose 130 Whatever a man does against me, and wherever I am, I get the best out of things. 1902 Daily Chron. 29 Apr. 3/5 The workshop system answers because the master works with his men, and gets the best out of them. 1948 Life 6 Sept. 19/1 Southworth has a magnificent talent for getting the most out of players whom other managers have given up on. 2010 Independent 8 Dec. (Viewspaper section) 14/1 (heading) How do you get the best out of Venice? Visit La Serenissima during the low season. 2. intransitive. a. To succeed in issuing or emerging from; to go or come out of; to escape from; to leave, quit. to get out of bed: to rise from one's bed (typically after sleep). to get out of bed (on) the wrong side: see wrong adj. 10g. to get out of a person's face: see face n. Phrases 5g(a). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)] atwendOE atwindc1000 overfleeOE to come out of ——lOE atstertc1220 atbreak?c1225 aschapea1300 scapea1300 aslipc1325 escape1340 atscapea1350 astartc1374 to wade out ofc1386 starta1400 withscapea1400 withslipa1400 atwapec1400 to get out of ——a1470 evite1503 outstart1513 to get from ——1530 rid1615 skip1630 a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 351 And so with grete payne he gate oute of the pres. a1500 (?a1400) Stanzaic Life of Christ (Harl. 3909) (1926) l. 8243 So geete he oute of that cite and wildernesse soght. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xxi. 64 Or he can gete out of the wood he wyll cause reyne and wynde. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xx. 25 b Some of them before they coulde gette out of the barke were stripped intoo their shyrtes. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 89 The Marquesse to get out of the confusion, and to avoyd the tumult..retired to his Castle. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 92 The Bride..gets out of bed, gets on a morning Gown [etc.]. 1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle 64 I told him they might do as they thought fit, but I would get out of the Way. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. v. 187 He was..all in rags, being but just got out of Paita goal. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 600 Before they got out of the lane more than a hundred of them had been killed or wounded. 1882 Harper's Mag. June 49/2 She would tell him further that a man who got into scrapes ought to get out of them. 1924 Boys' Life July 45/2 One day he lost an eye in an accident. Just as soon as he could get out of the house he was back at work. 1965 Malcolm X Autobiogr. (1968) ix. 226 Sophia's husband had gotten out of the military, and he was some sort of salesman. 2004 Daily Tel. 1 Oct. 7/6 The Gucci girl rarely gets out of bed before the cocktail hour. b. To divest oneself of (shares); to cease investing capital in (an enterprise).Quot. 1843 involves a pun on stock n.¹ 52a and 8a. ΚΠ 1813 T. Jefferson Let. 25 Apr. in Papers (2009) Retirement Ser. VI. 86 I have unluckily got out of the Ravensworth pea. 1843 ‘Minor Hugo’ Hints & Refl. Railway Travellers III. viii. 80 We are glad to get out of the stocks at any compromise, even though we should get a little more into debt by so doing. 1868 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 Sept. 580 Some few, who were preternaturally wise, or who had caught a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes, took the hint, accepted the first slight loss, got out of everything they held. 1964 J. Didion Run, River (1969) ii. 18 There was no longer any money in hops: everyone on the river was getting out of them. 1978 Maclean's 18 Dec. 51/1 Governments are getting out of land-banking because it has failed to lower house prices. 1985 Times 31 July 15/1 Investors scramble to get out of stock as prices toboggan. c. In imperative. British colloquial. get out of it: go away, be off; also (as an expression of incredulity) go on, you don't say so. ΚΠ 1937 E. Partridge Dict. Slang 323/1 Gertcher, get out of it, you! 1943 T. Harrisson et al. Mass Observ. Pub & People (2009) vii. 245 Just then a sergeant with a stick and a P.C. came up... ‘Now then, come on there, get out of it, get out of it!.’ 1960 H. Pinter Caretaker 27 Aston: She said, how would you like me to have a look at your body? Davies: Get out of it. 1991 C. James Brrm! Brrm! (1992) iii. 43 Garn, get out of it, you fuckin' slant-eyed git! Sod off! 1997 A. Wood EastEnders (BBC TV script) (O.E.D. Archive) Episode 575. 20 Lenny: Me and Huw have decided to help you to win the heart of the beautiful Mary. Robbie: Get out of it. 3. intransitive. To get beyond, esp. in to get out of one's depth, to get out of sight, to get out of reach, to get out of control.to get out of hand: see hand n. Phrases 1j(b)(iii). ΘΚΠ society > authority > lack of subjection > unruliness > be unruly [verb (intransitive)] > get out of control to-breakc1475 to get out of ——1892 1596 Z. Jones tr. M. Barleti Hist. G. Castriot iv. 145 The enemie perceiuing that they were in a moment gotten out of sight, & thinking..that they were hidden in the bottome of the valley. 1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 73 The Galley..got quit out of their sight. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 45. ¶6 As I had a mind to hear the Play, I got out of the Sphere of her Impertinence. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. v. 171 They flattered themselves they were got out of his reach. 1831 E. T. Anwyl Tales of Welshland & Welsherie I. ii. 27 We had scarcely got out of sight of the cottage, before we met Mr. Cantwell. 1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 19 Jan. 4/3 He remained three hours in the water, afraid to move, lest he should get out of his depth. 1919 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 20 May 1/1 The aviator almost certainly would have sent a farewell message before getting out of radio range had an accident not befallen him. 1965 G. Weales Tennessee Williams 11 Its opening night was a fiasco, in part because a smoke-making machine got out of control. 1991 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 29 Dec. 3/1 His grandmother..beat him so horribly that he was sure she would kill him if he did not get out of her reach. 2012 Sun (Nexis) 6 Mar. 4 It's all very well taking on a challenge, but I think you could be getting out of your depth. 4. intransitive. Of a person: to give up, leave off (a fashion, etc.). Also: (of a thing) to begin to go out of (fashion or use). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ceasing > cease from (an action or operation) [verb (transitive)] > abandon or relinquish (an activity or occupation) remit1587 to give up1589 quit1607 to give off1613 to get out of ——1632 ding1852 to jack up1880 jack1902 to throw in1951 toss in1956 1632 T. Hooker Soules Prepar. for Christ 136 But I know not how to get out of it, saith the gallant, The custome is so usuall, that I cannot leave it. