verb got got (gŏt),
got·ten (gŏtˈn) or
got,
get·ting,
gets verb, transitivea. To come into possession or use of; receive: got a cat for her birthday.
b. To meet with or incur: got nothing but trouble for her efforts.
a. To go after and obtain: got a book at the library; got breakfast in town.
b. To go after and bring: Get me a pillow.
c. To purchase; buy: get groceries.
a. To acquire as a result of action or effort: He got his information from the Internet. You can't get water out of a stone.
b. To earn: got high marks in math.
c. To accomplish or attain as a result of military action.
- To obtain by concession or request: couldn't get the time off; got permission to go.
a. To arrive at; reach: When did you get home?
b. To reach and board; catch: She got her plane two minutes before takeoff.
- To succeed in communicating with, as by telephone: can't get me at the office until nine.
- To become affected with (an illness, for example) by infection or exposure; catch: get the flu; got the mumps.
a. To be subjected to; undergo: got a severe concussion.
b. To receive as retribution or punishment: got six years in prison for tax fraud.
c. To sustain a stated injury to: got my arm broken.
a. To gain or have understanding of: Do you get this question?
b. To learn (a poem, for example) by heart; memorize.
c. To find or reach by calculating: get a total; can't get the answer.
d. To perceive by hearing: I didn't get your name when we were introduced.
- To procreate; beget.
a. To cause to become or be in a specified state or condition: got the children tired and cross; got the shirt clean.
b. To make ready; prepare: get lunch for a crowd.
c. To cause to come or go: got the car through traffic.
d. To cause to move or leave: Get me out of here!
- To cause to undertake or perform; prevail on: got the guide to give us the complete tour.
a. To take, especially by force; seize: The detective got the suspect as he left the restaurant.
b. Informal To overcome or destroy: The ice storm got the rose bushes.
c. To evoke an emotional response or reaction in: Romantic music really gets me.
d. To annoy or irritate: What got me was his utter lack of initiative.
e. To present a difficult problem to; puzzle.
f. To take revenge on, especially to kill in revenge for a wrong.
g. Informal To hit or strike: She got him on the chin. The bullet got him in the arm.
- Baseball To put out.
- To begin or start. Used with the present participle: I have to get working on this or I'll miss my deadline.
a. To have current possession of. Used in the present perfect form with the meaning of the present: We've got plenty of cash.
b. Nonstandard To have current possession of. Used in the past tense form with the meaning of the present: They got a nice house in town.
c. To have as an obligation. Used in the present perfect form with the meaning of the present: I have got to leave early. You've got to do the dishes.
d. Nonstandard To have as an obligation. Used in the past tense with the meaning of the present: I got to git me a huntin' dog.
verb, intransitivea. To become or grow to be: eventually got well.
b. To be successful in coming or going: When will we get to Dallas?
- To be able or permitted: never got to see Europe; finally got to work at home.
a. To be successful in becoming: get free of a drug problem.
b. Used with the past participle of transitive verbs as a passive voice auxiliary: got stung by a bee.
c. To become drawn in, entangled, or involved: got into debt; get into a hassle.
- Informal To depart immediately: yelled at the dog to get.
- To work for gain or profit; make money: puts all his energy into getting and spending.
nouna. The act of begetting.
b. Progeny; offspring.
- Chiefly British Slang A foolish or contemptible person.
- Sports A return, as in tennis, on a shot that seems impossible to reach.
Phrasal Verbs: get about To be out of bed and beginning to walk again, as after an illness.
get across To make understandable or clear:
tried to get my point across. To be convincing or understandable:
How can I get across to the students? get after To urge or scold:
You should get after them to mow the lawn. get along To be or continue to be on harmonious terms:
gets along with the in-laws. To manage or fare with reasonable success:
can't get along on those wages.a. To make progress.
b. To advance, especially in years.
