Get

Get is a common English verb with several related meanings centered on obtaining or receiving something, or on becoming in a certain state. It can mean to acquire a thing (I’ll get a new chair), to receive a message or signal (Did you get my email?), or to cause someone or something to obtain something (That news will get him excited). Colloquially, get is also used as a general-purpose auxiliary to indicate change of state or movement, as in get up, get going, or get better.

Etymology and usage notes: get originates from Old English gietan and related Germanic forms. It is highly productive in modern English, forming numerous phrasal verbs such as get up, get along, get by, and get over. The verb is highly versatile and appears in idioms that convey understanding, possession, obligation, and various social dynamics.

In computing and the Internet, GET has a specialized meaning as the HTTP GET method. A GET request asks a server to retrieve a resource identified by a URL. It is designed to be safe and idempotent, meaning it should not cause side effects on the server and repeated requests should have the same effect as a single one. GET is fundamental to web navigation and RESTful APIs, where it contrasts with methods like POST or PUT that may modify server state.

In programming, get also denotes a getter method, a function that returns the value of a property, commonly named with a get prefix (for example, getName in Java). This usage is part of object-oriented design, encapsulating data while exposing access through defined interfaces.

Past tense and participle forms vary by dialect: in American English, the past tense and past participle are often got and gotten, respectively; in British English, gotten is less common and got is used for both forms.