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

29 June 2025

ADMIRABLE

(adjective) deserving of the highest esteem or admiration; “an estimable young professor”; “trains ran with admirable precision”; “his taste was impeccable, his health admirable”


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Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

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