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getting > define

noun

  • The act of acquiring something.
    • usage: "I envied his talent for acquiring"; "he's much more interested in the getting than in the giving"

verb

  • Come into the possession of something concrete or abstract.
    • usage: "She got a lot of paintings from her uncle"; "They acquired a new pet"; "Get your results the next day"; "Get permission to take a few days off from work"
  • Enter or assume a certain state or condition.
    • usage: "He became annoyed when he heard the bad news"; "It must be getting more serious"; "her face went red with anger"; "She went into ecstasy"; "Get going"
  • Cause to move; cause to be in a certain position or condition.
    • usage: "He got his squad on the ball"; "This let me in for a big surprise"; "He got a girl into trouble"
  • Receive a specified treatment (abstract. )
    • usage: "These aspects of civilization do not find expression or receive an interpretation"; "His movie received a good review"; "I got nothing but trouble for my good intentions"
  • Reach a destination; arrive by movement or progress.
    • usage: "She arrived home at 7 o'clock"; "She didn't get to Chicago until after midnight"
  • Go or come after and bring or take back.
    • usage: "Get me those books over there, please"; "Could you bring the wine"; "The dog fetched the hat"
  • Go through (mental or physical states or experiences. )
    • usage: "get an idea"; "experience vertigo"; "get nauseous"; "receive injuries"; "have a feeling"
  • Take vengeance on or get even.
    • usage: "We'll get them"; "That'll fix him good"; "This time I got him"
  • Achieve a point or goal.
    • usage: "Nicklaus had a 70"; "The Brazilian team got 4 goals"; "She made 29 points that day"
  • Cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner.
    • usage: "The ads induced me to buy a VCR"; "My children finally got me to buy a computer"; "My wife made me buy a new sofa"
  • Succeed in catching or seizing, especially after a chase.
    • usage: "We finally got the suspect"; "Did you catch the thief"
  • Come to have or undergo a change of (physical features and attributes. )
    • usage: "He grew a beard"; "The patient developed abdominal pains"; "I got funny spots all over my body"; "Well-developed breasts"
  • Be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness.
    • usage: "He got AIDS"; "She came down with pneumonia"; "She took a chill"
  • Communicate with a place or person; establish communication with, as if by telephone.
    • usage: "Bill called this number and he got Mary"; "The operator couldn't get Kobe because of the earthquake"
  • Give certain properties to something.
    • usage: "get someone mad"; "She made us look silly"; "He made a fool of himself at the meeting"; "Don't make this into a big deal"; "This invention will make you a millionaire"; "Make yourself clear"
  • Move into a desired direction of discourse.
    • usage: "What are you driving at"
  • Grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of.
    • usage: "did you catch that allusion"; "We caught something of his theory in the lecture"; "don't catch your meaning"; "did you get it"; "She didn't get the joke"; "I just don't get him"
  • Attract and fix.
    • usage: "His look caught her"; "She caught his eye"; "Catch the attention of the waiter"
  • Reach with a blow or hit in a particular spot.
    • usage: "the rock caught her in the back of the head"; "The blow got him in the back"; "The punch caught him in the stomach"
  • Reach by calculation.
    • usage: "What do you get when you add up these numbers"
  • Acquire as a result of some effort or action.
    • usage: "You cannot get water out of a stone"; "Where did she get these news"
  • Purchase.
    • usage: "What did you get at the toy store"
  • Perceive by hearing.
    • usage: "I didn't catch your name"; "She didn't get his name when they met the first time"
  • Suffer from the receipt of.
    • usage: "She will catch hell for this behavior"
  • Receive as a retribution or punishment.
    • usage: "He got 5 years in prison"
  • Leave immediately; used usually in the imperative form.
    • usage: "Scram"
  • Reach and board.
    • usage: "She got the bus just as it was leaving"
  • Irritate.
    • usage: "Her childish behavior really get to me"; "His lying really gets me"
  • Evoke an emotional response.
    • usage: "Brahms's `Requiem' gets me every time"
  • Apprehend and reproduce accurately.
    • usage: "She really caught the spirit of the place in her drawings"; "She got the mood just right in her photographs"
  • Earn or achieve a base by being walked by the pitcher.
    • usage: "He drew a base on balls"
  • Overcome or destroy.
    • usage: "The ice storm got my hibiscus"; "the cat got the goldfish"
  • Be a mystery or bewildering to.
    • usage: "This beats me"; "Got me-I don't know the answer"; "a vexing problem"; "This question really stuck me"
  • Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action.
    • usage: "We began working at dawn"; "Who will start"; "Get working as soon as the sun rises"; "The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"; "He began early in the day"; "Let's get down to work now"
  • Undergo (as of injuries and illnesses. )
    • usage: "She suffered a fracture in the accident"; "He had an insulin shock after eating three candy bars"; "She got a bruise on her leg"; "He got his arm broken in the scuffle"
  • Make children.
    • usage: "Abraham begot Isaac"; "Men often father children but don't recognize them"
by WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
by Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary