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

(lb) To try to find, to look for, to search.

:

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby

, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.

(label) To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to beseech.

:

*Bible, (w) xi. 16

*:Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.

*1960 , (Lobsang Rampa), :

*:“My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.

(lb) To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.

:

*1880 , , :

*:But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.

*1886 , Constantine Popoff, translation of (Leo Tolstoy)'s :

*:I can no longer seek fame or glory, nor can I help trying to get rid of my riches, which separate me from my fellow-creatures.

*

*:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

To go, move, travel (in a given direction).

:

*, Bk.V:

*:Ryght so he sought towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes

(lb) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.

*:

*:Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

*1726 (tr.), (Alexander Pope), ''(Homer)'s (Odyssey), Book II, line 33

*:Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains