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View synonyms for fetch

fetch

1

[ fech ]

verb (used with object)

  1. to go and bring back; return with; get:

    to go up a hill to fetch a pail of water.

  2. to cause to come; bring:

    to fetch a doctor.

  3. to sell for or bring (a price, financial return, etc.):

    The horse fetched $50 more than it cost.

  4. Informal. to charm; captivate:

    Her beauty fetched the coldest hearts.

  5. to take (a breath).
  6. to utter (a sigh, groan, etc.).
  7. to deal or deliver (a stroke, blow, etc.).
  8. to perform or execute (a movement, step, leap, etc.).
  9. Chiefly Nautical and British Dialect. to reach; arrive at:

    to fetch port.

  10. Hunting. (of a dog) to retrieve (game).


verb (used without object)

  1. to go and bring things.
  2. Chiefly Nautical. to move or maneuver.
  3. Hunting. to retrieve game (often used as a command to a dog).
  4. to go by an indirect route; circle (often followed by around or about ):

    We fetched around through the outer suburbs.

noun

  1. the act of fetching.
  2. the distance of fetching:

    a long fetch.

  3. Oceanography.
    1. an area where ocean waves are being generated by the wind.
    2. the length of such an area.
  4. the reach or stretch of a thing.
  5. a trick; dodge.

verb phrase

  1. Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to come onto a new tack.
    1. Informal. to arrive or stop.
    2. Older Use. to raise (children); bring up:

      She had to fetch up her younger sisters.

    3. Nautical. (of a vessel) to come to a halt, as by lowering an anchor or running aground; bring up.

fetch

2

[ fech ]

fetch

1

/ fɛtʃ /

noun

  1. the ghost or apparition of a living person


fetch

2

/ fɛtʃ /

verb

  1. to go after and bring back; get

    to fetch help

  2. to cause to come; bring or draw forth

    the noise fetched him from the cellar

  3. also intr to cost or sell for (a certain price)

    the table fetched six hundred pounds

  4. to utter (a sigh, groan, etc)
  5. informal.
    to deal (a blow, slap, etc)
  6. also intr nautical to arrive at or proceed by sailing
  7. informal.
    to attract

    to be fetched by an idea

  8. (used esp as a command to dogs) to retrieve (shot game, an object thrown, etc)
  9. rare.
    to draw in (a breath, gasp, etc), esp with difficulty
  10. fetch and carry
    fetch and carry to perform menial tasks or run errands

noun

  1. the reach, stretch, etc, of a mechanism
  2. a trick or stratagem
  3. the distance in the direction of the prevailing wind that air or water can travel continuously without obstruction

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Other Words From

  • fetcher noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of fetch1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English fecchen, facchen, Old English fecc(e)an, fæccan “to bring back”; akin to German fassen “to grasp”

Origin of fetch2

First recorded in 1780–90; origin unknown; perhaps short for fetch-life one sent to fetch the soul of a dying person

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Word History and Origins

Origin of fetch1

C18: of unknown origin

Origin of fetch2

Old English feccan; related to Old Norse feta to step, Old High German sih fazzōn to climb

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. fetch and carry, to perform menial tasks.

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Synonym Study

See bring.

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Example Sentences

The same bodyguard, apparently bearing croissants, returns to fetch the never-married philandering leader the next morning.

The house is now likely to be sold—it will probably fetch £33m ($54.7m)—to pay a £14m ($23.2m) fine to the British authorities.

Rhino horn is particularly lucrative—each kilogram can fetch up to $66,000.

Rothko, Basquiat, and Warhol paintings fetch big bucks at auction.

A picture on his Instagram account can easily fetch 2,000 likes.

I hung the receiver up again, wondering what business could fetch Jack Bridges round at that time of the evening to see me.

While she flitted into the next room to fetch a stamp, Mrs. Haughstone, her needles arrested in mid-air, looked steadily at Tom.

Come away, my lady; it won't be long till we meet a cab or something to fetch us where you please.

You may burn a candle, said the Jew, putting one upon the table; and heres a book for you to read till they come to fetch you.

Mis' Calvert, the old lady, she sent me to fetch this basket o' garden sass to Mis' Chester: an' this letter was for you, sir.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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fetationfetch and carry