to get at

Get \Get\ (g[e^]t), v. i.
   1. To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to receive
      accessions; to be increased.
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            We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get.
                                                  --Shak.
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   2. To arrive at, or bring one's self into, a state,
      condition, or position; to come to be; to become; -- with
      a following adjective or past participle belonging to the
      subject of the verb; as, to get sober; to get awake; to
      get beaten; to get elected.
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            To get rid of fools and scoundrels.   --Pope.
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            His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.
                                                  --Coleridge.
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   Note: It [get] gives to the English language a middle voice,
         or a power of verbal expression which is neither active
         nor passive. Thus we say to get acquitted, beaten,
         confused, dressed.
         --Earle.
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   Note: Get, as an intransitive verb, is used with a following
         preposition, or adverb of motion, to indicate, on the
         part of the subject of the act, movement or action of
         the kind signified by the preposition or adverb; or, in
         the general sense, to move, to stir, to make one's way,
         to advance, to arrive, etc.; as, to get away, to leave,
         to escape; to disengage one's self from; to get down,
         to descend, esp. with effort, as from a literal or
         figurative elevation; to get along, to make progress;
         hence, to prosper, succeed, or fare; to get in, to
         enter; to get out, to extricate one's self, to escape;
         to get through, to traverse; also, to finish, to be
         done; to get to, to arrive at, to reach; to get off, to
         alight, to descend from, to dismount; also, to escape,
         to come off clear; to get together, to assemble, to
         convene.
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   {To get ahead}, to advance; to prosper.

   {To get along}, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

   {To get a mile} (or other distance), to pass over it in
      traveling.

   {To get among}, to go or come into the company of; to become
      one of a number.

   {To get asleep}, to fall asleep.

   {To get astray}, to wander out of the right way.

   {To get at}, to reach; to make way to.

   {To get away with}, to carry off; to capture; hence, to get
      the better of; to defeat.

   {To get back}, to arrive at the place from which one
      departed; to return.

   {To get before}, to arrive in front, or more forward.

   {To get behind}, to fall in the rear; to lag.

   {To get between}, to arrive between.

   {To get beyond}, to pass or go further than; to exceed; to
      surpass. "Three score and ten is the age of man, a few get
      beyond it." --Thackeray.

   {To get clear}, to disengage one's self; to be released, as
      from confinement, obligation, or burden; also, to be freed
      from danger or embarrassment.

   {To get drunk}, to become intoxicated.

   {To get forward}, to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper;
      to advance in wealth.

   {To get home}, to arrive at one's dwelling, goal, or aim.

   {To get into}.
      (a) To enter, as, "she prepared to get into the coach."
          --Dickens.
      (b) To pass into, or reach; as, " a language has got into
          the inflated state." --Keary.

   {To get loose} or {To get free}, to disengage one's self; to
      be released from confinement.

   {To get near}, to approach within a small distance.

   {To get on}, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

   {To get over}.
      (a) To pass over, surmount, or overcome, as an obstacle or
          difficulty.
      (b) To recover from, as an injury, a calamity.

   {To get through}.
      (a) To pass through something.
      (b) To finish what one was doing.

   {To get up}.
      (a) To rise; to arise, as from a bed, chair, etc.
      (b) To ascend; to climb, as a hill, a tree, a flight of
          stairs, etc.
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