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).

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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.

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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

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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

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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

Dan and Craig went up the hill to fetch a pail of glory.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

Also new to the story is Independence, Kan., itself, which in the book is an offstage place to which Pa will sometimes go to fetch necessities, disappearing from the story until he returns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

More than 100 silver items, dating from the early 1700s to the early 1900s, had been expected to fetch up to £23,000 when they were offered for sale at Elmwood's auctioneers in London.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

The CEO transition this year sparked a new analysis and a quick decision that ESPN, FX and ABC are worth more to Disney’s digital ambitions than they would fetch on the market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

“I saw the whole thing immediately! You’ll need warriors, naturally, to fetch out that disgusting cauldron. But you’ll need a bard to compose the heroic chants of victory. I accept! Delighted!”

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander

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

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

Conagra fetches about 9.8 times forward earnings, a nearly 60% discount to the S&P 500.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

Assuming it fetches $400 million, the mansion tax alone would be $23.8 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

He scrambles across the room, fetches it from his bed, and drops it in my lap.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

Last year a 210kg bluefin tuna caught in South West waters fetched more than £2,000 at auction.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

With Thursday’s sharp drop, the stock is now down nearly 70% from the price the company fetched in its initial public offering less than a year ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

An animated Gabriel the Toad character and an illustration of Nogbad firing a cannon at the Ice Dragon both fetched £4,200.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 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

Robbie fetched his jacket and cap from the bedroom.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

In my case, my 2023 Mercedes EQS had an end-of-lease buyout of nearly $60,000, between $15,000 and $20,000 higher than what used examples were fetching from retailers like CarMax.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Nedoune, a Tuareg herder in his fifties, said he was fetching water two years ago in the northern Timbuktu region when a convoy spotted him.

From Barron's ● May 19, 2026

Photos seen by the BBC show a crowd of people, many of them elderly, apparently fetching fresh supplies in a city square.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Palantir, with an even more enthusiastic fan base, was among the 20 most valuable S&P 500 companies at its November peak, fetching a ludicrous 150 times sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026

But Ophie had no way of doing so when she was stuck running around all day, fetching fresh tea and sitting by Mrs. Caruthers in case she needed another log thrown on the fire.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

Related Words

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