purchase
see also: Purchase
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˈpɝtʃəs/
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈpɜːtʃəs/
Noun

purchase

  1. The acquisition of title to, or property in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.
    They offer a free hamburger with the purchase of a drink.
  2. That which is obtained, got or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
  3. That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent.
    He was pleased with his latest purchase.
  4. (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)
    • c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act 5, scene 3:
      I'll […] get meat to save thee, / Or lose my life i' th' purchase.
  5. A price paid for a house or estate, etc. equal to the amount of the rent or income during the stated number of years.
    • 1848, The Sessional Papers printed by order of the House of Lords
      Suppose a freehold house to be worth 20 years' purchase […]
  6. (uncountable, also, figuratively) Any mechanical hold or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle or capstan.
    Synonyms: contact, grip, hold
    It is hard to get purchase on a nail without a pry bar or hammer.
  7. The apparatus, tackle or device by which such mechanical advantage is gained and in nautical terminology the ratio of such a device, like a pulley, or block and tackle.
  8. (rock climbing, uncountable) The amount of hold one has from an individual foothold or ledge.
    Synonyms: foothold, support
  9. (legal, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: добы́тая вещь
Translations
  • Russian: выигрыш в силе
Verb

purchase (purchases, present participle purchasing; past and past participle purchased)

  1. To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent.
    to purchase land, to purchase a house
  2. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.
    • that loves the thing he cannot purchase
    • c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
      Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.
    • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:
      His faults […] hereditary / Rather than purchased.
  3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.
    to purchase favor with flattery
    • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lvcrece (First Quarto), London: Printed by Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664 ↗:
      One poor retiring minute […] / Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.
  4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
    • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene i]:
      Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
  5. To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to; to raise or move by mechanical means.
    to purchase a cannon
  6. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
    • Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
  7. To constitute the buying power for a purchase, have a trading value.
    Many aristocratic refugees' portable treasures purchased their safe passage and comfortable exile during the revolution
Synonyms Translations Translations
  • French: acquérir
  • Russian: приобрета́ть

Purchase
Proper noun
  1. Surname
  2. A hamlet in Harrison, New York.



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