obtain

Etymology

From Middle English obteinen, from Anglo-Norman obtenir, optiner et al., and Middle French obtenir, from Latin obtinēre (“to gain, achieve, succeed, possess”), from ob- + tenēre (“to hold”).

verb

1. (transitive) To get hold of; to gain possession of, to procure; to acquire, in any way.
   But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained. 21 June 2013, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48
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.
   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. (transitive, obsolete) To hold; to keep, possess or occupy.
5. (intransitive, archaic) To exist or be the case; to hold true, be in force.
   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