fetch1
- to go and bring back; return with; get: to go up a hill to fetch a pail of water.
- to cause to come; bring: to fetch a doctor.
- to sell for or bring (a price, financial return, etc.): The horse fetched $50 more than it cost.
- Informal. to charm; captivate: Her beauty fetched the coldest hearts.
- to take (a breath).
- to utter (a sigh, groan, etc.).
- to deal or deliver (a stroke, blow, etc.).
- to perform or execute (a movement, step, leap, etc.).
- Chiefly Nautical and British Dialect. to reach; arrive at: to fetch port.
- Hunting. (of a dog) to retrieve (game).
- to go and bring things.
- Chiefly Nautical. to move or maneuver.
- Hunting. to retrieve game (often used as a command to a dog).
- to go by an indirect route; circle (often followed by around or about): We fetched around through the outer suburbs.
- the act of fetching.
- the distance of fetching: a long fetch.
- Oceanography.
- an area where ocean waves are being generated by the wind.
- the length of such an area.
- the reach or stretch of a thing.
- a trick; dodge.
- fetch about, Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to come onto a new tack.
- fetch up,
- Informal.to arrive or stop.
- Older Use.to raise (children); bring up: She had to fetch up her younger sisters.
- Nautical.(of a vessel) to come to a halt, as by lowering an anchor or running aground; bring up.
- fetch and carry, to perform menial tasks.
Origin of fetch1
Synonym study
fetch1
- to go after and bring back; getto fetch help
- to cause to come; bring or draw forththe noise fetched him from the cellar
- (also intr) to cost or sell for (a certain price)the table fetched six hundred pounds
- to utter (a sigh, groan, etc)
- informal to deal (a blow, slap, etc)
- (also intr) nautical to arrive at or proceed by sailing
- informal to attractto be fetched by an idea
- (used esp as a command to dogs) to retrieve (shot game, an object thrown, etc)
- rare to draw in (a breath, gasp, etc), esp with difficulty
- fetch and carry to perform menial tasks or run errands
- the reach, stretch, etc, of a mechanism
- a trick or stratagem
- the distance in the direction of the prevailing wind that air or water can travel continuously without obstruction
Word Origin
fetch2
- the ghost or apparition of a living person
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for fetch and carry
fetch
n.
"apparition, specter, a double," 1787, of unknown origin (see OED for discussion).
fetch
v.
Old English feccan, apparently a variant of fetian, fatian "to fetch, bring near, obtain; induce; to marry," probably from Proto-Germanic *fatojanan (cf. Old Frisian fatia "to grasp, seize, contain," Old Norse feta "to find one's way," Middle Dutch vatten, Old High German sih faggon "to mount, climb," German fassen "to grasp, contain"). Variant form fet, a derivation of the older Old English version of the word, survived as a competitor until 17c. Related: Fetched; fetching.
Idioms and Phrases with fetch and carry
fetch and carry
Do errands and other menial tasks, as in She was hired as administrative assistant, but all she does is fetch and carry for the department's supervisor. This expression originally alluded to dogs that were taught to carry various objects for their masters. It has been applied to humans since the late 1700s.