English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈfɛt͡ʃɪŋ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛtʃɪŋ
  • Hyphenation: fetch‧ing
  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

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From fetch +‎ -ing.

Adjective

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fetching (comparative more fetching, superlative most fetching)

  1. Attractive; pleasant to regard.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:attractive
    • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 [], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171:
      Nurse Cramer had a cute nose and a radiant, blooming complexion dotted with fetching sprays of adorable freckles that Yossarian detested.
    • 2000, Bill Bryson, chapter 1, in In a Sunburned Country, page 11:
      I am not, I regret to say, a discreet and fetching sleeper. Most people when they nod off look as if they could do with a blanket; I look as if I could do with medical attention.
    • 2015, Nancy Jo Sales, “Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse””, in Vanity Fair[1]:
      “The men in this town have a serious case of pussy affluenza,” says Amy Watanabe, 28, the fetching, tattooed owner of Sake Bar Satsko, a lively izakaya in New York’s East Village.
Translations
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Verb

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fetching

  1. present participle and gerund of fetch
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.

Etymology 2

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From Middle English fetchynge, fecchynge, faching, fettynge, equivalent to fetch +‎ -ing.

Noun

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fetching (plural fetchings)

  1. The act by which something is fetched.
    • 1834, Evidence on drunkenness: presented to the House of Commons:
      These lumpers were also in the habit of inducing their men during the week to send to their pay-house for fetchings of drink, besides the money they were compelled to spend on Saturday night.