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 119. ¶7 The Rural Beaus are not yet got out of the Fashion that took place at the time of the Revolution. 1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxx. 193 And between the one Character, which she wants to get into, and the other she dares not get out of, she trips up and down mincingly. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 214 Those classical wigs..that I am sorry to see getting out of fashion, yclept bobs. 1845 B. Disraeli Sybil III. vi. iv. 182 ‘It is the livery of the Bardolfs,’ said Lady Joan. ‘I always call them Firebrace; I cannot get out of it,’ said Mr. Mountchesney. 1877 Georgia Weekly Tel. 6 Nov. 1/7 This ancient practice is fast getting out of vogue. 1911 Life 1 June 1071/1 When their gowns begin to get out of style, no matter how good the gowns may be or how becoming, they wear them with heaviness of heart. 1963 R. C. Kwant Phenomenol. Philos. of Merleau-Ponty vi. 108 In every realm, including that of philosophy, terms may get out of use. 2001 R. Nicoll White Male Heart (2002) 200 I always believed there was a really exciting party going on. I've never been able to get out of the habit. 5. intransitive. To evade, escape from, avoid (something inconvenient or uncongenial). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > escape > escape from [verb (transitive)] > contrive to escape or evade fleec1175 shunc1275 forgoc1305 passc1330 escapea1340 beglidea1350 voidc1380 shuntc1400 missa1522 evade1535 delude1536 to dally out1548 illude1553 prevent1598 outruna1616 to fail of1624 elude1634 subterfugea1643 shoot1685 shift1724 to get out of ——a1817 win by…1816 the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from (action) [verb (transitive)] > avoid or shun > get out of doing something evade1722 to get out of ——a1817 to get off ——1835 odds1958 a1817 J. Austen Persuasion (1818) III. vii. 128 This is always my luck! If there is any thing disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it. View more context for this quotation 1885 Sir N. Lindley in Law Times Rep. 53 479/1 I do not see how to get out of the language of the Act. 1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge I. xxiii. 282 He is like a schoolboy in getting out of things that are disagreeable to him. 1893 Earl of Dunmore Pamirs I. 228 He tried to evade the question and..he attempted to get out of giving a direct reply. 1942 ‘M. Fitt’ Requiem for Robert (1948) v. 148 As I got older, I began trying to get out of going; and as she didn't press the point, my visits ceased. 1981 ‘Q. Crisp’ How to become Virgin i. 10 ‘But you don't really do nothing, do you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘But you read.’ ‘Books are for writing, not reading.’ ‘Well then, you write.’ ‘Not if I can possibly get out of it.’ 2002 Lincs. Echo (Nexis) 19 Nov. 29 Whenever you could find a way of getting out of duties and exercises, the beach..was the place to be. to get over —— Cf. to get over at Phrasal verbs 1. 1. intransitive. a. To overcome, surmount (a difficulty); to evade the force of (evidence); to cease to be troubled or surprised by. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > easiness > find no difficulty in [verb (transitive)] > surmount (difficulty or disaster) overcomea1225 surmount1484 compass1561 superate1598 to get above ——1603 to get over ——1618 overa1800 to tide over1821 1618 E. Parr Plaine Expos. Epist. St. Paul to Romans (viii. 29) 64 The world casts shamefull and opprobrious things vpon them which followe Christ: which keepes many, from professing the Gospell; this being such a rub which they cannot get ouer. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Bb3^v/3 They cannot get over the Prejudice of [Edu]cation. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome ii. 469 [This] was Alexander's great difficulty, which for many years he happily got over. 1764 E. Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) IV. 376 Yet the name of slave was not to be got over. 1783 Ainsworth's Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (new ed.) iv. at Bellerophontes He conquered them, and got safe over several other dangers. 1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain 264 All such substances, milk, butter, cheese, oil, have a particular taste at first, which use alone gets over. 1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 597/1 We have happily got over the prejudice of last century. 1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke x. 80 No explanation or excuse could get over the fact that the man was dead. 1934 D. Thomas Let. 15 Apr. (1987) 113 But I haven't got over the idea yet that if I open a cupboard door very quickly, I might see you sitting & beaming inside. 1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. ii. 2/1 The novelty value of spaghetti bolognaise can often get over the hurdle of the silverbeet hidden in the sauce. 2001 T. Parsons One for my Baby ii. 30 My mum and dad act as though I am a nut job for not getting over Rose. b. To finish, accomplish (an action); to get through with, have done with. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > completing > complete (an action or piece of work) [verb (transitive)] > get finished with (a task, etc.) overcome?c1225 speedc1340 overtake?a1400 rid1467 finish1526 absolve1574 to work off1618 to get over ——a1646 to finish with1823 a1646 J. Burroughs Christ inviting Sinners (1659) xi. 78 Men that have been ful of business, and afterwards have got over their business, what a freedome do they account it. 1761 tr. C. Batteux Course Belles Lettres III. iv. ii. v. 194 Who ever can get over the first reading, will find in the second wherewithall to recompense them. 1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxvii The inn..had clearly got over its day's labour. 1889 A. V. Carr Margaret Maliphant II. xxiv. 191 I had got over my visit quite safely. 1937 H. Jennings et al. May 12th Mass-observ. Day-surv. (1987) ii. 358 The general feeling in the spinning room..is that work is an evil thing, a thing to be got over as quickly as possible. 