fetch

fetch — noun

1. a game in which a person throws a ball, stick, or other object and a dog runs to

1.nounA2
Definition

a game in which a person throws a ball, stick, or other object and a dog runs to get it and brings it back

Example

Élise threw the ball across the field and shouted 'Fetch!' to her golden retriever.

command word 'Fetch!' used as call to dog

After half an hour of fetch, the little terrier was tired but wagging its tail.

Common collocations
  • play fetch
  • game of fetch
  • a round of fetch
Synonyms
  • retrieving

    more formal or technical term for the same dog activity

Grammar Patterns

play fetch

word used as a game name

Usage Note

Used as an uncountable noun for the activity itself; the word 'Fetch' shouted as a command is also common.

Common Mistakes

I played a fetch with my dog.
I played fetch with my dog.
'Fetch' as a game name is uncountable and takes no article.

fetch — verb

Word family

  • fetcher
    nounB1
  • fetching
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Fetch, bring, retrieve, collect, and pick up all involve moving something from one place to another, but with different emphasis. Fetch implies a round trip: you go to the object's location and return with it. Bring focuses only on movement toward the speaker or destination — the outward journey is not stressed. Retrieve suggests recovering something from a specific place, often after searching or with some effort. Collect implies gathering items from multiple spots or picking someone up as part of a planned route. Pick up is the most casual and flexible everyday term, used for collecting a person or small object. For example: 'Please fetch the mail from the post office' means go there and come back. 'Please bring the mail' simply means carry it here. 'Pick up the mail' is the most natural spoken alternative.

bring ↗retrieve ↗collect ↗pick up ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • go and fetch
  • send someone to fetch
  • fetch and carry

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishGermanicEnglish

The verb 'fetch' comes from Old English 'feccan' or 'fetian', meaning to bring, get, or grasp. It is related to similar words in other Germanic languages such as Old High German 'gifezzon' (to grasp or seize). Over time, the sense of moving to obtain something and return with it became the core meaning. By the 1700s, the commercial sense of 'bringing in' money at auction or sale emerged. The use of 'Fetch!' as a command to dogs, and later the noun referring to the game itself, developed naturally from the everyday practice of dogs retrieving thrown objects for their owners.