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Glite Dictionary
✋ To grab 📞 To contact 😱 To be affected
to get hold of

to get hold of

20 3.4
To feel a strong emotion suddenly that controls you
  • phrasal verb
: apoderarse de
  • After the unexpected news, he took a deep breath and tried to get hold of himself.
  • get hold of it somehow
  • trying to get hold of

I'm not going to let that grip get hold of me.

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Examples

  • Get hold of yourself, man.

    Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)

  • I clenched my fists to get hold of myself, pushed open the door, and stepped in.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Now, I want you to get hold of yourself.

    Airport 1975 (1974)

  • You gotta get hold of yourself.

    Casino (1995)

  • I must get hold of myself.

    Strange Interlude (1932)

  • Come on, have another drink if you must, but get hold of yourself and keep your mouth shut.

    Rope (1948)

  • The main thing is that she has gotten hold of herself and learned to cope with the situation.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • For Chrissake, get hold of yourself!

    Fiction book (2002)

  • You've got to get hold of yourself.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Get hold of yourself.

    Strange Interlude (1932)

Synonyms

to snatch
vsto get hold of
192 3.0

To take something quickly with your hand

is about a sudden internal feeling taking control rather than a physical quick action
to clutch
vsto get hold of
115 3.4

To hold something tightly with the hands or because of strong feeling

is an internal sudden takeover by feeling rather than a physical squeeze
to grip
vsto get hold of
36 6.0

To hold someone's attention or emotions strongly

is more about taking control suddenly rather than keeping attention
to seize
vsto get hold of
34 4.8

Feel a sudden strong emotion or pain

is the same sudden strong affecting experience and is interchangeable here

Antonyms

unaffected
32 3.9

Not changed or harmed by something and not showing strong feeling

How Overcome

consuming
4 5.4
to overcome
49 4.1
to get hold of
20 3.4
moved
137 3.6

Surface Forms

get hold of infinitive
getting hold of present participle
gets hold of third person singular
got hold of past
got hold of past participle

Morphology

get + hold + of

The meaning is directly compositional: a learner who knows 'get' (obtain), 'hold' (grasp/control), and the linking preposition 'of' can infer 'to obtain or take possession of' or 'to grasp/contact' from the parts. This verb + noun + preposition pattern is common and has close equivalents in many languages, so the expression is readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.

Etymology

Get hold of may come from the image of a feeling grabbing you like a hand. When an emotion firmly gets hold of you it takes control, so the phrase means 'to take control of or strongly affect someone'.