Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GET, v.t. [pret. got, (gat, obs.) pp. got, gotten. Sax. getan, gytan, or geatan, to get; agytan, to know or understand; angitan, andgitan, to find, to understand. The Danish has forgietter, to forget, but gietter signifies to guess, or to suppose, to think; the Swedish also has förgäta, to forget, to give to oblivion, ex animo ejicere. The simple verb gietter, gäta, coincides with the D. gieten, G. giessen, to cast, to pour out, to found, as vessels of metal, Sax. geotan. To get, then, is primarily, to throw, and with respect to acquisition, it is to rush on and seize. The Italian has cattare, to get; raccattare, to regain, to acquire. Qu. Sp. rescatar, Port. resgatar, to redeem, to ransom. See Rescue.]

1. To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of, by almost any means. We get favor by kindness; we get wealth by industry and economy; we get land by purchase; we get poise by good conduct; and we get blame by doing injustice. The merchant should get a profit on his goods; the laborer should get a due reward for his labor; most men get what they can for their goods or for their services. Get differs from acquire, as it does not always express permanence of possession, which is the appropriate sense of acquire. We get a book or a loaf of bread by borrowing, we do not acquire it; but we get or acquire an estate.
2. To have. Thou hast got the face of a man. Herbert. This is a most common, but gross abuse of this word. We constantly hear it said, I have got no corn, I have got no money, she has got a fair complexion, when the person means only, I have no corn, I have no money, she has a fair complexion.
3. To beget; to procreate; to generate. Locke.
4. To learn; as, to get a lesson.
5. To prevail on; to induce; to persuade. Though the king could not get him to engage in a life of business. Spectator. [This is not elegant.]
6. To procure to be. We could not get the work done. [Not elegant.] To get off, to put off; to take or pull off; as, to get of a garment; also, to remove; as, to get off a ship from shoals. To sell; to dispose of; as, to get off goods. To get on, to put on; to draw or pull on; as, to get on a coat; to get on boots. To get in, to collect and shelter; to bring under cover; as, to get in corn. To get out, to draw forth; as, to get out a secret. To draw out; to disengage. To get the day, to win; to conquer; to gain the victory. To get together, to collect; to amass. To get over, to surmount; to conquer; to pass without being obstructed; as, to get over difficulties; also, to recover; as, to get over sickness. To get above, to surmount; to surpass. To get up, to prepare and introduce upon the stage; to bring forward. With a pronoun following, it signifies to betake; to remove; to go; as, get you to bed; get thee out of the land. But this mode of expression can hardly be deemed elegant.