1999 G. E. Marcus Let. 25 Mar. in G. E. Marcus & F. Mascarenhas Ocasião (2005) 154 I'll write more this weekend as soon as I get over the business of the week. c. To recover from (a shock, injury, illness, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > recover (health) [verb (transitive)] > recover from (an illness) recoverc1330 overseta1600 to come through ——1655 to get over ——1662 overgeta1729 overa1800 overcast1830 the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restoration of a person > recovery from misfortune, error, etc. > [verb (transitive)] overcomea1225 recoverc1330 overputa1382 overpassa1387 passa1500 digest1577 to put over1593 outwear1598 overseta1600 to make a saving game of it1600 repassa1631 to get over ——1662 overgeta1729 overcast1788 overa1800 1662 Hist. Life M. Corbet in Speeches, Disc. & Prayers J. Barkstead, J. Okey & M. Corbet (new ed.) ii. 39 If I can get over my present ilness, I shall perform my Journey very well. 1712 C. Mordaunt Let. in E. Hamilton Mordaunts (1965) iv. 83 I hope she may be in no great danger but got over the Measles as easily as I did. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 274 He was now gotten over his Fright. 1769 O. Goldsmith Rom. Hist. II. 357 These excesses..brought on a violent fever..which his constitution was sufficiently strong to get over. 1839 Thirty-six Yrs. Seafaring Life 219 Such was his state, that no one supposed he ever could get over it [an amputation]. 1873 C. M. Yonge Cameos cxv, in Monthly Packet May 459 I shall get over this hurt. 1892 Good Words May 341/2 A shock that he never got over. 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 3 When they found him he was melancholy mad, poor old boy; and he never got over it. 1966 Listener 13 Jan. 77/1 ‘I shall never get over her death..,’ he said, over eighty years later. 2006 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 6 Dec. After Jackie split from her first husband,..she consulted psychics in an effort to get over the trauma of the experience. d. U.S. to get over the footlights: = to get across at Phrasal verbs 1. ΚΠ 1915 Munsey's Mag. Aug. 515/1 Shaw was generally considered altogether too wild to stand a chance of getting over the footlights. 1951 H. S. Canby Turn West, turn East x. 204 Plot and characters did not get over the footlights, probably because he did not really believe in plots, nor was much interested in pure personality. 2004 J. Meyers Somerset Maugham (2005) iv. 54 He believed that the playwright had to have a distinct knack, ‘the dramatic instinct’ for writing lines that get over the footlights. e. colloquial (originally North American). to get over oneself: to stop being conceited; to look beyond one's own interests. ΚΠ 1982 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 29 Oct. Come on, get over yourself, darling. 1986 Arkansas Gaz. 21 Jan. a8/3 I don't need to support him..with my money... He needs to get over himself. 1997 Guardian (Nexis) 20 May (Features section) 6 When will scientists get over themselves enough to recognise that chocolate is simply an inherently Good Thing. 2003 T. Richards & E. Blehm P3 v. 93 Do you think I'll recognize your name or something? I don't care if you are some pro, so get over yourself. 2. intransitive. To while away, succeed in passing (time). Cf. to get through —— 3 at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > time > spending time > spend time or allow time to pass [verb (transitive)] overdoOE adreeOE wreaka1300 to draw forthc1300 dispend1340 pass1340 drivea1375 wastec1381 occupyc1384 overpassa1387 to pass over ——a1393 usec1400 spend1423 contrive?a1475 overdrive1487 consumea1500 to pass forth1509 to drive off1517 lead1523 to ride out1529 to wear out, forth1530 to pass away?1550 to put offc1550 shiftc1562 to tire out1563 wear1567 to drive out1570 entertainc1570 expire1589 tire1589 outwear1590 to see out1590 outrun1592 outgo1595 overshoot1597 to pass out1603 fleeta1616 elapse1654 term1654 trickle1657 to put over1679 absorb1686 spin1696 exercise1711 kill1728 to get through ——1748 to get over ——1751 tickc1870 fill1875 1751 E. Justice Amelia 64 He..could not find that she was in the least the Occasion of his Roving, or of those discontented Hours he so melancholy got over. 1824 S. Beazley Philandering ii. ii. 35 Hem! hem! well, I've got over the night however without either hanging or drowning myself; I see a man can do a great deal with a little resolution. 1890 Temple Bar 90 147 He never is quite clear afterwards how he gets over the hours that intervene. 1930 Times of India 29 Nov. 13/7 These dreary, desultory efforts to get over the blank hours. 1987 Washington Informer 15 Apr. 31 Compared with the last several days, getting over the next several days should be a piece of cake. 3. intransitive. To cover (a distance). ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military operations > manoeuvre > [verb (intransitive)] > move or march move?a1400 marcha1450 remarch1620 countermarch1644 to get over ——1781 yomp1982 tab1985 1781 H. Lloyd Contin. Hist. Late War in Germany 33 You are sometimes several hours in getting over a mile of ground. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 6 You can get over a couple of thousand miles of ground for three pound ten. 1883 G. M. Fenn Middy & Ensign xxxii. 193 Ten miles were got over that evening. 1918 W. H. Hudson Far Away & Long Ago xiii. 185 As we sat talking after supper I expressed my intention of leaving early in the morning so as to get over a few leagues while it was fresh. 1941 Scotsman 7 May 6/2 What you have to answer is how the Germans got over 300 miles of sea with a superior force to that which we could muster. 2006 Geelong (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 11 Oct. 43 He has won a couple of races over the 2500 metres, which should stand him in good stead when they get over a bit of distance. 4. intransitive. slang. To take advantage of (someone); to circumvent; (also, in later use) to dominate, overwhelm. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > overcome or overwhelm overcomeeOE overgangOE overnimOE overswivec1175 foldc1275 overgoc1275 to bear downc1330 oversetc1330 outrayc1390 overleada1393 overreach?a1425 overwhelmc1425 to whelve overc1440 overruna1475 surprise1474 overpress1489 surbatea1500 overhale1531 overbear1535 overcrow1550 disable1582 surgain1586 overpower1597 overman1609 to come over ——1637 to run down1655 overpower1667 compel1697 to get over ——1784 overget1877 to grab (also take) by the balls1934 the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > cunning > treat cunningly [verb (transitive)] > circumvent or overreach overgoc1275 circumvene1526 circumvent1564 undercreep1592 overreach1594 circuit1614 out-juggle1620 outwit?1630 out-plot1648 overwit1671 Cretizea1673 outjockey1714 to steal a march1771 to get over ——1784 Jew1825 outfox1872 outsmart1926 blindside1968 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > exploit or take advantage of > specifically a person to prey upon1610 impose1667 picaroon1681 live1712 to twirl (a person) round one's finger1748 to get over ——1784 exploit1838 to play (it) low down (on)1864 to avail upona1871 pole1906 to put on1958 1784 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. (new ed.) VII. 141 This would secure that place to him in case of a demise, and be a bar against any one getting over him. 1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxvii. 279 ‘Wery glad to see you, Sammy,’ said the elder Mr. Weller, ‘though how you've managed to get over your mother-in-law, is a mystery to me.’ 1840 H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox viii. 49 And as the old boy's not always exactly wide awake, he's to be got over just in the same way. 1891 F. W. Robinson Her Love & his Life II. iv. ix. 210 You'll have to get up early to get over me. 1911 F. H. Burnett Secret Garden x. 93 Tha' thinks tha'll get over me by doin' that... Tha' thinks no one can stand out against thee—that's what tha' thinks. 