Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to start doing something.

1855		L. Oliphant Minnesota and the Far West 163: We had no intention of ‘getting to housekeeping’ in Superior.
1895		H.W. Nevinson Neighbours of Ours in DSUE (1984).
1994		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 4: get to steppin’ – leave.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 86: get to it! Command to become actively engaged in a task.

2. to effect, to influence emotionally, to worry.

1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 21: Johnny sided with the dame, and said I might at least try to act like a gentleman, even if I weren’t one. Perhaps the grape wasn’t getting to Johnny by this time.
1904		C. Connors Bowery Life [ebook] If yer want ter git to der gang, give 'em sumthin’ ter eat an’ not sumthin’ ter look at—not on yer tin-type.
1934		J.M. Cain Postman Always Rings Twice (1985) 108: He kind of got to you, hey?
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 13: This would get to one of the other cats and he’d yell, ‘Sing ’em, brother’.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 108: She got to me, got under my skin with some dark, mesmeric distillation of her own unique fascination.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 349: It seems as though this Muslim thing is getting to everybody.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 50: Don’t let it get to you.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘Watching the Girls Go By’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] You ain’t getting to me Del so save yer breath!
1990		E. George ‘The Evidence Exposed’ in Evidence Exposed (1999) 20: ‘She’s got to you,’ he said.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 19: I know wha’ it’s like hon. You can’t let it get to you.

3. (US) to defraud, to rob.

1900

Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Oct. 6/4: One of the best known of Western gamblers was made the victim of a pair of sharpers [...] the other night, and they ‘got to him’ for $1,200.

4. to corrupt, to bribe, to influence.

1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 86: ‘[T]he Wise Cracker gets to this business bloke wit a tale ’bout a horse [...] an he lays the guy fer a hundred-dollar bet’.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 41: The fact that the jury has been out 24 hours convinces me that Tobasco got to one of them.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 85: Get To. – To bribe.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 94: Someone has got to you to change your story.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 188: The boys are already operating with a strong fix in the Paxton Square district — I think they got to Captain Megher.
1956		J. Thompson ‘The Cellini Chalice’ in Fireworks (1988) 90: Dammit, Doc Krug must’ve got to the babe after all!
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 800: get to To bribe.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 14: I knew Fats had gotten to one screw.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 46: I’ll get to your D.A. or your cops or even to you.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 90: Jury pickin’s done and I can’t git to none.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 10: ‘Can’t you get to them [i.e. the police]?’.
1999		Observer 10 Jan. 14: Can’t we do anything to help him? What bizzies can we get to?

5. (N.Z.) to attack physically; to kill.

1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Dec. 18/1: Get to ’im, Lad!... You’re on a blanky drink / If you can wooden ’im! Good on yer, Bert!
1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 44: Somebody got to Isidro t’night. They put a bullet in between his eyes.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 48: I started scheming to get to Tommy.
1984		W.D. Myers Motown and Didi 27: [T]he word on the block was that Touchy had got to him.

6. (US Und.) to gain or possess information about.

1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 187: None of the Philadelphia dicks had got to me.
2010		W.D. Myers Lockdown 120: We all saw what was going down, but why it was going down was harder to get to.

7. to listen; thus get to this, listen to this.

1969

H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 78: That was as much proof as I needed to know that them muthafuckas was crazy. Rap Brown, policeman! Get to that!