fetch
v.v. to go to a place, get something, and bring it back to where you are. You often use this when asking a person or a dog to get an object.
v. to go after and bring back someone or something. Transitive; requires a direct object and often implies a return journey to the point of origin.
Could you please fetch me a glass of water?
The dog loves to fetch the tennis ball whenever we go to the park.
The assistant was sent to the archives to fetch the original manuscript, as the digital copies were too blurry to read accurately.
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 feċċan, fæċċan, 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, fācian (“to acquire, obtain; to try to obtain; to get; to get to, reach”), both from Proto-Germanic fatōną, fatjaną (“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”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Danish fatte (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”). The noun is derived from the verb.
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”).
The verb is transitive and often takes two objects (e.g., 'fetch me a drink').
I will fetch to you the bookI will fetch the book for youFetch does not take 'to' before the recipient; use 'for' or place the person directly after the verb.