Definition of "purchase"

purchase

/ˈpɝ.t͡ʃəs/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural purchases
1. The acquisition of title to, or property in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.
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.
  Quotations
  [Said by a shopkeeper] I really don't think you can carry any more purchases. You can come again after you sell something, or you can simply discard an item to lighten your load. Or, you might want to sell the things you don't need here!
  1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
4. (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)
  Quotations
  I'll […] get meat to save thee, / Or lose my life i’ th’ purchase.
  c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, Act V, scene iii
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.
  Quotations
  Suppose a freehold house to be worth 20 years’ purchase […]
  1848, The Sessional Papers printed by order of the House of Lords
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.
  Quotations
  The problem is that the model of individual responsibility assumed by most versions of ethics have little purchase on the behavior of Capital or corporations.
  2009, Mark Fisher, chapter 8, in Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Zero Books, pages 66–67
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. (climbing, uncountable) The amount of hold one has from an individual foothold or ledge.
  Quotations
  At first, he was climbing down, testing for purchase with his feet. But soon, as the entire section of ground rotated, he was lifted into the air, and up and down flipped around.
  2015, Hao Jingfang, “Folding Beijing”, in Ken Liu, transl., Uncanny Magazine‎, number 2
9. (law, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.
  Quotations
  The difference […] between the acquisition of an estate by descent and by purchase
  1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press
verb
third-person singular simple present purchases, present participle purchasing, simple past and past participle purchased
1. To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent.
2. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.
  Quotations
  that loves the thing he cannot purchase
  1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “May. Aegloga Quinta.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […]; republished as The Shepheardes Calender […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], 1586,
  Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.
  c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
  His faults […] hereditary / Rather than purchased.
  c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv]
3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.
  Quotations
  One poor retiring minute […] / Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.
  1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […]
4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
  Quotations
  Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
  c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]
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.
6. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
  Quotations
  Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
  1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Froissart's Chronicles
7. To constitute the buying power for a purchase, have a trading value.

Definition of "purchase"

purchase

noun

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verb

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