1933 Washington Post 15 Jan. s13/1 She came after me and gave me no peace till I—I didn't want to do the dirty on my colonel..But a man's only a man after all and she knew how to get over me. 2001 Los Angeles Sentinel 17 Oct. b4 In boxing, you learn not only how to be defensive, but how to say, ‘I'm tough, you can't get over me.’ 5. transitive. to get one over = to get one over on at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)] > outwit, get the better of undergoa1325 circumvene1526 crossbitec1555 circumvent1564 gleek1577 outreach1579 fob1583 overreach1594 fub1600 encompassa1616 out-craftya1616 out-knave1648 mump1649 jockey1708 come1721 nail1735 slew1813 Jew1825 to sew up1837 to play (it) low down (on)1864 outfox1872 beat1873 outcraft1879 to get a beat on1889 old soldier1892 to put one over1905 to get one over on1912 to get one over1921 outsmart1926 shaft1959 1921 R. Watson Spoilers of Valley xii. 159 I'm going to get one over that bunch if it is only to satisfy my own Scotch inquisitiveness. 1989 New Scientist 25 Feb. 75/1 That and the notion of getting one over you inspires this puzzle. 1997 J. Mathews in G. Smith Children's Food ii. 25 It involves getting one over adults. 2007 Church Times 27 July 9/4 They are getting one over the capitalist system in a Robin Hoodish kind of way. to get round —— Cf. to get round at Phrasal verbs 1. 1. intransitive. To induce (a person) to relax or abandon his or her reluctance, caution, or resistance; to circumvent, get the better of; to win round. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > speech intended to deceive > beguile, cajole [verb (transitive)] bicharrea1100 fodea1375 begoc1380 inveiglea1513 to hold in halsc1560 to get within ——1572 cajole1645 to cajole with1665 butter1725 veigle1745 flummer1764 to get round ——1780 to come round ——1784 to get around ——1803 flatter-blind1818 salve1825 to come about1829 round1854 canoodle1864 moody1934 fanny1938 cosy1939 mamaguy1939 snow1943 snow-job1962 1780 Earl of Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. (1844) I. 309 The French are indefatigable in the pains they take to get round the Empress. 1804 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems 40 But Tabby was terribly wroth To think he should think to get round her. 1848 G. F. Ruxton Life in Far West iii, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 130/2 One from the Land of Cakes..sought to ‘get round’ (in trade) a right ‘smart’ Yankee, but couldn't ‘shine’. 1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 40 I must..ask her for the ring, very polite and civil, and try if I can't get round her that way. 1890 Harper's Mag. Nov. 963/2 She probably managed to get round him in various ways. 1934 G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good iii. 102 You think you can get round me by pretending to be my daughter; but that just shews what a fool you are; for I hate my daughter and my daughter hates me. a1956 K. Sekyi Blinkards (1974) i. ii. 38 So you want to get round the old man? All right, come to my office tomorrow. 2000 H. Simpson Hey Yeah Right (2001) 161 And don't think you're going to get round me like that. 2. intransitive. To evade (a difficulty); to solve or deal successfully with (a problem). ΚΠ 1801 F. Ames in Mercury & New-Eng. Palladium 4 Dec. 1/4 That one great barrier of the constitution..may be subverted indirectly though not directly. The democrats cannot get over it; but they say they will get roundit. 1854 Merry's Museum 27 374/2 Please don't attempt to get round the question..by denying the facts, but meet it fair and square on its logical merits. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 24 July 1/2 With every change in the rules comes a fresh ingenuity in getting round them. 1934 G. D. H. Cole & M. Cole Guide Mod. Politics ii. iv. 108 Not even American democracy can get round the fact that the fittest in the modern world are commonly those who possess the largest incomes. 1954 A. Skira Degas 54 Degas got round this drawback by using pastels instead of oils. 1971 G. Moore tr. M. Beti Poor Christ of Bomba ii. 101 ‘But the chief knows that the legal maximum is five hundred francs.’ ‘Don't be a donkey, my dear Vidal. You know that the natives always find ways of getting round that.’ 1988 J. Trefil Dark Side of Universe xi. 152 To get round this disparity, superstring theorists postulate that [etc.]. 2008 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 18 July 23 A bar is trying to get round the ban on smoking..by declaring itself part of the One and Universal Smokers' Church of God. to get through —— Cf. to get through at Phrasal verbs 1. 1. intransitive. a. To reach the end of, bring to a conclusion, accomplish (a task, etc.). ΚΠ 1602 J. Hayward Serm. Steward's Danger 43 Thus are wee now got through the first verse of our text. 1661 A. Marvell Let. 27 June in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 33 We are not yet got through the bill of Corporations to haue it ingrossd. 1782 London Mag. Oct. 460/1 Lady Catterwaul was teized to sing, and she got through ‘Non temen’, &c. as well a good church yard cough, and a tolerable astmatic [sic] wheeze would permit. 1850 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 463/2 He managed to get through four good meals. 1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss I. ii. i. 264 He got through his supines without mistake. 1889 J. Masterman Scotts of Bestminster I. vi. 194 He therefore got through his business as quickly as he could. 1903 W. B. Yeats Let. 6 Dec. (1994) III. 478 Please forgive me for dictating this letter, but I am up to my ears in occupations and must get through my work as quickly as possible. 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. i. 27 You sure going to Wood Bridge with us after Ah git thru tellin' this one? 1942 R. L. Haig-Brown Timber xix. 278 ‘They're rich,’ Julie said. ‘They own oil. That's how Ron got his start so soon after getting through college.’ 