To go away; leave.
get around To circumvent or evade:
managed to get around the real issues. Informal To convince or win over by flattering or cajoling. To travel from place to place:
It is hard to get around without a car. To become known; circulate:
Word got around. get at To touch or reach successfully:
The cat hid where we couldn't get at it. To try to make understandable; hint at or suggest:
I don't know what you're getting at. To discover or understand:
tried to get at the cause of the problem. Informal To bribe or influence by improper or illegal means:
He got at the judge, and the charges were dismissed. get away To break free; escape. To leave or go away:
wanted to come along, but couldn't get away. get back To return to a person, place, or condition:
getting back to the subject. get by To pass or outstrip. To succeed at a level of minimal acceptibility or with the minimal amount of effort:
just got by in college. To succeed in managing; survive:
We'll get by if we economize. To be unnoticed or ignored by:
The mistake got by the editor, but the proofreader caught it. get down To descend. To give one's attention. Often used with
to: Let's get down to work. To exhaust, discourage, or depress:
The heat was getting me down. To swallow:
got the pill down on the first try. To describe in writing.
Informal To lose one's inhibitions; enjoy oneself wholeheartedly.
get ina. To enter.
b. To arrive: We got in late last night.
To become or cause to become involved:
She got in with the wrong crowd. Repeated loans from the finance company got me deeper in debt. To become accepted, as in a club. To succeed in making or doing:
got in six deliveries before noon. get into To become involved in:
got into trouble by stealing cars. Informal To be interested in:
got into gourmet cooking. get off To start, as on a trip; leave.
a. To fire (a round of ammunition, for example): got off two shots before the deer disappeared.
b. To write and send, as a letter.
To escape, as from punishment or danger:
got off scot-free. To obtain a release or lesser penalty for:
The attorney got her client off with a slap on the wrist. Slang To act or speak with effrontery. Used in the imperative to express contempt or disdainful disbelief.
Slang To have an orgasm.
Slang a. To feel great pleasure or gratification.
b. To experience euphoria, for example, as a result of taking a drug.
To get permission to leave one's workplace:
got off early and went fishing. get on To be or continue on harmonious terms:
gets on well with the neighbors. To manage or fare with reasonable success.
a. To make progress; continue: get on with a performance.
b. To advance in years.
To acquire understanding or knowledge:
got on to the con game. get outa. To leave or escape.
b. To cause to leave or escape.
To become known:
Somehow the secret got out. To publish, as a newspaper.
get over To prevail against; overcome. To recover from:
finally got over the divorce. To get across.
get through To arrive at the end of; finish or complete.
a. To succeed in making contact; reach.
b. To make oneself understood.
get toa. To begin. Used with the present participle: got to reminiscing.
b. To start to deal with: didn't get to the housework until Sunday.
To influence or affect, especially adversely:
The noise really gets to me. get together To bring together; gather. To come together. To arrive at an agreement.
get upa. To arise from bed or rise to one's feet.
b. To climb.
To act as the creator or organizer of:
got up a petition against rezoning. To dress or adorn:
She got herself up in a bizarre outfit. To find within oneself:
got up the nerve to quit.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English geten
Origin: , from Old Norse geta; see ghend- in Indo-European roots
.
Related Forms:
- getˈa·ble, getˈta·ble adjective
Usage Note: The use of
get in the passive, as in
We got sunburned at the beach, is generally avoided in formal writing. In less formal contexts, however, the construction can provide a useful difference in tone or emphasis, as between the sentences
The demonstrators were arrested and
The demonstrators got arrested. The first example implies that the responsibility for the arrests rests primarily with the police, while the example using
get implies that the demonstrators deliberately provoked the arrests. • In colloquial use and in numerous nonstandard varieties of American English, the past tense form
got has the meaning of the present. This arose probably by dropping the helping verb
have from the past perfects
have got, has got: We've got to go, we've got a lot of problems became
We got to go, we got a lot of problems. The reanalysis of
got as a present-tense form has led to the creation of a third singular
gots in some varieties of English, especially African American Vernacular English.