[syn: buy, purchase]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Purchased;
p. pr. & vb. n. Purchasing.] [OE. purchasen, porchacen, OF.
porchacier, purchacier, to pursue, to seek eagerly, F.
pourchasser; OF. pour, por, pur, for (L. pro) + chacier to
pursue, to chase. See Chase.]
1. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain,
obtain, or acquire. --Chaucer.
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That loves the thing he can not purchase. --Spenser.
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Your accent is Something finer than you could
purchase in so removed a dwelling. --Shak.
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His faults . . . hereditary
Rather than purchased. --Shak.
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2. To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a
price; as, to purchase land, or a house.
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The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of
Heth. --Gen. xxv.
10.
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3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or
sacrifice, etc.; as, to purchase favor with flattery.
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One poor retiring minute . . .
Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.
--Shak.
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A world who would not purchase with a bruise?
--Milton.
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4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit. [Obs.]
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Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
--Shak.
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5. (Law)
(a) To acquire by any means except descent or inheritance.
--Blackstone.
(b) To buy for a price.
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6. To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical
advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to;
as, to purchase a cannon.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Purchase \Pur"chase\, v. i.
1. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to
exert one's self. [Obs.]
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Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl
of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
--Ld. Berners.
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2. To acquire wealth or property. [Obs.]
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Sure our lawyers
Would not purchase half so fast. --J. Webster.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), n. [OE. purchds, F. pourchas eager
pursuit. See Purchase, v. t.]
1. The act of seeking, getting, or obtaining anything. [Obs.]
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I'll . . . get meat to have thee,
Or lose my life in the purchase. --Beau. & Fl.
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2. The act of seeking and acquiring property.
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3. The acquisition of title to, or properly in, anything for
a price; buying for money or its equivalent.
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It is foolish to lay out money in the purchase of
repentance. --Franklin.
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4. That which is obtained, got, or acquired, in any manner,
honestly or dishonestly; property; possession;
acquisition. --Chaucer. B. Jonson.
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We met with little purchase upon this coast, except
two small vessels of Golconda. --De Foe.
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A beauty-waning and distressed widow . . .
Made prize and purchase of his lustful eye. --Shak.
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5. That which is obtained for a price in money or its
equivalent. "The scrip was complete evidence of his right
in the purchase." --Wheaton.
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6. Any mechanical hold, or advantage, applied to the raising
or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle,
capstan, and the like; also, the apparatus, tackle, or
device by which the advantage is gained.
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A politician, to do great things, looks for a power
-- what our workmen call a purchase. --Burke.
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7. (Law) Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means
than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or
agreement. --Blackstone.
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Purchase criminal, robbery. [Obs.] --Spenser.
Purchase money, the money paid, or contracted to be paid,
for anything bought. --Berkeley.
Worth [so many] years' purchase, or At [so many] years'
purchase, a phrase by which the value or cost of a thing is
expressed in the length of time required for the income to
amount to the purchasing price; as, he bought the estate
at a twenty years' purchase. To say one's life is
not worth a day's purchase in the same as saying one will
not live a day, or is in imminent peril.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
purchase
n 1: the acquisition of something for payment; "they closed the
purchase with a handshake"
2: something acquired by purchase
3: a means of exerting influence or gaining advantage; "he could
get no purchase on the situation"
4: the mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use
a lever [syn: leverage, purchase]
v 1: obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial
transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The
conglomerate acquired a new company"; "She buys for the big
department store" [syn: buy, purchase] [ant: sell]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
135 Moby Thesaurus words for "purchase":
achieve, acquire, acquiring, acquisition, advantage, approach,
ascendancy, attain, authority, bear hug, bite, bribe, buy,
buy back, buy in, buy into, buy off, buy on credit, buy up, buying,
charisma, charm, clamp, clasp, clench, clinch, cling, clinging,
clout, clutch, complete a purchase, consequence, control, corner,
corrupt, credit, death grip, dominance, domination, edge, effect,
embrace, eminence, enchantment, engross, esteem, favor, firm hold,
fix, foothold, footing, footplate, footrail, footrest, force, gain,
get, get at, get to, good feeling, grapple, grasp, grease,
grease the palm, grip, gripe, hold, hug, importance,
incidental power, influence, influentiality, insinuation,
iron grip, leadership, leverage, locus standi, magnetism,
make a buy, mastery, moment, monopolize, nip, obtain, obtaining,
pay for, pay off, perch, personality, persuasion, position,
potency, power, predominance, preponderance, pressure, prestige,
procure, procurement, purchasing, reach, realize, rebuy, regrate,
reign, repurchase, repute, rule, say, secure, securing, seizure,
stance, stand, standing, standing place, suasion, suborn,
subtle influence, suggestion, support, supremacy, sway, tackle,
take, take care of, tamper with, tickle the palm, tight grip,
toehold, traction, upper hand, weight, whip hand, win
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
PURCHASE. In its most enlarged and technical sense, purchase signifies the
lawful acquisition of real estate by any means whatever, except descent. It
is thus defined by Littleton, section 12. "Purchase is called the possession
of lands or tenements that a man hath by his own deed or agreement, unto
which possession he cometh, not by title of descent from any of his
ancestors or cousins, but by his own deed."
2. It follows, therefore, that not only when a man acquires an estate
by buying it for a good or valuable consideration, but also when it is given
or devised to him be acquires it by purchase. 2 Bl. Com. 241.
3. There are six ways of acquiring a title by purchase, namely, 1. By,
deed. 2. By devise. 3. By execution. 4. By prescription. 5. By possession,
or occupancy. 6. By escheat. In its more limited sense, purchase is applied
only to such acquisitions of lands as are obtained by way of bargain and
sale for money, or some other valuable consideration. Id. Cruise, Dig. tit.
30, s. 1, to 4; 1 Dall. R. 20. In common parlance, purchase signifies the
buying of real estate and of goods and chattels.