What is "to get the best of"

Get \Get\ (g[e^]t), v. t. [imp. Got (g[o^]t) (Obs. Gat (g[a^]t)); p. p. Got (Obsolescent Gotten (g[o^]t"t'n)); p. pr. & vb. n. Getting.] [OE. geten, AS. gitan, gietan (in comp.); akin to Icel. geta, Goth. bigitan to find, L. prehendere to seize, take, Gr. chanda`nein to hold, contain. Cf. Comprehend, Enterprise, Forget, Impregnable, Prehensile.]

1. To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of; to acquire; to earn; to obtain as a price or reward; to come by; to win, by almost any means; as, to get favor by kindness; to get wealth by industry and economy; to get land by purchase, etc.

2. Hence, with have and had, to come into or be in possession of; to have.
   --Johnson.

   Thou hast got the face of man.
   --Herbert.

3. To beget; to procreate; to generate.

   I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
   --Shak.

4. To obtain mental possession of; to learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; as to get a lesson; also with out; as, to get out one's Greek lesson.

   It being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty.
   --Bp. Fell.

5. To prevail on; to induce; to persuade.

   Get him to say his prayers.
   --Shak.

6. To procure to be, or to cause to be in any state or condition; -- with a following participle.

   Those things I bid you do; get them dispatched.
   --Shak.

7. To betake; to remove; -- in a reflexive use.

   Get thee out from this land.
   --Gen. xxxi. 13.

   He . . . got himself . . . to the strong town of Mega.
   --Knolles.

   Note: Get, as a transitive verb, is combined with adverbs implying motion, to express the causing to, or the effecting in, the object of the verb, of the kind of motion indicated by the preposition; thus, to get in, to cause to enter, to bring under shelter; as, to get in the hay; to get out, to make come forth, to extract; to get off, to take off, to remove; to get together, to cause to come together, to collect.

   To get by heart, to commit to memory.

   To get the better of, To get the best of, to obtain an advantage over; to surpass; to subdue.

   To get up, to cause to be established or to exit; to prepare; to arrange; to construct; to invent; as, to get up a celebration, a machine, a book, an agitation.

   Syn: To obtain; gain; win; acquire. See Obtain.

Best \Best\, n. Utmost; highest endeavor or state; most nearly perfect thing, or being, or action; as, to do one's best; to the best of our ability. At best, in the utmost degree or extent applicable to the case; under the most favorable circumstances; as, life is at best very short. For best, finally. [Obs.] ``Those constitutions . . . are now established for best, and not to be mended.'' --Milton. To get the best of, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. To make the best of.

1. To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest advantage. ``Let there be freedom to carry their commodities where they can make the best of them.''
   --Bacon.

2. To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain.