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to come into possession or ownership of; get as one’s own:
to acquire property.
to gain for oneself through one’s actions or efforts:
to acquire learning.
Linguistics. to achieve native or nativelike command of (a language or a linguistic rule or element).
Military. to locate and track (a moving target) with a detector, as radar.
Contemporary Examples

After acquiring $10,000, Gilbert wanted to save the money—Cooper wanted to spend it on their nuptials.
Eat, Pray, Dumped Danielle Friedman August 18, 2010

Paying cash on the barrel–or reducing your debt balances–raises the pain of acquiring the stuff.
Ask the Blogger Megan McArdle December 2, 2012

When acquiring the Times Newspaper Group, Murdoch bought up the satellite broadcaster that would become the basis of BSkyB.
News Corp. Split Could Mean No More Murdoch Dynasty Peter Jukes June 28, 2012

At another point in his television interview, Rose asked: How about acquiring Facebook?
How MySpace Blew It Lloyd Grove June 21, 2009

Economic logic tells us that therefore, they’re the ones who should pay the cost, and take the risk, of acquiring it.
Why Can’t Companies Find the Workers they Need? Megan McArdle November 14, 2012

Historical Examples

Differing from his white colleagues, he preferred instructing his scholars to the ambition of acquiring personal renown.
A World of Wonders Various

The expectation of acquiring a competent fortune did not last long.
The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson Robert Southey

The miser says,—You forbid me to love money, to seek after the means of acquiring it: alas!
The System of Nature, Volume 1 Paul Henri Thiery (Baron D’Holbach)

Gauss also devoted much of his time to acquiring the ancient and modern languages.
Heroes of the Telegraph J. Munro

He needed all the self-possession he had been years acquiring not to throw himself at her knees and declare his passion to her.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866 Various

verb
(transitive) to get or gain (something, such as an object, trait, or ability), esp more or less permanently
v.

mid-15c., acqueren, from Old French aquerre “acquire, gain, earn, procure,” from Vulgar Latin *acquaerere, from Latin acquirere “to seek in addition to” (see acquisition). Reborrowed in current form from Latin c.1600. Related: Acquired; acquiring.