2004 All about Soap 23 Oct. 66/3 I tried to get through the scene, but in the end I just gave up and we had to do a retake. b. To pass (an examination). ΚΠ 1829 Scots. Mag. Mar. 218 A knowledge of what has been laid down in the lectures is by no means necessary to enable a student to get through these examinations. 1840 J. T. J. Hewlett Peter Priggins xvi, in New Monthly Mag. Getting through his great-go by a shave. 1894 J. Mackenzie tr. V. M. Garshine in Gentleman's Mag. July 16 ‘Congratulate you on what?’ ‘I have just got through my exams. for the Teaching Seminary.’ 1969 ‘C. Fremlin’ Possession xvii. 137 Janice said what about her revising?.. How could she ever get through her Mocks next term? 1992 S. Fry Paperweight (1993) 141 There are lots of children relying on you to help them get through their exams. †c. to get through the court: (of a bankrupt) to receive a discharge (see discharge n. 2a). Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1838 Rep. Select Comm. Manor Courts, Ireland 27 in Parl. Papers 1837–8 (H.C. 648) XVII. 1 Generally they got through the court, and with the adjudication in their pocket they never paid their debts. 1855 D. Costello Stories from Screen 82 As to the Court, if you did get through it..you'd be worse off when you came out than when you went in. 2. intransitive. Of a bill: to be passed by (a legislative assembly). ΘΚΠ society > law > legislation > make (a) law(s [verb (intransitive)] > be passed into law pass1454 to pass the seals1710 to get through ——1718 1718 L. Echard Hist. Eng. (new ed.) III. i. ii. 173 During these Divisions between the Houses, the King under-standing the Poll-Bill, and some others, to have got through both..came to the House of Peers. 1718 L. Echard Hist. Eng. (new ed.) III. i. iv. 316 It [sc. a bill] did not get through the House of Lords. 1845 Economist 10 May 439/1 On the same night the Maynooth Bill got through Committee, subjected to an opposition on the pure voluntary system by Mr Crawford and only three other members. 1890 T. F. Tout in F. Y. Powell et al. Hist. Eng. III. 168 A new Reform Bill had got through the Commons by more than a hundred majority. 1931 Science 13 Mar. 279/2 The Everglades National Park bill failed to get through the House, though it passed the Senate. 2011 Sun (Nexis) 4 Apr. 2 Insiders say the Bill will need major surgery to get through the House of Lords where concerned peers have met with experts who oppose the proposals. 3. intransitive. To succeed in passing (time); esp. to find occupation for (a period of time), so as to escape boredom. Cf. to get over —— 2 at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > time > spending time > spend time or allow time to pass [verb (transitive)] overdoOE adreeOE wreaka1300 to draw forthc1300 dispend1340 pass1340 drivea1375 wastec1381 occupyc1384 overpassa1387 to pass over ——a1393 usec1400 spend1423 contrive?a1475 overdrive1487 consumea1500 to pass forth1509 to drive off1517 lead1523 to ride out1529 to wear out, forth1530 to pass away?1550 to put offc1550 shiftc1562 to tire out1563 wear1567 to drive out1570 entertainc1570 expire1589 tire1589 outwear1590 to see out1590 outrun1592 outgo1595 overshoot1597 to pass out1603 fleeta1616 elapse1654 term1654 trickle1657 to put over1679 absorb1686 spin1696 exercise1711 kill1728 to get through ——1748 to get over ——1751 tickc1870 fill1875 1748 C. Cibber Lady's Lect. 5 Agreements for Life are so apt to put them out of Humour with one another before they get through the first half Year of their Term. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 16 Those who..have no other plan in life, but to get through it in sloth and ignorance. 1849 A. Helps Friends in Council II. i. iv. 93 How do you get through the days? 1890 Temple Bar Oct. 145 He gets through the morning tolerably well with letter-writing. 1920 ‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain xvii. 214 Long, overeaten irritable hours to be got through before bedtime. 1973 N. Freedman Joshua 149 It was a time of waiting. A time to be gotten through. 2012 Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 27/1 He spent six months..wondering how to get through each minute; and if he would ever recover. 4. intransitive. To use up, run through, expend (money). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > using up, expending, or consuming > use up, expend, or consume [verb (transitive)] spend1297 usea1382 costa1400 consumea1527 to make a hole (in anything)1591 absorb1686 to use up1712 expend1745 to use off1812 to get through ——1833 to go through ——1949 1833 Court Jrnl. 13 July 485/3 There is now in Paris an English gentleman, whose income is said to be 14,000l. a-year. As he is not a gambler, he finds it exceedingly difficult to get through his money. 1864 Dublin Univ. Mag. June 678/2 The youth with a broken constitution had got through all his money the very week on which the doctors had appointed him to die. 1903 W. A. Ellis Life Wagner III. iv. 205 By the end of this month I shall have got through all my money. 1958 Economist 11 Oct. 155/1 A racecourse, a dog track, and thirty-nine pubs help the men to get through the £A2,000 a year that many of them have been earning. 1998 Today's Golfer Sept. 22 Get through a small fortune on logoed merchandise, equipment and food and drink. to get to —— 1. intransitive. To begin, settle down to. See also sense 26b(c). Cf. to get to at Phrasal verbs 1.to get to business: see business n. Phrases 13. to get to work: see work n. Phrases 1f(b). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)] beginc1000 take?a1160 comsea1225 gina1325 commencec1330 tamec1386 to take upa1400 enterc1510 to stand to1567 incept1569 start1570 to set into ——1591 initiate1604 imprime1637 to get to ——1655 flesh1695 to start on ——1885 1655 T. Gouge Narr. Life Dr. Gouge in W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes sig. c2 If he heard any at their work before he had got to his study, he would say,..that he was much troubled that any should be at their Calling before he at his. 1683 Fifteen Real Comforts of Matrimony xvi. 114 A man may conclude his wife safe, when she is once got to her Cards. 1787 J. Woodforde Diary 28 Aug. (1926) II. 342 We got to Cards the Game Vingt' one or one and twenty at which I lost abt. 1. o. o. 1855 L. Oliphant Minnesota & Far West 163 We had no intention of ‘getting to housekeeping’ in Superior. 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. Introd. 2 Tom was..beginning to feel that it was high time for him to be getting to regular work again. 1889 F. C. Philips Young Ainslie's Courtship II. v. 52 You and I will get to business with due solemnity. 1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast xiv. 228 With his first cigar Blenkiron got to business. 