Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To be unable to remember (something).
  • intransitive verb To treat with thoughtless inattention; neglect.
  • intransitive verb To leave behind unintentionally.
  • intransitive verb To fail to mention.
  • intransitive verb To banish from one's thoughts.
  • intransitive verb Informal To disregard on purpose. Usually used in the imperative.
  • intransitive verb To cease remembering.
  • intransitive verb To fail or neglect to become aware at the proper or specified moment.
  • idiom (forget (oneself)) To lose one's reserve, temper, or self-restraint.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In glove-making, same as fourchette, 2.
  • To lose, temporarily or permanently, the power of recalling to consciousness (something once known or thought of); permit to pass, for a time or forever, from the mind; cease or fail to remember.
  • Figuratively, to overlook or neglect in any way; fail to take thought of; lose care for.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To lose the remembrance of; to let go from the memory; to cease to have in mind; not to think of; also, to lose the power of; to cease from doing.
  • transitive verb To treat with inattention or disregard; to slight; to neglect.
  • transitive verb To be guilty of what is unworthy of one; to lose one's dignity, temper, or self-control.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To lose remembrance of.
  • verb transitive To unintentionally not do, neglect.
  • verb intransitive To cease remembering.
  • verb slang euphemism for fuck, screw (a mild oath).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be unable to remember
  • verb leave behind unintentionally
  • verb dismiss from the mind; stop remembering
  • verb forget to do something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English forgeten, from Old English forgietan; see ghend- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English forgeten, forgiten, forȝeten, forȝiten, from Old English forġietan ("to forget"), from Proto-Germanic *fragetanan (“to give up, forget”), equivalent to for- +‎ get. Cognate with Scots forget, forȝet ("to forget"), West Frisian ferjitte, forjitte ("to forget"), Dutch vergeten ("to forget"), German vergessen ("to forget"), Swedish förgäta ("to forget").

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Examples

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  • A town in Saskatchewan, Canada, named after Amédée E. ... ummm ... err ... now let me see ...

    January 3, 2008