To get ahead

Get Get (g[e^]t), v. i. 1. To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to receive accessions; to be increased. [1913 Webster]

We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. To arrive at, or bring one's self into, a state, condition, or position; to come to be; to become; -- with a following adjective or past participle belonging to the subject of the verb; as, to get sober; to get awake; to get beaten; to get elected. [1913 Webster]

To get rid of fools and scoundrels. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]

Note: It [get] gives to the English language a middle voice, or a power of verbal expression which is neither active nor passive. Thus we say to get acquitted, beaten, confused, dressed. --Earle. [1913 Webster]

Note: Get, as an intransitive verb, is used with a following preposition, or adverb of motion, to indicate, on the part of the subject of the act, movement or action of the kind signified by the preposition or adverb; or, in the general sense, to move, to stir, to make one's way, to advance, to arrive, etc.; as, to get away, to leave, to escape; to disengage one's self from; to get down, to descend, esp. with effort, as from a literal or figurative elevation; to get along, to make progress; hence, to prosper, succeed, or fare; to get in, to enter; to get out, to extricate one's self, to escape; to get through, to traverse; also, to finish, to be done; to get to, to arrive at, to reach; to get off, to alight, to descend from, to dismount; also, to escape, to come off clear; to get together, to assemble, to convene. [1913 Webster]

{To get ahead}, to advance; to prosper.

{To get along}, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

{To get a mile} (or other distance), to pass over it in traveling.

{To get among}, to go or come into the company of; to become one of a number.

{To get asleep}, to fall asleep.

{To get astray}, to wander out of the right way.

{To get at}, to reach; to make way to.

{To get away with}, to carry off; to capture; hence, to get the better of; to defeat.

{To get back}, to arrive at the place from which one departed; to return.

{To get before}, to arrive in front, or more forward.

{To get behind}, to fall in the rear; to lag.

{To get between}, to arrive between.

{To get beyond}, to pass or go further than; to exceed; to surpass. ``Three score and ten is the age of man, a few get beyond it.'' --Thackeray.

{To get clear}, to disengage one's self; to be released, as from confinement, obligation, or burden; also, to be freed from danger or embarrassment.

{To get drunk}, to become intoxicated.

{To get forward}, to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper; to advance in wealth.

{To get home}, to arrive at one's dwelling, goal, or aim.

{To get into}. (a) To enter, as, ``she prepared to get into the coach.'' --Dickens. (b) To pass into, or reach; as, `` a language has got into the inflated state.'' --Keary.

{To get loose} or {To get free}, to disengage one's self; to be released from confinement.

{To get near}, to approach within a small distance.

{To get on}, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

{To get over}. (a) To pass over, surmount, or overcome, as an obstacle or difficulty. (b) To recover from, as an injury, a calamity.

{To get through}. (a) To pass through something. (b) To finish what one was doing.

{To get up}. (a) To rise; to arise, as from a bed, chair, etc. (b) To ascend; to climb, as a hill, a tree, a flight of stairs, etc. [1913 Webster]