get (jĕt), noun Jet, the mineral. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Get (gĕt), noun [OF. get.]

1. Fashion; manner; custom. [Obs.] Chaucer.

2. Artifice; contrivance. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Get (gĕt), transitive verb [imperfect Got (gŏt) (Obs. Gat (găt)); past participle Got (Obsolescent Gotten (gŏt′t’n)); present participle or verbal noun Getting.] [OE. geten, AS. gitan, gietan (in comp.); akin to Icel. geta, Goth. bigitan to find, L. prehendere to seize, take, Gr. χανδάνειν to hold, contain. Cf. Comprehend, Enterprise, Forget, Impregnable, Prehensile.]

1. To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of; to acquire; to earn; to obtain as a price or reward; to come by; to win, by almost any means; as, to get favor by kindness; to get wealth by industry and economy; to get land by purchase, etc.2. Hence, with have and had, to come into or be in possession of; to have. Johnson.

Thou hast got the face of man. Herbert.

3. To beget; to procreate; to generate.

I had rather to adopt a child than get it. Shak.

4. To obtain mental possession of; to learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; as to get a lesson; also with out; as, to get out one’s Greek lesson.

It being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty. Bp. Fell.

5. To prevail on; to induce; to persuade.

Get him to say his prayers. Shak.

6. To procure to be, or to cause to be in any state or condition; – with a following participle.

Those things I bid you do; get them dispatched. Shak.

7. To betake; to remove; – in a reflexive use.

Get thee out from this land. Gen. xxxi. 13.

He . . . got himself . . . to the strong town of Mega. Knolles.

☞ Get, as a transitive verb, is combined with adverbs implying motion, to express the causing to, or the effecting in, the object of the verb, of the kind of motion indicated by the preposition; thus, to get in, to cause to enter, to bring under shelter; as, to get in the hay; to get out, to make come forth, to extract; to get off, to take off, to remove; to get together, to cause to come together, to collect.

To get by heart

to commit to memory.

To get the better of

To get the best of

to obtain an advantage over; to surpass; to subdue.

To get up

to cause to be established or to exit; to prepare; to arrange; to construct; to invent; as, to get up a celebration, a machine, a book, an agitation.

Syn. – To obtain; gain; win; acquire. See Obtain.

Get (gĕt), intransitive verb

1. To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to receive accessions; to be increased.

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

2. To arrive at, or bring one's self into, a state, condition, or position; to come to be; to become; – with a following adjective or past participle belonging to the subject of the verb; as, to get sober; to get awake; to get beaten; to get elected.

To get rid of fools and scoundrels. Pope.

His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast. Coleridge.

☞ It [get] gives to the English language a middle voice, or a power of verbal expression which is neither active nor passive. Thus we say to get acquitted, beaten, confused, dressed. Earle.

☞ Get, as an intransitive verb, is used with a following preposition, or adverb of motion, to indicate, on the part of the subject of the act, movement or action of the kind signified by the preposition or adverb; or, in the general sense, to move, to stir, to make one's way, to advance, to arrive, etc.; as, to get away, to leave, to escape; to disengage one's self from; to get down, to descend, esp. with effort, as from a literal or figurative elevation; to get along, to make progress; hence, to prosper, succeed, or fare; to get in, to enter; to get out, to extricate one's self, to escape; to get through, to traverse; also, to finish, to be done; to get to, to arrive at, to reach; to get off, to alight, to descend from, to dismount; also, to escape, to come off clear; to get together, to assemble, to convene.

To get ahead

to advance; to prosper.

To get along

to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

To get a mile

(or other distance), to pass over it in traveling.

To get among

to go or come into the company of; to become one of a number.

To get asleep

to fall asleep.

To get astray

to wander out of the right way.

To get at

to reach; to make way to.

To get away with

to carry off; to capture; hence, to get the better of; to defeat.

To get back

to arrive at the place from which one departed; to return.

To get before

to arrive in front, or more forward.

To get behind

to fall in the rear; to lag.

To get between

to arrive between.

To get beyond

to pass or go further than; to exceed; to surpass.

“Three score and ten is the age of man, a few get beyond it.” Thackeray.

To get clear

to disengage one's self; to be released, as from confinement, obligation, or burden; also, to be freed from danger or embarrassment.

To get drunk

to become intoxicated.

To get forward

to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper; to advance in wealth.

To get home

to arrive at one's dwelling, goal, or aim.

To get into

(a) To enter, as, “she prepared to get into the coach.” Dickens.

(b) To pass into, or reach; as, “ a language has got into the inflated state.” Keary.

To get loose or To get free

to disengage one's self; to be released from confinement.

To get near

to approach within a small distance.

To get on

to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

To get over

(a) To pass over, surmount, or overcome, as an obstacle or difficulty.

(b) To recover from, as an injury, a calamity.

To get through

(a) To pass through something.

(b) To finish what one was doing.

To get up

(a) To rise; to arise, as from a bed, chair, etc.

(b) To ascend; to climb, as a hill, a tree, a flight of stairs, etc.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913