1976 E. Hamner Homecoming i. 12 There's work to do. Now get to it! 1996 C. Robb King's Bishop v. 57 Now get to your chores. I cannot abide slothfulness. 2. intransitive. Chiefly North American. To reach the attention or feelings of (an audience, etc.) with a message, performance, etc. Cf. to get across 2b at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ society > communication > [verb (transitive)] > communicate with to get to ——1853 to get on to ——1879 reach1886 to get through1917 contact1927 1853 J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama & Mississippi 63 The squire..was particularly pleased when he got to a jury on ‘a plain note’, and particularly annoyed when the road was blocked up by pleas in abatement and demurrers or special pleas in bar. 1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways I. i. 23 Get to her, if in no other way, by the sentimental route. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 28/6 They didn't even realize that they were hearing a great man in Teagarden..even though we always got to them by the end of the evening. 1985 T. Gibbs in I. Gitler Swing to Bop vii. 237 See, Stan got to the audience more, and Stan was a giant player, even though Al actually, musically, could play rings around everybody at the right tempo. 1999 A. M. Sayers Parties, Candidates & Constituency Campaigns in Canad. Elections vii. 113 Getting to voters in these communities can be difficult and requires large teams of volunteers willing to canvass and drop literature. 3. intransitive. slang (chiefly U.S.). To bribe. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe meedOE underorna1325 corrump1387 forbuy1393 hirec1400 wage1461 fee1487 under-arearc1503 bribe1528 grease1528 money1528 corrupt1548 budc1565 to feed with money1567 to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580 sweeten1594 to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598 over-bribe1619 to buy off1629 palter1641 to take off1646 buy1652 overmoneya1661 bub1684 to speak to ——1687 to tickle in the palm1694 daub1699 overbuy1710 touch1752 palm1767 to get at ——1780 fix1790 subsidize1793 sop1837 to buy over1848 backsheesh1850 nobble1856 square1859 hippodrome1866 see1867 boodleize1883 boodle1886 to get to ——1901 reach1906 straighten1923 lubricate1928 to keep (someone) sweet1939 sling1939 to pay off1942 bung1950 1901 Westm. Gaz. 18 Sept. 8/2 Johns are sure to visit the old girl to see if anyone has got to her. 1908 H. C. Fisher A. Mutt (1977) 41 The jury has been out for 24 hours..Tobasco got to one of them. 1930 E. D. Sullivan Chicago Surrenders i. 10 Gangsters can't operate on a satisfactory scale anywhere until they have ‘got to someone’. 2001 K. Sampson Outlaws 170 He's like an Untouchable. He's like De Niro in A Bronx Tale, you can't get to him, he won't take nothing from you. 4. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To have an overpowering negative effect upon the spirits or outlook of (a person); to worry, depress, or obsess. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > cause of mental pain or suffering > cause mental pain or suffering to [verb (transitive)] heavyc897 pineeOE aileOE sorryeOE traya1000 sorrowOE to work (also do) (a person) woeOE angerc1175 smarta1200 to work, bake, brew balec1200 derve?c1225 grieve?c1225 sitc1225 sweam?c1225 gnawc1230 sughc1230 troublec1230 aggrievea1325 to think sweama1325 unframea1325 anguish1340 teen1340 sowa1352 distrainc1374 to-troublea1382 strain1382 unglad1390 afflicta1393 paina1393 distressa1400 hita1400 sorea1400 assayc1400 remordc1400 temptc1400 to sit (or set) one sorec1420 overthrow?a1425 visit1424 labour1437 passionc1470 arraya1500 constraina1500 misgrievea1500 attempt1525 exagitate1532 to wring to the worse1542 toil1549 lament1580 adolorate1598 rankle1659 try1702 to pass over ——1790 upset1805 to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823 to put (a person) through it1855 bludgeon1888 to get to ——1904 to put through the hoop(s)1919 1904 N.Y. Evening Jrnl. 10 May 12 The talented gent..fears that the culture of the Bean Town might get to him. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice (1985) 108 He kind of got to you, hey? 1968 New Yorker 28 Dec. 42/2 You can't excuse yourself that way, any more than you can let drunks and such get to you. 1982 V. N. McIntyre Wrath of Khan iv. 84 Del's flakiness got to her worst when she was exhausted. 2009 E. Thom Tin-kin 83 You could always tell when something was getting to her because she'd have to start pulling her split-ends, chewing her cuticles, biting the inside of her mouth. to get upon —— Cf. to get on at Phrasal verbs 1. 1. intransitive. To convey oneself or be conveyed on to (a place or surface); to move oneself so as to be supported by (a part of the body); = to get on —— 1b at Phrasal verbs 2. ΚΠ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2124 (MED) Bot he..hield him faste, That he ne mihte with no sleighte Out of his hond gete upon heighte. 1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 12 All beastes so soone as they are delivered from their dam get upon their feete, and are able to stand a high alone. 1685 J. Dunton Hue & Cry after Conscience 78 I got upon my feet, when looking round me, I perceived a neighbouring Grove. 1720 D. Manley Power of Love i. 123 With much Difficulty he got upon his Knees. 1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) v. 42 Gentlemen who get upon their legs to return thanks for having been ‘tea-potted’. 1887 W. Besant World Went xv. 122 A young man got upon a ladder..and sat upon the topmost rung. 1933 W. N. Kellogg & L. A. Kellogg Ape & Child vii. 148 He then gets upon his stomach and while in this position he slides himself backward by pushing with his hands. a1976 C. Reznikoff Testimony (1979) II. 122 At this, those who had come to hear the trial Stood up, too; And some got upon the benches and others crowded forward. 2. intransitive. To mount (a horse, etc.); = to get on —— 1a at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > ride (a horse or other animal) [verb (transitive)] > mount (a horse or other animal) to win upona1400 worthc1400 takea1438 mountc1540 to get upon ——1561 to get on ——1572 back1594 1561 G. Gilby tr. J. Calvin Admon. against Astrol. Iudiciall sig. B.vii^v Certayne phantasticall felowes..which durst not get vpon their mules without thei had afore asked leaue of the stars. 1652 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Hist. Relations Flanders 152 When the Coach-horses were tired; he and his wife got upon the pacing geldings. 1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 224. ⁋2 Thus the fable tells us, that the wren mounted as high as the eagle, by getting upon his back. 1826 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 4 Nov. 361 Getting upon a good strong horse, and riding about the country has no merit in it. 2007 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 3 Apr. 7 Each and every citizen will be obliged to get upon their donkey..and wend their way to a site in Plymouth. 