Verb

(en verb)

To get hold of; to gain possession of, to procure; to acquire, in any way.

* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Luke XVIII:

And a certayne ruler axed him: sayinge: Goode Master: what ought I to do, to obtaine eternall lyfe?

* 1814 , (Jane Austen), (Mansfield Park) :

Julia was quite as eager for novelty and pleasure as Maria, though she might not have struggled through so much to obtain them, and could better bear a subordinate situation.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained .}}

(obsolete) To secure (that) a specific objective or state of affairs be reached.

* 1722 , (Daniel Defoe), (Colonel Jack) :

he was condemned to die for the felony, and being so well known for an old offender, had certainly died, but the merchant, upon his earnest application, had obtained that he should be transported, on condition that he restored all the rest of his bills, which he had done accordingly.

(obsolete) To prevail, be victorious; to succeed.

* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.2:

“O daughter deare!” (said she) “despeire no whit; / For never sore but might a salve obtain [...].”

* 1701 , (Jonathan Swift), Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome :

This, though it failed at present, yet afterward obtained , and was a mighty step to the ruin of the commonwealth.

(obsolete) To hold; to keep, possess or occupy.

* 1671 , (John Milton), (Paradise Regained) , Book I:

His mother then is mortal, but his Sire / He who obtains the monarchy of Heav'n, / And what will he not do to advance his Son?

To exist or be the case; to hold true, be in force.

* 1908 , (Jack London), (The Iron Heel) , ,

Even though the Pervaise confession had never come to light, no reasonable doubt could obtain ; for the act in question was on a par with countless other acts committed by the oligarchs, and, before them, by the capitalists.

* 1992 , (Neal Stephenson), (Snow Crash) , Bantam Spectra, p. 460,

But the hostage situation no longer obtains , and so Uncle Enzo feels it important to stop Rife now,

Verb

(en verb)

(intransitive, reflexive, archaic) To hide, to be in hiding or concealment.

* 1691-1735 , (John Ray), The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation [http://books.google.com/books?id=rRI5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA300&dq=intitle:works+of+creation+inauthor:ray&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mpnNUZHMJ4Pu0gGZo4GICw&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=absconds&f=false]

the Marmotto , live upon its own Fat.

(reflexive) To flee, often secretly; to steal away, particularly to avoid arrest or prosecution.

* 1848 , (Thomas Babington Macaulay), , Ch. 13

... that very homesickness which, in regular armies, drives so many recruits to abscond at the risk of stripes and of death.

* 1911 , (Ambrose Bierce), (w, The Devil's Dictionary)

Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
The trees are leaving and cashiers abscond .

To withdraw from.

* 2006 , Richard Rojcewicz, The Gods And Technology: A Reading Of Heidegger , ISBN 0791482308.

Modern technology accompanies the absconding of the original attitude.

* 2009 , Sonia Brill, Relationships Without Anger , ISBN 144902789X.

You cannot abscond from the responsibility both you and your partner owe to this event, and that includes dealing with anger issues and any other emotional issues that come with it.

(obsolete) To conceal; to take away.

*

*

(label) To evade, to hide or flee from.

The captain absconded his responsibility

* 2006 , Aldo E. Chircop, Olof Lindén, Places of Refuge for Ships , ISBN 900414952X.

If the distress situation is solved succesfully, the anonymous shipowner will reap the commercial benefit, if the situation ends in disaster, the shipowner will hide behind an anonymous post box in a foreign country and will abscond responsibility.

*

*

*