fetch.
To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.
Meaning & usage
To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.
You have to fetch some sugar in order to proceed with the recipe.
I'm thirsty. Can you fetch me a glass of water, please?
To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for.
If you put some new tyres on it, and clean it up a bit, the car should fetch about $5,000
To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.
to fetch headway or sternway
To bring oneself; to make headway; to veer; as, to fetch about; to fetch to windward.
To take (a breath); to heave (a sigh).
To cause to come; to bring to a particular state.
To recall from a swoon; to revive; sometimes with to.
to fetch a man to
To reduce; to throw.
To accomplish; to achieve; to perform, with certain objects or actions.
to fetch a compass; to fetch a leap
To make (a pump) draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle.
Where this word comes from
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 fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). The English word is cognate with Dutch vatten (“to apprehend, catch; to grasp; to understand”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Danish fatte (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”). The noun is derived from the verb.
An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance.
An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance. An act of fetching data.
a fetch from a cache
The object of fetching; the source of an attraction; a force, propensity, or quality which attracts.
An area over which wind is blowing (over water) and generating waves.
The length of such an area; the distance a wave can travel across a body of water (without obstruction).
A stratagem or trick; an artifice.
They used cunning fetches to swindle money out of the gullible.
A game played with a dog in which a person throws an object for the dog to retrieve.
Where this word comes from
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 fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). The English word is cognate with Dutch vatten (“to apprehend, catch; to grasp; to understand”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Danish fatte (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Minced oath for fuck.
Where this word comes from
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 fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). The English word is cognate with Dutch vatten (“to apprehend, catch; to grasp; to understand”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Danish fatte (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”). The noun is derived from the verb.
The apparition of a living person; a person's double, the sight of which is supposedly a sign that they are fated to die soon, a doppelganger; a wraith (“a person's likeness seen just after their death; a ghost, a spectre”).
Where this word comes from
Uncertain; the following possibilities have been suggested: * From fetch-life (“(obsolete, rare) a deity, spirit, etc., who guides the soul of a dead person to the afterlife; a psychopomp”). * From the supposed Old English *fæcce (“evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; a mare”). * From Old Irish fáith (“seer, soothsayer”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.