3. a. intransitive. To enter upon (a subject); = to get on —— 1c at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of > begin or proceed to talk of to get upon ——1704 to get on ——1705 1704 T. Baker Act at Oxf. iv. ii. 39 You are got upon a whimsical Subject. 1759 Campaign I. i. i. 2 Our good citizens having now got upon a topic that most of them were totally unacquainted with, there was not a moment's silence. 1852 H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 38 If you find us getting upon these topics, join us. 1887 F. J. Whishaw tr. F. Dostoevsky Idiot iv. vii. 418 Yesterday, Aglaya Ivanovna forbade me to talk, and even specified the particular subjects I must not touch upon—she knows well enough that I am odd when I get upon these matters. 1919 S. Anderson Winesburg, Ohio 1 The brother had died of starvation, and whenever the carpenter got upon that subject he cried. 1938 J. Cary Castle Corner (1963) vi. 234 Cobden, languidly strolling forward with his crutched stick held before him like a processional cross, had now got upon his favourite subject, the philistinism of the English. 1973 Eng. Hist. Rev. 88 862 Despite the shyness and inhibition he felt when the conversation got upon political topics..he heard and remembered much. †b. transitive to bring (a person) to talk about a subject. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1805 J. Bentham Let. 16 July in Corr. (1998) VII. 307 Before this, I had got him upon the subject of his Son Molyneux. 1835 F. W. Thomas Clinton Bradshaw II. xi. 222 Nothing pleased Clinton more than to get him upon that topic, for he would show off all his own eccentricities in describing those of others. 1891 M. M. Dowie Girl in Karpathians ix. 111 We fell a-talking about one thing and another. Very soon I got him upon legends and tales of the district. 1922 C. K. Scott-Moncrieff tr. M. Proust Swann's Way I. 31 When you get him upon Maubant or Mme. Materna he will talk for hours on end. to get with —— 1. intransitive. a. Originally North American. To associate or keep company with; to join, be accepted by. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate with [verb (transitive)] seeOE drawc1275 mella1300 meeta1325 fellow1340 usec1384 conjoinc1386 joinc1390 knitc1400 accompany1461 enfellowship1470 frequent1477 haunt1477 mixa1513 encompanya1533 combinea1535 contract1548 to take with ——1562 associate1581 to have a saying toa1593 cope1594 sort1594 to take in1597 consort1600 herd1606 factionate1611 to keep company (with)a1616 accost1633 solder1641 converse1649 walk1650 consociate1653 coalite1734 to get with ——a1772 forgather1786 unionize1810 to go rounda1867 to mix in1870 cop1940 a1772 J. Woolman Jrnl. & Major Ess. (1971) i. 26 Giving way to youthful vanities, they gained strength, and, getting with wanton young people, I lost ground. 1859 J. Redpath Roving Editor 314 I had had a pretty easy life till I got with them. 1873 G. M. Grant Ocean to Ocean iii. 50 Louis tried to get with us by exchanging places with Baptiste, but Baptiste couldn't see it. 1939 N.Y. Times 12 Dec. 26/4 You get with people and you are never alone. To sing with people is beautiful. 1968 Chicago Daily Defender 24 June 12/1 This is certainly an opportunity for youngsters who want to get with a swinging group to make it! 2003 J. Dawson & S. Propes 45 RPM xii. 98 The key in those days was to get with the jocks. b. colloquial (originally U.S.). To become romantically or sexually involved with. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > love affair > have affectionate or sexual relationship [verb (intransitive)] to hook up1903 to get with ——1916 involve1936 to have a thing (with a person)1959 to have something going (with someone)1971 1916 District Rep. State of Pennsylvania 25 579 She proceeded to ‘get with him’, the libellant. 1965 D. A. Ward & G. G. Kassebaum Women's Prison iv. 99 It usually follows a set pattern unless you get with a freak and they're usually freaky about only one or two things. 1992 Ebony May 84/2 Eight months ago she started dating a guy she had known in passing for about two years. When she got with this guy, he had just arrived back in town. 2006 G. Malkani Londonstani vi. 65 It was as if she needed guys to flirt with her, especially guys who she obviously din't fancy an who she'd never wanna get with. 2. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To become involved with or absorbed in; to adhere to, agree with, be in tune with. Cf. to get with it at with prep. 22f, to get with the programme at programme n. 11. ΚΠ 1929 Miami (Okla.) Daily News-Record 20 Jan. 23/5 We want more industries it is true, but let's get with understanding and have an idea of permanency. 1952 Billboard 18 Oct. 36/3 Let's get with the hits! 1969 P. White Let. 5 Oct. (1994) x. 348 I am neither new nor sensational, and I won't get with the publicity machine. 1996 Village Voice (N.Y.) 12 Mar. 46/5 Its dank slapstick harks back to Blood Simple and Raising Arizona (two movies I couldn't get with either). 2003 G. Joseph Big Smoke xxxiv. 304 No, I can't get with that. You're saying that Ronnie Bullpitt hired someone to kill his own nephew and Andrew Rowe. † to get within —— Obsolete. 1. intransitive. To succeed in coming within the defences of (an adversary). ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > fight with [verb (transitive)] > fight at close quarters to get within ——1523 to grapple witha1616 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cxxxviii^v/1 Ther was a sore encountre with speares and sheldes, and they were a certayne space or any of them coude get within other. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xxiv. sig. Ee3^v I had in a short space gotten within him, and (giuing him a sound blowe) sent him to feede fishes. a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) v. i. 34 Some get within him, take his sword away. View more context for this quotation 1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. ii. xvi. 279 Got within shot of the enemy, who fearing that by degrees the English Fleet would get within them; set up their sailes [etc.]. 1710 D. Manley Mem. Europe I. ii. 347 Drawing his Sword with his Height, Rage, and Strength, he presently got within him. 1860 D. P. Thompson Doomed Chief xviii. 349 Our first struggle will be to get within them; and then will come the more terrible one of making headway against the then doubly desperate three thousand defenders we shall be sure to find there. 2. intransitive. figurative. To succeed in deceiving (a person); to win the confidence of. