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

to get hold of

36 3.0
To reach someone by phone or message
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡɛt hoʊld ʌv/
translation icon : ponerse en contacto con
  • Who are you trying to get hold of?
  • get hold of someone
  • try to get hold of
  • know how to get hold of

He says I fight him and get hold of my manager, Spencer.

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Examples

  • Still trying to get hold of you.

    Road Trip (2000)

  • I always say honestly, if you want to get hold of me and you know me, you'll, you'll get hold of me.

  • How on earth did you get hold of that?

    Merchant Ivory (2024)

  • So I finally got hold of Bob.

    The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

  • Did your uncle get hold of you?

    Man of the Year (2006)

  • I'm trying to get hold of Mark.

    Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)

  • Three weeks after Jason's death, his father got hold of me on the phone.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • I suppose Geskamp has been trying to get hold of me all morning.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Any Garcia Lorca you can get hold of would be much appreciated.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I finally managed to get hold of my old friend after years of searching.

Synonyms

to call
vsto get hold of
∞ 1.0

To phone someone to speak with them

is about successfully contacting by any means not only by phone
to contact
vsto get hold of
∞ 2.5

To communicate with someone by phone or writing

stresses achieving success in communication rather than merely attempting it
to reach
vsto get hold of
∞ 1.3

Make contact with someone by phone or email

focuses specifically on successfully contacting someone rather than general making contact
to reach out
vsto get hold of
338 2.7

To contact someone to offer help or support

focuses purely on succeeding in contact without implying a supportive motive
to phone
vsto get hold of
204 1.0

To call someone by telephone

is broader covering success in reaching someone by any means
to get in touch
vsto get hold of
155 2.3

Contact someone after not talking for a while

is used more broadly for succeeding in contacting at any time
to get through
vsto get hold of
155 2.6

To reach someone by phone or message

emphasizes success in contacting someone rather than merely attempting contact
to make contact
vsto get hold of
113 2.8

To get in touch with someone after a time without talking

covers succeeding in contacting in any context not only first or resumed contact
to get hold
vsto get hold of
  • UK
66 3.2

To contact a person or obtain something you need

focuses only on succeeding in contacting people not on obtaining items

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Contacted

to get hold of
36 3.0
to get through
155 2.6
to get in touch
155 2.3
to speak to
∞ 1.7
to reach out
338 2.7

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 simple image of grabbing someone's sleeve to stop them so you can speak. If you could get hold of them you could reach or talk to them, so the phrase now means 'succeed in contacting' someone.