obtain English · revision 5470

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1412|origins=la tenēre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /əbˈteɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|obteinen]], [[bor|frm|obtenir]] and directly from [[la|obtinēre|t=to hold, take hold of, acquire]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|ob-]] (here perhaps intensive) and [[m|la|tenēre|t=to hold]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*ten-|t=to stretch]].^(Etymonline) It is related to [[tenant]] and [[contain]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To get or acquire: about 1412, spelt opteenen, in Hoccleve's Regement of Princes, according to Barnhart, and about 1425 in the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) Etymonline has the early 15th century, with the senses “inherit, gain, conquer”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To win a battle or contest is from before 1470, and the intransitive “to win, prevail” from about 1425, now obsolete.^(OED 1989) The sense “to be established, be customary”, as in ''the rules that obtain here'', is from the 1610s.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) ''Obtainable'' is from 1617.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1412 – to acquire.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1425 – to prevail (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1610s – to be customary.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1617 – ''obtainable''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To get or [[acquire]] something, especially by effort.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(formal)'' To be established, accepted or in force.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[obtainable]]

+ * [[obtainer]]

+ * [[obtainability]]

+ * [[obtainment]]

+ * [[preobtain]]

+ * [[reobtain]]

+ * [[unobtained]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tenant]]

+ * [[contain]]

+ * [[retain]]

+ * [[detain]]

+ * [[maintain]]

+ * [[sustain]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}