To get the better of

Get \Get\ (g[e^]t), v. t. [imp. {Got} (g[o^]t) (Obs. {Gat}
   (g[a^]t)); p. p. {Got} (Obsolescent {Gotten} (g[o^]t"t'n));
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Getting}.] [OE. geten, AS. gitan, gietan (in
   comp.); akin to Icel. geta, Goth. bigitan to find, L.
   prehendere to seize, take, Gr. chanda`nein to hold, contain.
   Cf. {Comprehend}, {Enterprise}, {Forget}, {Impregnable},
   {Prehensile}.]
   1. To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of; to acquire;
      to earn; to obtain as a price or reward; to come by; to
      win, by almost any means; as, to get favor by kindness; to
      get wealth by industry and economy; to get land by
      purchase, etc.
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   2. Hence, with have and had, to come into or be in possession
      of; to have. --Johnson.
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            Thou hast got the face of man.        --Herbert.
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   3. To beget; to procreate; to generate.
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            I had rather to adopt a child than get it. --Shak.
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   4. To obtain mental possession of; to learn; to commit to
      memory; to memorize; as to get a lesson; also with out;
      as, to get out one's Greek lesson.
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            It being harder with him to get one sermon by heart,
            than to pen twenty.                   --Bp. Fell.
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   5. To prevail on; to induce; to persuade.
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            Get him to say his prayers.           --Shak.
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   6. To procure to be, or to cause to be in any state or
      condition; -- with a following participle.
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            Those things I bid you do; get them dispatched.
                                                  --Shak.
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   7. To betake; to remove; -- in a reflexive use.
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            Get thee out from this land.          --Gen. xxxi.
                                                  13.
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            He . . . got himself . . . to the strong town of
            Mega.                                 --Knolles.
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   Note: Get, as a transitive verb, is combined with adverbs
         implying motion, to express the causing to, or the
         effecting in, the object of the verb, of the kind of
         motion indicated by the preposition; thus, to get in,
         to cause to enter, to bring under shelter; as, to get
         in the hay; to get out, to make come forth, to extract;
         to get off, to take off, to remove; to get together, to
         cause to come together, to collect.
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   {To get by heart}, to commit to memory.

   {To get the better of}, {To get the best of}, to obtain an
      advantage over; to surpass; to subdue.

   {To get up}, to cause to be established or to exit; to
      prepare; to arrange; to construct; to invent; as, to get
      up a celebration, a machine, a book, an agitation.

   Syn: To obtain; gain; win; acquire. See {Obtain}.
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