fetch

1
[ fech ]
See synonyms for: fetchfetching on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. to sell for or bring (a price, financial return, etc.): The horse fetched $50 more than it cost.

  2. Informal. to charm; captivate: Her beauty fetched the coldest hearts.

  3. to take (a breath).

  4. to utter (a sigh, groan, etc.).

  5. to deal or deliver (a stroke, blow, etc.).

  6. to perform or execute (a movement, step, leap, etc.).

  7. Chiefly Nautical and British Dialect. to reach; arrive at: to fetch port.

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

verb (used without object)
  1. to go and bring things.

  2. Chiefly Nautical. to move or maneuver.

  1. Hunting. to retrieve game (often used as a command to a dog).

  2. 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.

  1. Oceanography.

    • an area where ocean waves are being generated by the wind.

    • the length of such an area.

  2. the reach or stretch of a thing.

  3. a trick; dodge.

Verb Phrases
  1. fetch about, Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to come onto a new tack.

  2. fetch up,

    • Informal. to arrive or stop.

    • Older Use. to raise (children); bring up: She had to fetch up her younger sisters.

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

Idioms about fetch

  1. fetch and carry, to perform menial tasks.

Origin of fetch

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English fecchen, facchen, Old English fecc(e)an, fæccan “to bring back”; akin to German fassen “to grasp”

synonym study For fetch

1. See bring.

Other words from fetch

  • fetcher, noun

Words Nearby fetch

Other definitions for fetch (2 of 2)

fetch2
[ fech ]

Origin of fetch

2
First recorded in 1780–90; origin unknown; perhaps short for fetch-life one sent to fetch the soul of a dying person

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fetch in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fetch (1 of 2)

fetch1

/ (fɛtʃ) /


verb(mainly tr)
  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

  1. (also intr) to cost or sell for (a certain price): the table fetched six hundred pounds

  2. to utter (a sigh, groan, etc)

  3. informal to deal (a blow, slap, etc)

  4. (also intr) nautical to arrive at or proceed by sailing

  5. informal to attract: to be fetched by an idea

  6. (used esp as a command to dogs) to retrieve (shot game, an object thrown, etc)

  7. rare to draw in (a breath, gasp, etc), esp with difficulty

  8. fetch and carry to perform menial tasks or run errands

noun
  1. the reach, stretch, etc, of a mechanism

  2. a trick or stratagem

  1. the distance in the direction of the prevailing wind that air or water can travel continuously without obstruction

Origin of fetch

1
Old English feccan; related to Old Norse feta to step, Old High German sih fazzōn to climb

British Dictionary definitions for fetch (2 of 2)

fetch2

/ (fɛtʃ) /


noun
  1. the ghost or apparition of a living person

Origin of fetch

2
C18: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012