“Get something to work” vs ”Get something working”

Having the following sentences:

I did not get it to work.
I did not get it working.

Is there a difference in the meaning? What usage of "GET" is this (I would be happy for dictionary entry reference). IMHO the first one is "cause" (like I got him to do that). But I cannot find a reference to "get sth + ing".

Solution 1:

There can be a subtle difference.

If I were creating something, e.g. writing some new programming code; putting some electrical or mechanical components together to achieve a particular objective; installing and setting up a new TV set for the first time ^[1]; then, if unsuccessful, I might say "I didn't get it to work" or "I can't/couldn't get it to work" ^[1]. (It had never worked, because it was new.)

If I were repairing something that had previously worked (e.g. repairing a previously working TV set ^[1]) and the repair was unsuccessful, then I would probably say "I didn't/can't/couldn't get it working". (It had previously worked.)

Note that these are subtle differences, and I do not mean to imply that the expressions and scenarios are necessarily always used that way around, not that it would be wrong to use them the other way around.

_{^[1] Thanks to Janus Bahs Jacquet, whose comments contributed some examples and other input to my revised answer.}

Solution 2:

"I got it to work." - It is now capable of being utilized. It worked at least momentarily, either long enough to complete a task or just to prove functionality.

"I got it working." - Some amount of continuousness is implied. This is the same as "got it to work", but with additional information. You not only got the fridge to begin operating but it was left to run for some duration and probably continues to run now.

"I could not get it to work" - It did not function after your efforts, not even momentarily. This was possibly intended to be a momentary single-use instance, but there is no information in the sentence about possible continuousness.

"I could not get it working". - The same as above but you probably intended to leave it in a state of continuous operation, as you would a fridge. At the least, you envisioned it needing to be in a state of functionality​ for some duration so people could continuously tap into its utility.