going

[ goh-ing ]

/ ˈgoʊ ɪŋ /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR going ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act of leaving or departing; departure: a safe going and quick return.

the condition of surfaces, as those of roads, for walking or driving: After the heavy rain, the going was bad.

progress; advancement: With such slow going, the work is behind schedule.

Usually goings. behavior; conduct; deportment.

adjective

moving or working, as machinery.

active, alive, or existing.

continuing to operate or do business, especially in a successful manner: a going company.

current; prevalent; usual: What is the going price of good farmland in this area?

leaving; departing.

Idioms for going

get going, to begin; get started.

going away, Sports. by a wide margin, especially as established in the late stages of a contest: The champion won the bout going away.

going on,

nearly; almost: It's going on four o'clock.
happening: What's going on here?
continuing; lasting: That party has been going on all night.

Origin of going

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at go¹, -ing¹, -ing²

Words nearby going

gogra, gohonzon, goi, goidel, goidelic, going, going for one, going my way, going on, going to, going to jerusalem

Definition for get going (2 of 2)

get ¹

[ get ]

/ gɛt /

verb (used with object), got or (Archaic) gat; got or got·ten; get·ting.

to receive or come to have possession, use, or enjoyment of: to get a birthday present; to get a pension.

to cause to be in one's possession or succeed in having available for one's use or enjoyment; obtain; acquire: to get a good price after bargaining; to get oil by drilling; to get information.

to go after, take hold of, and bring (something) for one's own or for another's purposes; fetch: Would you get the milk from the refrigerator for me?

to cause or cause to become, to do, to move, etc., as specified; effect: to get one's hair cut; to get a person drunk; to get a fire to burn; to get a dog out of a room.

to communicate or establish communication with over a distance; reach: You can always get me by telephone.

to hear or hear clearly: I didn't get your last name.

to acquire a mental grasp or command of; learn: to get a lesson.

to capture; seize: Get him before he escapes!

to receive as a punishment or sentence: to get a spanking; to get 20 years in jail.

to prevail on; influence or persuade: We'll get him to go with us.

to prepare; make ready: to get dinner.

(especially of animals) to beget.

Informal. to affect emotionally: Her pleas got me.

to hit, strike, or wound: The bullet got him in the leg.

Informal. to kill.

Informal. to take vengeance on: I'll get you yet!

to catch or be afflicted with; come down with or suffer from: He got malaria while living in the tropics. She gets butterflies before every performance.

Informal. to puzzle; irritate; annoy: Their silly remarks get me.

Informal. to understand; comprehend: I don't get the joke. This report may be crystal-clear to a scientist, but I don't get it.

verb (used without object), got or (Archaic) gat; got or got·ten; get·ting.

to come to a specified place; arrive; reach: to get home late.

to succeed, become enabled, or be permitted: You get to meet a lot of interesting people.

to become or to cause oneself to become as specified; reach a certain condition: to get angry; to get sick.

(used as an auxiliary verb followed by a past participle to form the passive): to get married; to get elected; to get hit by a car.

to succeed in coming, going, arriving at, visiting, etc. (usually followed by away, in, into, out, etc.): I don't get into town very often.

to bear, endure, or survive (usually followed by through or over): Can he get through another bad winter?

to earn money; gain.

Informal. to leave promptly; scram: He told us to get.

to start or enter upon the action of (followed by a present participle expressing action): to get moving; Get rolling.

noun

an offspring or the total of the offspring, especially of a male animal: the get of a stallion.

a return of a ball, as in tennis, that would normally have resulted in a point for the opponent.

British Slang.

something earned, as salary, profits, etc.: What's your week's get?
a child born out of wedlock.

Verb Phrases

get about,

to move about; be active: He gets about with difficulty since his illness.
to become known; spread: It was supposed to be a secret, but somehow it got about.
to be socially active: She's been getting about much more since her family moved to the city.

