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I do really enjoy how rich the language of adpositions is, but two of those in a row is something rare to me.

So I just heard this phrase in an HBO show:

— […]

— Get it over with.

It appeared in a context of stopping a frustrated person from talking about their problem anymore. To me, it sounds a lot like Deal with it. Am I close?.. I have a somewhat uneasy understanding over the with.

Is this any valid grammar at all?

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    It means just do it so that it will be finished as quickly as possible.
    – Jim
    Commented Dec 24, 2016 at 23:56
  • 3
    It can be used in several senses, depending on context (and you give us none). (And note that one might confuse that idiom and "get over it", which has a different meaning.)
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 0:10
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    There is also an idiom "get over it" - which means "stop dwelling on it" or "stop thinking about a past event". Are you sure you transcribed what you heard correctly?
    – John Feltz
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 2:46
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    Get it over with often means Go ahead and do/complete it. Another colloquial way to say it is Just do it already.
    – Arm the good guys in America
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 5:03
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    @Clare - I think you should put this in an answer. It sounds right to me.
    – aparente001
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 6:21

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines to get it over with as

to complete an unpleasant or tedious but necessary task promptly.

The Oxford dictionary online (ODO) defines get something over with as

Do or undergo something unpleasant or difficult, so as to be rid of it.

So yes, one could say this to someone who is bent on talking and talking about some unpleasant chore and not really wanting to do it.

Examples from the OED:

The thing had to be done, and the sooner he got it over with the better.

(1899 Vassar Misc. (Vassar Coll., N.Y.) Feb. 211)

I sense that he is dog-tired and just wants to get the meeting over with.

(2004 S. Mehta Maximum City 332)

From the ODO:

‘I suppose it was a good idea to get it over with quickly.’

Once a task is finished, you can say the task is

over and done with or over with

It will be hard work to get through the three months to Cousin Maria's wedding; I wish it were ‘over and done with’.

(1822 M. Arden Diary in National Mag. (1856) Nov. 54/1)

I was shaking and sweating at the checkout, wanting it to be over with, wanting to be out of there.

(1999 T. Parsons Man & Boy (2000) xii. 101)

See also the ODO

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