obtain

Verb

obtain (third-person singular simple present obtains, present participle obtaining, simple past and past participle obtained)

1. (transitive) To get hold of; to gain possession of, to procure; to acquire, in any way.
   • obtain permission
   • obtain information

   Synonyms:

   get, gain, acquire, attain, procure, exact

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To secure (that) a specific objective or state of affairs be reached.
   • he was condemned to die for the felony, and being so well known for an old offender, had certainly died, but the merchant, upon his earnest application, had obtained that he should be transported, on condition that he restored all the rest of his bills, which he had done accordingly.1722, Daniel Defoe, Colonel Jack
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To prevail, be victorious; to succeed.
   • “O daughter deare!” (said she) “despeire no whit; / For never sore but might a salve obtain [...].”1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
   • This, though it failed at present, yet afterward obtained, and was a mighty step to the ruin of the commonwealth.1701, Jonathan Swift, Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome
4. (obsolete, transitive) To hold; to keep, possess or occupy.
   • His mother then is mortal, but his Sire / He who obtains the monarchy of Heav'n, / And what will he not do to advance his Son?1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 6, lines 76–79
5. (especially, intransitive) To exist or be the case; to hold true, be in force.
   • Even though the Pervaise confession had never come to light, no reasonable doubt could obtain; for the act in question […] was on a par with countless other acts committed by the oligarchs, and, before them, by the capitalists.1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 17, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC
   • In connection with the various courses of practical instruction, the companies maintain signalling schools fitted with standard railway equipment in which the staff can be given instructions under conditions exactly similar to those which obtain in signal boxes.1942 July-August, T. F. Cameron, “How the Staff of a Railway is Recruited”, in Railway Magazine, page 207