Also get around.

get across,

to make or become understandable; communicate: to get a lesson across to students.
to be convincing about; impress upon others: The fire chief got across forcefully the fact that turning in a false alarm is a serious offense.

get ahead, to be successful, as in business or society: She got ahead by sheer determination.

get ahead of,

to move forward of, as in traveling: The taxi got ahead of her after the light changed.
to surpass; outdo: He refused to let anyone get ahead of him in business.

get along,

to go away; leave.
get on.

get around,

to circumvent; outwit.
to ingratiate oneself with (someone) through flattery or cajolery.
to travel from place to place; circulate: I don't get around much anymore.
get about.

get at,

to reach; touch: to stretch in order to get at a top shelf.
to suggest, hint at, or imply; intimate: What are you getting at?
to discover; determine: to get at the root of a problem.
Informal. to influence by surreptitious or illegal means; bribe: The gangsters couldn't get at the mayor.

get away,

to escape; flee: He tried to get away, but the crowd was too dense.
to start out; leave: The racehorses got away from the starting gate.

get away with, to perpetrate or accomplish without detection or punishment: Some people lie and cheat and always seem to get away with it.

get by,

to succeed in going past: to get by a police barricade.
to manage to exist, survive, continue in business, etc., in spite of difficulties.
to evade the notice of: He doesn't let much get by him.

get down,

to bring or come down; descend: The kitten climbed the tree, but then couldn't get down again.
to concentrate; attend: to get down to the matter at hand.
to depress; discourage; fatigue: Nothing gets me down so much as a rainy day.
to swallow: The pill was so large that he couldn't get it down.
to relax and enjoy oneself completely; be uninhibited in one's enjoyment: getting down with a bunch of old friends.

get in,

to go into a place; enter: He forgot his key and couldn't get in.
to arrive; come: They both got in on the same train.
to become associated with: He got in with a bad crowd.
to be chosen or accepted, as for office, membership, etc.: As secretary of the club, his friend made sure that he got in.
to become implicated in: By embezzling money to pay his gambling debts quickly, he was getting in further and further.

get off,

to escape the consequences of or punishment for one's actions.
to help (someone) escape punishment: A good lawyer might get you off.
to begin a journey; leave: He got off on the noon flight.
to leave (a train, plane, etc.); dismount from (a horse); alight.
to tell (a joke); express (an opinion): The comedian got off a couple of good ones.
Informal. to have the effrontery: Where does he get off telling me how to behave?
Slang: Vulgar. to experience orgasm.
to experience or cause to experience a high from or as if from a drug.
to cause to feel pleasure, enthusiasm, or excitement: a new rock group that gets everyone off.

get on/along,

to make progress; proceed; advance.
to have sufficient means to manage, survive, or fare.
to be on good terms; agree: She simply can't get on with her brothers.
to advance in age: He is getting on in years.

get out,

to leave (often followed by of): Get out of here! We had to get out of the bus at San Antonio.
to become publicly known: We mustn't let this story get out.
to withdraw or retire (often followed by of): He decided to get out of the dry goods business.
to produce or complete: Let's get this work out!

get over,

to recover from: to get over an illness.
get across.

get through,

to succeed, as in meeting, reaching, or contacting by telephone (usually followed by to): I tried to call you last night, but I couldn't get through.
to complete; finish: How he ever got through college is a mystery.
to make oneself understood: One simply cannot get through to her.

get to,

to get in touch or into communication with; contact: It was too late by the time he got to the authorities.
Informal. to make an impression on; affect: This music really gets to you.
to begin: When he gets to telling stories about the war, there's no stopping him.

Origin of get

1150–1200; (v.) Middle English geten < Old Norse geta to obtain, beget; cognate with Old English -gietan (> Middle English yeten), German -gessen, in vergessen to forget; (noun) Middle English: something gotten, offspring, derivative of the v.

SYNONYMS FOR get

1, 2 Get, obtain, acquire, procure, secure imply gaining possession of something. Get may apply to coming into possession in any manner, and either voluntarily or not. Obtain suggests putting forth effort to gain possession, and acquire stresses the possessing after an (often prolonged) effort. Procure suggests the method of obtaining, as that of search or choice. Secure, considered in bad taste as a would-be-elegant substitute for get, is, however, when used with discrimination, a perfectly proper word. It suggests making possession sure and safe, after obtaining something by competition or the like.

2 win, gain.

7 apprehend, grasp.

10 induce, dispose.

