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fetch

v. · n.
US //ˈfɛtʃ// UK //fˈɛtʃ// fetch
  1. 1 to sell for a price (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to be sold for a particular amount of money.

    to achieve or command a specific price at sale or auction.

    Example

    The old painting is expected to fetch over five thousand dollars at the auction.

    Example

    Despite its poor condition, the rare first-edition manuscript fetched a record-breaking sum when it finally went under the hammer.
  2. 2 to retrieve data (v.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    to get information from a computer's memory.

    to retrieve an instruction or a unit of data from memory for processing.

    Example

    The processor needs to fetch the next instruction before it can finish the task.

    Example

    The system's performance was bottlenecked by the time required to fetch large datasets from the remote server.
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  1. 3 a game with a dog (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    a game where you throw a ball or stick and a dog brings it back.

    a game of retrieval played with a pet, typically a dog.

    Example

    We spent the afternoon playing fetch with the dog in the park.

    Example

    The golden retriever never seemed to tire of fetch, returning the tennis ball to his owner's feet with relentless enthusiasm.

  2. 4 distance of wind over water (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Science

    the distance that wind blows over open water without hitting anything.

    the length of water over which a given wind has blown, determining the size of the waves produced.

    Example

    The long fetch across the lake allowed the wind to create very large waves.

    Example

    Because the bay has a limited fetch, the water remains relatively calm even during significant gale-force winds.

  3. 5 a ghost or double (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Literary Dialect

    the ghost of a living person, often seen as a bad sign.

    the apparition or double of a living person, traditionally interpreted as an omen of their approaching death.

    Example

    In the old story, the man saw his own fetch walking toward him on the road.

    Example

    The protagonist was haunted by the sight of his fetch, a silent double that appeared in the mist as a harbinger of his demise.
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 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.

Etymology 2

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”).

Idioms3 entries

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