fetch

Meanings

Verb

• To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.
• To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for.
• To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.
• 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 reduce; to throw.
• To accomplish; to achieve; to perform, with certain objects or actions.
• To make (a pump) draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle.

Noun

• An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance.
• The object of fetching; the source of an attraction; a force, propensity, or quality which attracts.
• A stratagem or trick; an artifice.
• 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.

Interjection

• Minced oath for fuck

Origin

• The verb is derived from Middle English fecchen , from Old English feċċan, fæċċan, feccean, a variant of fetian, fatian and possibly related to Old English facian, fācian, both from Proto-Germanic *fatōną, *fatjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ped-. The English word is cognate with Dutch vatten, English fet, Faroese fata, Swedish fatta, German fassen, Icelandic feta, West Frisian fetsje.
• The noun is derived from the verb.
• Unknown; the following possibilities have been suggested:
• From fetch-life.
• From the supposed Old English *fæcce.
• From Old Irish fáith.