12 engender.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR get ON THESAURUS.COM

usage note for get

For nearly 400 years, forms of get have been used with a following past participle to form the passive voice: She got engaged when she was 19. He won't get accepted with those grades. This use of get rather than of forms of to be in the passive is found today chiefly in speech and informal writing.
In British English got is the regular past participle of get, and gotten survives only in a few set phrases, such as ill-gotten gains. In American English gotten, although occasionally criticized, is an alternative standard past participle in most senses, especially in the senses “to receive” or “to acquire”: I have gotten (or got ) all that I ever hoped for.
Have or has got in the sense “must” has been in use since the early 19th century; often the have or has is contracted: You've got to carry your passport at all times. The use of have (or has ) got in the sense of “to possess” goes back to the 15th century; it is also frequently contracted: She's got a master's degree in biology. These uses are occasionally criticized as redundant on the grounds that have alone expresses the meaning adequately, but they are well established and fully standard in all varieties of speech and writing. In some contexts in American English, substituting gotten for got produces a change in meaning: She's got ( possesses ) a new job. She's gotten ( has aquired ) a new job. He's got to ( must ) attend the wedding. He's gotten to ( has been allowed or enabled to ) attend. The children have got ( are suffering from ) the measles. The children have gotten ( have caught ) the measles. The use of got without have or has to mean “must” ( I got to buy a new suit ) is characteristic of the most relaxed, informal speech and does not occur in edited writing except in representations of speech. Gotta is a pronunciation spelling representing this use.

pronunciation note for get

The pronunciation

[git] /gɪt/ for get has existed since the 16th century. The same change is exhibited in [kin] /kɪn/ for can and [yit] /yɪt/ for yet. The pronunciation

[git] /gɪt/ is not regional and occurs in all parts of the country. It is most common as an unstressed syllable: Let's get going! [lets git-goh-ing] /ˈlɛts gɪtˈgoʊ ɪŋ/. In educated speech the pronunciation

[git] /gɪt/ in stressed syllables is rare and sometimes criticized. When get is an imperative meaning “leave immediately,” the pronunciation is usually facetious: Now get! [nou git] /ˌnaʊ ˈgɪt/.

OTHER WORDS FROM get

get·ta·ble, get·a·ble, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for get going (1 of 3)

GeT

abbreviation for

Greenwich Electronic Time

British Dictionary definitions for get going (2 of 3)

get

/ (ɡɛt) /

verb gets, getting, got (ɡɒt) or got or esp US gotten (mainly tr)

to come into possession of; receive or earn

to bring or fetch

to contract or be affected by he got a chill at the picnic

to capture or seize the police finally got him

(also intr) to become or cause to become or act as specified to get a window open; get one's hair cut; get wet

(intr; foll by a preposition or adverbial particle) to succeed in going, coming, leaving, etc get off the bus

(takes an infinitive) to manage or contrive how did you get to be captain?

to make ready or prepare to get a meal

to hear, notice, or understand I didn't get your meaning

US and Canadian informal to learn or master by study

(intr often foll by to) to come (to) or arrive (at) we got home safely; to get to London

to catch or enter to get a train

to induce or persuade get him to leave at once

to reach by calculation add 2 and 2 and you will get 4

to receive (a broadcast signal)

to communicate with (a person or place), as by telephone

(also intr foll by to) informal to have an emotional effect (on) that music really gets me

informal to annoy or irritate her high voice gets me

informal to bring a person into a difficult position from which he or she cannot escape

informal to puzzle; baffle

informal to hit the blow got him in the back

informal to be revenged on, esp by killing

US slang

(foll by to) to gain access (to a person) with the purpose of bribing him
(often foll by to) to obtain access (to someone) and kill or silence him

informal to have the better of your extravagant habits will get you in the end

(intr; foll by present participle) informal to begin get moving

(used as a command) informal go! leave now!

archaic to beget or conceive

get even with See even 1 (def. 15)

get it or get it in the neck informal to be reprimanded or punished severely

get with it slang to allow oneself to respond to new ideas, styles, etc

get with child archaic to make pregnant

noun

rare the act of begetting

rare something begotten; offspring

British slang a variant of git

informal (in tennis, squash, etc) a successful return of a shot that was difficult to reach

See also get about, get across, get ahead, get along, get at, get away, get back, get by, get down, get in, get into, get off, get on, get onto, get out, get over, get round, get through, get-together, get up, got, gotten

Derived forms of get

getable or gettable, adjective

Word Origin for get

Old English gietan; related to Old Norse geta to get, learn, Old High German bigezzan to obtain

usage for get

The use of off after get as in I got this chair off an antique dealer is acceptable in conversation, but should not be used in formal writing

British Dictionary definitions for get going (3 of 3)

going

/ (ˈɡəʊɪŋ) /