FETCHING

fetching, taking, winning

(adjective) very attractive; capturing interest; “a fetching new hairstyle”; “something inexpressibly taking in his manner”; “a winning personality”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Adjective

fetching (comparative more fetching, superlative most fetching)

Attractive; pleasant to regard.

Verb

fetching

present participle of fetch

Etymology 2

Noun

fetching (plural fetchings)

The act by which something is fetched.

Source: Wiktionary


FETCH

Fetch (; 224), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fetched 2; p. pr. & vb. n.. Fetching.] Etym: [OE. fecchen, AS. feccan, perh. the same word as fetian; or cf. facian to wish to get, OFries. faka to prepare. sq. root 77. Cf. Fet, v. t.]

1. To bear toward the person speaking, or the person or thing from whose point of view the action is contemplated; to go and bring; to get. Time will run back and fetch the age of gold. Milton. He called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bred in thine hand. 1 Kings xvii. 11, 12.

2. To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for. Our native horses were held in small esteem, and fetched low prices. Macaulay.

3. To recall from a swoon; to revive; -- sometimes with to; as, to fetch a man to. Fetching men again when they swoon. Bacon.

4. To reduce; to throw. The sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground. South.

5. To bring to accomplishment; to achieve; to make; to perform, with certain objects; as, to fetch a compass; to fetch a leap; to fetch a sigh. I'll fetch a turn about the garden. Shak. He fetches his blow quick and sure. South.

6. To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing. Meantine flew our ships, and straight we fetched The siren's isle. Chapman.

7. To cause to come; to bring to a particular state. They could n't fetch the butter in the churn. W. Barnes. To fetch a compass (Naut.), to make a sircuit; to take a circuitious route going to a place.

– To fetch a pump, to make it draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle.

– To fetch headway or sternway (Naut.), to move ahead or astern.

– To fetch out, to develop. "The skill of the polisher fetches out the colors [of marble]" Addison.

– To fetch up. (a) To overtake. [Obs.] "Says [the hare], I can fetch up the tortoise when I please." L'Estrange. (b) To stop suddenly.

fetch, v. i.

Definition: To bring one's self; to make headway; to veer; as, to fetch about; to fetch to windward. Totten. To fetch away (Naut.), to break loose; to roll slide to leeward.

– To fetch and carry, to serve obsequiously, like a trained spaniel.

Fetch, n.

1. A stratagem by which a thing is indirectly brought to pass, or by which one thing seems intended and another is done; a trick; an artifice. Every little fetch of wit and criticism. South.

2. The apparation of a living person; a wraith. The very fetch and ghost of Mrs. Gamp. Dickens. Fetch candle, a light seen at night, superstitiously believed to portend a person's death.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

24 March 2025

STACCATO

(adjective) (music) marked by or composed of disconnected parts or sounds; cut short crisply; “staccato applause”; “a staccato command”; “staccato notes”


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Coffee Trivia

In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.

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