I just rediscovered the colloquial expression "latch on to [something]" online and would like to know the story to its meaning of "obtain, get", which is presented by CD as AE and CE.
What I wish you could tell is if this idiom is appropriate for any sense of "obtain, get hold of" (i.e. come into possession, get, acquire, procure, find, as through effort or request). Or is it only suitable for specific contexts, and for certain registers but the most formal ones?
E.g.
He latched onto a fortune in the fur trade. source
I latched onto a good book about repairing plumbing. source
I have to latch onto a hundred bucks by Friday night. source
I don't know where Jane is. Let me try to latch onto her. source
She had already latched onto a new job with the Colorado Association of School Executives... source
Or they managed only in their memories, from a time when people latched onto a good job and then did everything in their power to keep it. source
I, however, latched onto a good little portable typewriter, which I brought with me back to France. source
I even latched onto a nice little leather Coach bag which I think is going to be a good Pad carrier. source
Meanwhile, the golfing world will have to latch onto a substitute, a fill-in, someone to pack the galleries. source