1590s, "to hit with a club," from club (v.). Meaning "gather in a club-like mass" is from 1620s. Related: Clubbed; clubbing. Also in a military sense (1806):
CLUB, verb (military). — In manoeuvring troops, so to blunder the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactics. [Farmer & Henley]
1827, "to afflict with panic," from panic (n.). Intransitive sense of "to lose one's head, get into a panic" is from 1902. Related: Panicked; panicking.
"small, narrow-headed iron golf club," used to get the ball out of ruts or other bad places, 1857, of obscure origin.
Old English mersc-mealwe "kind of mallow plant (Althea officinalis) which grows near salt marshes;" from marsh + mallow. The confection (so called from 1877) originally was made from paste from the mucilaginous roots of this plant. The Greek word for the shrub, althaea, is from althein, althainein "to heal, get well" (the roots were used medicinally), from PIE root *al- (2) "to grow, nourish."
Middle English bien, from Old English bycgan (past tense bohte) "get by paying for, acquire the possession of in exchange for something of like value; redeem, ransom; procure; get done," from Proto-Germanic *bugjan (source also of Old Saxon buggjan, Old Norse byggja, Gothic bugjan), which is of unknown origin and not found outside Germanic.
The surviving spelling is southwest England dialect; the word was generally pronounced in Old English and Middle English with a -dg- sound as "budge," or "bidge." The meaning "believe, accept as true" is attested by 1926. Related: Bought; buying. To buy time "prevent further deterioration but make no improvement" is attested from 1946.
1834, "to bring together or put in contact," from contact (n.). Meaning "get in touch with" is 1927, American English. Related: Contacted; contacting.
"to get or gain, obtain," mid-15c., acqueren, from Old French aquerre "acquire, gain, earn, procure" (12c., Modern French acquérir), from Vulgar Latin *acquaerere, corresponding to Latin acquirere/adquirere "to get in addition to, accumulate, gain," from ad "to," here perhaps emphatic (see ad-), + quaerere "to seek to obtain" (see query (v.)). Reborrowed in current form from Latin c. 1600. Related: Acquired; acquiring.
late 15c., "recovery or regaining of things, recovery as of something lost" (a sense now obsolete), from Latin recuperationem (nominative recuperatio) "a getting back, regaining, recovery," noun of action from past-participle stem of recuperare "get back, regain, get again," in Medieval Latin "revive, convalesce, recover," which is related to or a variant of recipere "to hold, contain" (see receive). Meaning "restoration to health or vigor" is from 1865.
"worthless person," 1946, British slang, a southern variant of Scottish get "illegitimate child, brat," which is attested by 1706 ("Gregor Burgess protested against the said Allane that called him a witch gyt or bratt"), according to "Dictionary of the Scots Language"); related to beget on the notion of "what is got." Scots get, gyt, geitt, etc. also can be an affectionate term for a child.
