fetch

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   take away or remove

   The devil will fetch you!

2. 2
   verb

   To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.

   You have to fetch some sugar in order to proceed with the recipe.

3. 3
   verb

   To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for.

   Our native horses[…] were held in small esteem, and fetched low prices.

4. 4
   verb

   To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.

   to fetch headway or sternway

5. 5
   verb

   To take (a breath); to heave (a sigh).

   The hurt nigger moaned feebly somewhere near by, and then fetched a deep sigh that made me mend my pace away from there.

6. 6
   verb

   To cause to come; to bring to a particular state.

   They couldn't fetch the butter in the churn.

7. 7
   verb

   To recall from a swoon; to revive; sometimes with to.

   to fetch a man to

8. 8
   verb

   To reduce; to throw.

   The sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground.

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English fecchen (“to get and bring back, fetch; to come for, get and take away; to steal; to carry away to kill; to search for; to obtain, procure”) [and other forms], from Old English feċċan, fæċċan, feccean (“to fetch, bring; to draw; to gain, take; to seek”), a variant of fetian, fatian (“to bring near, fetch; to acquire, obtain; to bring on, induce; to fetch a wife, marry”) and possibly related to Old English facian, fācian (“to acquire, obtain; to try to obtain; to get; to get to, reach”), both from Proto-Germanic *fatōną, *fatjaną (“to hold, seize; to fetc…