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > speech intended to deceive > beguile, cajole [verb (transitive)] bicharrea1100 fodea1375 begoc1380 inveiglea1513 to hold in halsc1560 to get within ——1572 cajole1645 to cajole with1665 butter1725 veigle1745 flummer1764 to get round ——1780 to come round ——1784 to get around ——1803 flatter-blind1818 salve1825 to come about1829 round1854 canoodle1864 moody1934 fanny1938 cosy1939 mamaguy1939 snow1943 snow-job1962 1572 J. Bridges tr. R. Gwalther Hundred, Threescore & Fiftene Homelyes vppon Actes Apostles cxxxiii. 739 They haue craftily crope and gotte within men through their pretence of vertuousnesse. 1640 R. Sanderson Serm. I. 303 By this very means he got within our grandmother Eve. 1660 Exact Accompt Trial Regicides 154 I should so much sympathize with him, to get within him to know his intentions. a1676 M. Hale Judgm. True Relig. (1684) iii. 45 Gentleness, softness, mildness, and personal respectfulness quiet the Passions and Spirits of the adverse Party, gain upon him, get within him. 1861 W. S. Blacket Young Men's Class (ed. 2) vii. 94 If he would convince them of sin, he may talk long about it and effect nothing; but if he can get within them,..he can, to use a figure, storm the citadel instead of besieging it. Compounds a. With nouns. get-nothing n. rare a person who earns nothing, an idler; (also) a person who obtains nothing. ΚΠ 1609 J. Boys Expos. Princ. Script. 102 As a spendall, so a get-nothing is a theefe to his estate. a1625 J. Boys Wks. (1629) 55 As a spend-all so a get-nothing is a theefe to his estate. 1655 R. Younge Blemish of Govt. 4 Drunkards are not onely lazie get nothings but they are also riotous spend alls. 1960 S. Hileman tr. C. Fuentes Where Air is Clear (2004) ii. 314 The world belongs to the do-nothings, and the reformers are get-nothings. You'll see. get-penny n. now rare something which brings in money (cf. catchpenny n. and adj.).Apparently disused in the 19th cent.; revived in the 20th cent. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > profit > [noun] > source of profit get-penny1605 Diana1640 money-spinner1825 money-maker1850 oof-bird1888 grosser1959 port wages1992 1605 G. Chapman et al. Eastward Hoe iv. sig. G2^v Thy deeds plaid i'thy life time, by the best companies of Actors, and be call'd their Get-peny. 1608 T. Middleton Your Fiue Gallants sig. A4^v That face will get money ifaith, twill bee a get peny I warrant you. 1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre v. i. 69 in Wks. II The Gunpowder-plot, there was a get-penny! I haue presented that to an eighteene, or twenty pence audience, nine times in an afternoone. 1684 G. S. Anglorum Speculum 481 ‘London Lick penny’..there is no less Truth in this ‘London Get penny’. 1756 Crit. Rev. June 484 The three and six-penny book..is the meanest and most unmannerly get-penny that ever was exhibited. 1975 R. Davies World of Wonders (1977) ii. v. 199 The Master 's been a mighty get-penny for Sir John. 1997 G. K. Hunter Eng. Drama 1586–1642 vi. 260 The first part of If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody was one of the most successful plays of the period... It was perhaps some premonitary sense of its power as a get-penny that persuaded Heywood to write. b. With adverbs. See also getaway n. and adj., get-on adj. and n.² get-there adj. and n. originally U.S. (a) adj. that aims to achieve or succeed; (b) n. energy, ambition (rare). ΚΠ 1888 Current Lit. Sept. 215/2 These same young fellows generally are enterprising and of the ‘get there’ class. 1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xix. 169 He hain't got much ‘git there’ in his make-up. 1901 Daily Chron. 22 June 10/5 Their style of rowing..is certainly the ‘get there’ style. 1921 Southern Engineer Apr. 63/1 These fellows were of the ‘get there’ class. They knew how their plants ought to run and they also knew how to make them run properly. 2001 B. K. Bachel What do You Really want? iii. 100 If you haven't already gotten the get-there, know-how, or feel-good help you need..ask for it now. c. With adjectives. get-acquainted adj. that enables or encourages people to get to know one another.Also occasionally used in advertising to designate introductory offers. ΚΠ 1913 Battle Creek Idea 6 247/1 All guests who had come to the Sanitarium within the past ten days being given a ‘Get Acquainted Banquet’ by the management. 1924 Amer. Mercury Nov. p. xxxiii (advt.) Free—With our ‘Get-Acquainted offer’—a large size Aluminum Tea Ball. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 16 Apr. (Mag.) 6/2 You might call a Mixer an overgrown get-acquainted dance. 2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 Jan. c5/5 There have been get-acquainted talks between Fox network and Mr. O'Brien and his representatives. get-tough adj. promoting or advocating resolute and uncompromising measures (see to get tough at tough adj. 5b). ΚΠ 1942 Washington Post 20 Aug. 4/1 Donald M. Nelson..soon will inform the military services, in line with his new ‘get tough’ policy, that they cannot have all they want of every conceivable kind of war tool. 1959 Daily Mail 1 Apr. 7/2 The United States wants to force its ‘get tough’ line on the other Western Powers. 1971 Guardian 19 Nov. 14/3 Criminal Justice Bills tend to be miscellaneous collections of proposals... The current one..is a sweet-and-sour concoction, with several ‘get tough’ provisions. 2007 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 27 Mar. 4 Ever more illiberal legislation and fanatical ‘get tough’ rhetoric do little to tackle either the fear of crime or its root causes. get-well adj. designating a card or other form of message sent to a sick person to express good wishes for his or her recovery. ΚΠ 1929 Manch. Guardian 20 Feb. A new idea..is the ‘get well’ card, a sort of birthday postcard on which in flowing verse the invalid is told how much he or she is missed. 1956 B. Cleary Fifteen (1962) x. 145 She looked over the get-well cards in Woodment's stationery store. 1966 Guardian 29 Dec. 7/4 Mrs. Kennedy..sent him a ‘get-well’ telegram. 1989 J. E. Dolibois Pattern of Circles 130 Goering suffered from severe tonsilitis. Hitler didn't even send a get-well message to him at the hospital. 2011 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 4 Nov. 24 I would like to thank everyone for all the lovely get well cards and good wishes sent to me over the last few months. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.¹c1390n.²1607n.³1843v.c1175
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getn.1

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getv.

Phrases

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Compounds

getn.¹

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getn.³