fetch

¹ American  

[fech] / fɛtʃ /

verb (used with object)

• fetches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fetched,
  past participle,  past
• fetching
  present participle

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.

3. to sell for or bring (a price, financial return, etc.).

   The horse fetched $50 more than it cost.

4. Informal. to charm; captivate.

   Her beauty fetched the coldest hearts.

5. to take (a breath).

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

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

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

9. Chiefly Nautical and British Dialect. to reach; arrive at.

   to fetch port.

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

---

verb (used without object)

• fetches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fetched,
  past participle,  past
• fetching
  present participle

1. to go and bring things.

2. Chiefly Nautical. to move or maneuver.

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

4. to go by an indirect route; circle (often followed by around orabout ).

   We fetched around through the outer suburbs.

noun

1. the act of fetching.

2. the distance of fetching.

   a long fetch.

3. Oceanography.

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

   2. the length of such an area.

4. the reach or stretch of a thing.

5. a trick; dodge.

verb phrase

1. fetch about (of a sailing vessel) to come onto a new tack.

2. fetch up

   1. Informal. to arrive or stop.

   2. Older Use. to raise (children); bring up.

      She had to fetch up her younger sisters.

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

idioms

1. fetch and carry, to perform menial tasks.

fetch ² American  

[fech] / fɛtʃ /

noun

1. wraith.

---

fetch ¹ British  

/ fɛtʃ /

verb

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

3. (also intr) to cost or sell for (a certain price)

   the table fetched six hundred pounds

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

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

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

7. informal to attract

   to be fetched by an idea

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

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

10. to perform menial tasks or run errands

---

noun

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

2. a trick or stratagem

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

fetch ² British  

/ fɛtʃ /

noun

1. the ghost or apparition of a living person

---

Usage

What else does fetch mean? Fetch is slang for “cool” or “awesome" and is not, in fact, from England. It started as a joke in the movie Mean Girls, only to catch on off-screen.

Synonym Usage

See bring.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fetcher
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• fetching
  present
• fetched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fetch
  simple
• fetches
  simple
• have fetched
  perfect
• has fetched
  perfect
• am fetching
  progressive
• are fetching
  progressive
• is fetching
  progressive
• have been fetching
  perfect progressive
• has been fetching
  perfect progressive

Past

• fetched
  simple
• had fetched
  perfect
• was fetching
  progressive
• were fetching
  progressive
• had been fetching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fetch
  simple
• will have fetched
  perfect
• will be fetching
  progressive
• will have been fetching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fetch¹

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

Origin of fetch²

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

Explanation

To fetch something is to go and get it. "Go fetch!" you might shout after your dog while throwing a stick into the yard. Fetch comes from the Old English fatian meaning "grasp." When a dog fetches a bone, it grasps it in its mouth. You can ask your sister to fetch or grab your backpack off the table. If you sell something for a good price, you can fetch, or bring in, a decent amount of money. If you are sick of playing fetch, you might try to fetch a good price for your pooch.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fetch fetches fetched fetching

Considered purely as a financial instrument, the bond, paying €13.61 a year, would probably fetch little more than $600.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

"Some of these devices, particularly iPhones, can fetch up to £5,000 in China and Hong Kong. The reason being that they can work on the internet without any type of restriction," Featherstone said.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

In New Orleans, a federal contractor told MarketWatch that the condo he paid $90,000 for in 2005 would fetch at most $110,000 two decades on if he were to sell, per his estimates.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

The dress, designed by Christina Stambolian, is estimated to fetch between $150,000 and $300,000, with some proceeds going to charity.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have to fetch your poor orphan siblings.”

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket

This places it among the most richly valued retailers in the S&P 500 alongside Costco, which fetches 42 times.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Analysts say the L03, which fetches a gross margin above 10%, could replace some sales of the lower-margin M03.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Thrifted Wilt Chamberlain jacket fetches $89,600 at auction.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

L’Oréal stock fetches about 28 times expected earnings for 2026, a premium to Nestlé.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

“No, but I can tell you how much money squid fetches per pound at the dock.”

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Where a kilogram of matsutakes might have fetched 200 yuan a year ago, equivalent to about $30, mushroom pickers are lucky to walk away with 150 yuan these days.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Hugging Face fetched a private-market valuation of $4.5 billion back in 2023.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

Collectors pay up for rare, vintage products like waffle irons and garden gnomes; a Grateful Dead pan fetched $4,100 in an auction at the Lodge Museum in 2024.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

And, speaking of holy grails: Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” fetched $32.5 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

Togbe sat on his haunches by the fire, and I fetched the coal pot fan from the basket.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

The three items were sold to a British private collector at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in the Cotswolds on Wednesday, fetching a hammer price of £5,000 - double the estimate.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Right now, these roles are fetching base pay that ranges around $90,000 to $150,000, plus benefits.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

At almost $90 a pound, it is as much as five times more than sellers were fetching at the lowest parts of the downturn that followed the Fukushima reactor meltdowns in 2011.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Edinburgh's own Duke of Wellington statue, outside Register House in the city centre, was spotted sporting fetching, orange headwear earlier this week.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Thelma’s sister, Thula, at twenty-two, was a lovely, slender, elfin-faced girl with a whimsical pile of black curls and a fetching smile.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• carry
• earn
• go for
• obtain
• produce
• retrieve
• sell
• sell for
• yield