fetching

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛt͡ʃɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɛtʃɪŋ
• Hyphenation: fetch‧ing

• Audio (US):

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Etymology 1

From fetch +‎ -ing.

Adjective

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:

     “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.

Derived terms

• fetchingly
• fetchingness
• unfetching

Translations

Attractive; pleasant to regard

Bulgarian: привлекателен (bg) (privlekatelen), очарователен (bg) (očarovatelen) Catalan: atractiu (ca) French: attirant (fr) German: attraktiv (de) Portuguese: atraente (pt) Russian: привлека́тельный (ru) m (privlekátelʹnyj) Spanish: atractivo (es)

Verb

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

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

Noun

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.