different between acquire vs fetch

English

Etymology

From Middle English acqueren, from Old French aquerre, from Latin acquir?; ad- + quaer? (“to seek for”). See quest.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??kwa???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??kwa??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Hyphenation: ac?quire

Verb

acquire (third-person singular simple present acquires, present participle acquiring, simple past and past participle acquired)

1. (transitive) To get.
2. (transitive) To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Consideration of our Latter End (sermon)

     No virtue is acquired in an instant, but by degrees, step by step.

   • Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.
3. (medicine) To contract.
4. (computing) To sample signals and convert them into digital values.

Synonyms

• (get, gain): attain, come by, earn, gain, obtain, procure, secure, win

Antonyms

• (get, gain): abandon, lose

Derived terms

• acquired taste

Related terms

• acquisition
• acquirement
• acquisitive
• acquisitory

See also

• obtain
• reach

Translations

Latin

Verb

acqu?re

1. second-person singular present active imperative of acqu?r?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: f?ch, IPA^(key): /f?t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Etymology 1

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 fe??an, fæ??an, 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, f?cian (“to acquire, obtain; to try to obtain; to get; to get to, reach”), both from Proto-Germanic *fat?n?, *fatjan? (“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”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”).

The noun is derived from the verb.

Verb

fetch (third-person singular simple present fetches, present participle fetching, simple past and past participle fetched)

1. To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.
   • 1611 King James Bible, 1 Kings xvii. 11, 12

     He called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

     When they got home, the Rat made a bright fire in the parlour, and planted the Mole in an arm-chair in front of it, having fetched down a dressing-gown and slippers for him, and told him river stories till supper-time.

2. To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for.

3. (nautical) To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.
4. (intransitive) To bring oneself; to make headway; to veer; as, to fetch about; to fetch to windward.
5. (rare, literary) To take (a breath), to heave (a sigh)
6. To cause to come; to bring to a particular state.
   • 1879, William Barnes, A Witch

     They couldn't fetch the butter in the churn.

7. (obsolete) To recall from a swoon; to revive; sometimes with to.
8. To reduce; to throw.
   • 1692, Robert South, sermon 28

     The sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground.

9. (archaic) To accomplish; to achieve; to perform, with certain objects or actions.
   • 1631, Ben Jonsons, Chloridia

     Ixion […] turn'd dancer, does nothing but cut capreols, fetch friskals, and leads lavaltoes

   • 1692, Robert South, sermon 28

     He fetches his blow quick and sure.

10. (nautical, transitive) To make (a pump) draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle.

Conjugation

Alternative forms

• fatch, fotch (dialectal)

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

fetch (plural fetches)

1. (also figuratively) An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance.
   1. (computing, specifically) An act of fetching data.

2. The object of fetching; the source of an attraction; a force, propensity, or quality which attracts.
3. A stratagem or trick; an artifice.

   Synonyms: contrivance, dodge

   • 1665, Robert South, "Jesus of Nazareth proved the true and only promised Messiah", in Twelve Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions, Volume 3, 6th Edition, 1727:

     Every little fetch of wit and criticism.

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 29:

     And as to your cant of living single, nobody will believe you. This is one of your fetches to avoid complying with your duty […].

Interjection

fetch

1. (Utah) Minced oath for fuck

References

• 20 Things Only Utahns Will Understand And Appreciate

Etymology 2

Origin 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”).

Noun

fetch (plural fetches)

1. (originally Ireland, dialectal) 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”). [from 18th c.]

Derived terms

• fetch candle

Translations

References

Further reading

• fetch (folklore) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fetch (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Fecht