Obtain
[əb'teɪn] or [əb'ten]
Definition
(verb.) come into possession of; 'How did you obtain the visa?'.
Checked by Aron--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To hold; to keep; to possess.
(v. t.) To get hold of by effort; to gain possession of; to procure; to acquire, in any way.
(v. i.) To become held; to gain or have a firm footing; to be recognized or established; to subsist; to become prevalent or general; to prevail; as, the custom obtains of going to the seashore in summer.
(v. i.) To prevail; to succeed.
Typed by Helga
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Procure, get, acquire, achieve, gain, win, earn, secure, get possession of.
Typist: Preston
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See ACQUIRE]
Edited by Bernice
Definition
v.t. to lay hold of: to hold: to procure by effort: to gain: to keep possession of.—v.i. to be established: to continue in use: to become customary or prevalent: to hold good: (rare) to succeed.—adj. Obtain′able that may be obtained procured or acquired.—ns. Obtain′er; Obtain′ment; Obten′tion procurement.—Obtain to (Bacon) to attain to.
Checked by Bianca
Examples
- It was then easy enough to obtain a fairly accurate silhouette, by either outlining the profile or cutting it out from the screen. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Numerous attempts were consequently made to obtain a more sensitive material. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Oh, I am very glad that your father had the good fortune to obtain a weapon. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- To obtain a true photograph, the negative is placed on a piece of sensitive photographic paper, or paper coated with a silver salt in the same manner as the plate and films. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Where does your city obtain its water? Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- How was he to obtain this? Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- In consequence of this law, when Memphis was occupied the provost-marshal had forcibly collected all the evidences he could obtain of such debts. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- George remained four years at a French university, and, applying himself with an unintermitted zeal, obtained a very thorough education. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It means, he added, in a faltering voice, that my brother Richard has obtained his freedom. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Thus they obtained air and proper ventilation without fear of lessening the safety of their cabin. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- The ex-butler had obtained a small freehold there likewise, which gave him a vote for the borough. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- These cranes, adapted for the lifting and carrying of enormous loads, were worked by hydraulic pressure obtained from elevated tanks or reservoirs, as above indicated. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- All did not have flails, as enough flails could not be obtained. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- He noticed that by holding two of the lenses in a certain position he obtained a large and inverted view of whatever he looked at. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The study of apparatus for obtaining more perfect vacua was unceasingly carried on, for Edison realized that in this there lay a potent factor of ultimate success. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The laryngoscope, for obtaining a view of the larynx, was said to have been constructed by Mr. John Avery, of London, as early as 1846. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- There had been great delay in obtaining the authority of Congress for the raising of the troops asked for by the administration. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- The impossibility of obtaining a uniform concentrate was a most serious objection, had there not indeed been other difficulties which rendered this method commercially impracticable. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- To have served an apprenticeship in the town, under a master properly qualified, is commonly the necessary requisite for obtaining this freedom. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Every possibility of good was before me, and the first of blessings secured, in obtaining her promises of faith and correspondence. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Dr. Koch, who had srved in the Franco-Prussian War, succeeded in 1876 in obtaining pure cultures of this bacillus and in defining its relation to the dis ease. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- How a living animal obtains its quantity of this fluid, called fire, is a curious question. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Plato. The Republic.
- This particularly obtains in all Parliamentary affairs. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- If _A_ hits two balls instead of one, the energy possessed by _A_ is given in part to one ball, and in part to the other, so that neither obtains the full amount. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- He obtains a little measure of wine and gives the lad a portion of it very carefully. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And yet, observing the strange law of contradiction which obtains in all such cases, the time was long, while it flamed by so fast. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
Checked by Anita