get on

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See also: geton and getön

English

Verb

get on (third-person singular simple present gets on, present participle getting on, simple past got on, past participle (UK) got on or (US) gotten on)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To board or mount (something), especially a vehicle.
    Please get on the bus as quickly as possible.
    She has no trouble getting off a bus but has difficulty getting on.
    I had to get on a chair to change the light bulb.
  2. (intransitive) To cope or manage (over time); to handle a situation; to perform or make progress.
    John is really getting on at work.
    I hear John has a new job. How's he getting on?
    She's getting on very well at school.
  3. (intransitive, often with "with") To progress (with); to move forward.
    It's time to get on with improving quality.
    We've wasted enough time now. Can we get on, please?
    1. (intransitive, of time) To move forward so as to approach a deadline or become late in the day.
      Time is getting on. We need to hurry up or we'll miss our flight.
      The hour is getting on. It'll be dark soon.
  4. (intransitive, with "for", usually in continuous tenses) To approach (a value, level, point in time, etc.)
    The cost was getting on for a thousand pounds.
    She must be getting on for 65 years of age.
    There were getting on for 40 people last night.
    It was getting on for midnight before I went to bed.
  5. (intransitive, usually in continuous tenses) To become old.
    My parents are visibly getting on (in years) these days.
  6. (intransitive, chiefly UK, often with 'with') To have a good relationship; to get along.
    • 1913, Joseph C Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      “I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it.
    John doesn't get on with Jack. They're always arguing.
    I wish you and I could learn to get on.
  7. (intransitive, chiefly UK, with 'with') To cope or deal (with).
    I can't get on with prunes. They give me indigestion.
  8. (transitive) To commence (an action).
    The dishes need washing, the floor needs vacuuming, the laundry needs folding. Get on it!
  9. (slang, archaic, transitive, gambling) To place a bet on.
    to get on a horse or a man
  10. (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of have on.
  11. (slang) To have sex; to be sexually promiscuous.
  12. (slang) To do drugs; to get drunk; to buy drugs; to regularly use drugs.
  13. (slang) To observe or notice.
    Get on that guy!

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Interjection

get on!

  1. Expresses surprise or disbelief.

See also

Anagrams