subs. (old).—1. A stratagem; indirectly bringing something to pass.
1576. Merie Tales … by Master Skelton, xiii. Yea, sayde Skelton: if thou haue such pretie FETCHIS, you can dooe more then thys. And therfore, if thou dooeste not one thynge that I shall tell thee. I wyll folow the lawe on thee. What is that? sayd the Myller. If that thou dooest not steale my cuppe of the table, when I am sette at meate, thou shalt not eskape my handes.
1727. GAY, The Beggar’s Opera, Act II., Scene 2. Mac. Be pacified, my dear Lucy; this is all a FETCH of Polly’s, to make me desperate with you, in case I get off. If I am hanged, she would fain have the credit of being thought my widow. Really, Polly, this is no time for a dispute of this sort; for whenever you are talking of marriage, I am thinking of hanging.
1780. HANNAH COWLEY, The Belle’s Stratagem, v. 1. Why, my illness was only a FETCH, man, to make you marry Letty.
1848. J. R. LOWELL, A Fable for Critics, p. 19.
| But, as Cicero says he won’t say this or that, | |
| (A FETCH, I must say, most transparent and flat,) | |
| After saying whate’er he could possibly think of. |
2. (colloquial).—A success.
3. (old).—A likeness: e.g., the very FETCH of him = his very image or SPIT (q.v.). Also an apparition.
Verb (colloquial).—1. To please; to excite admiration; to arouse attention or interest.
1607. DEKKER, Westward Ho! Act ii., Sc. 2. Earl. Ha! Bird. O, I thought I should FETCH you: you can ‘ha’ at that; I’ll make you hem anon.
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, II.
| This will FETCH ’em, | |
| And make them haste towards their gulling more. | |
| A man must deal like a rough nurse, and fright | |
| Those that are froward to an appetite. |
1727. GAY, The Beggar’s Opera, Act I., Sc. 8. Polly. Give her another glass, Sir! my mama drinks double the quantity whenever she is out of order. This, you see, FETCHES her.
1864. YATES, Broken to Harness, ch. v., p. 48 (1873). But now he was certainly ‘FETCHED,’ as his friends would call it, and began to feel an interest in Miss Townshend, which he had never felt for any other person.
1867–70. C. G. LELAND, The Breitmann Ballads, ‘De Maiden Mit Nodings on.’ Dot FETCHED him—he shtood all shpell pound.
1879. JUSTIN MCCARTHY, Donna Quixote, ch. xvii. She was quite clever enough to take on any part that might best commend her to the people she sought to please; and she thought she had hit upon the best way to FETCH Gabrielle, as she would herself have put it.
1882. BESANT, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. xxx. You shall be my assistant: you shall play the piano and come on dressed in a pink costoom, which generally FETCHES at an entertainment.
1883. Referee, 1 April, p. 2, col. 4. There were scenes, though, wherein she fairly FETCHED her audience.
1884. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, xxi. Hamlet’s soliloquy, you know; the most celebrated thing in Shakespeare. Ah, it’s sublime, sublime! Always FETCHES the house.
1884. G. A. SALA, in Illustrated London News, 17 May, p. 470, col. 3. The maritime conflagration FETCHED the audience, especially the pit and gallery.
2. (colloquial).—To get; to do.
[Some combinations are TO FETCH THE FARM = to get infirmary treatment and diet; TO FETCH A STINGER (colloquial) = to get in a heavy blow; TO FETCH A LAGGING (thieves’) = to serve one’s term; TO FETCH A HOWL = to cry; TO FETCH A CRACK = to strike; TO FETCH A CIRCUMBENDIBUS = to make a detour; TO FETCH THE BREWER = to get drunk.]
TO FETCH AWAY, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To part; e.g., ‘a fool and his money are soon FETCHED AWAY.’
TO FETCH UP, verb. phr. (common).—1. To stop; to run against.
2. (popular).—to startle.
3. (American).—To come to light.
4. (common).—To recruit one’s strength after illness.
