Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To acquire in exchange for money or its equivalent; purchase. See Regional Note at boughten.
- v. To be capable of purchasing: "Certainly there are lots of things in life that money won't buy” ( Ogden Nash).
- v. To acquire by sacrifice, exchange, or trade: wanted to buy love with gifts.
- v. To bribe: tried to buy a judge.
- v. Informal To accept the truth or feasibility of: The officer didn't buy my lame excuse for speeding.
- v. To purchase something; act as a purchaser.
- n. Something bought or for sale; a purchase.
- n. An act of purchasing: a drug buy.
- n. Something that is underpriced; a bargain.
- buy into To acquire a stake or interest in: bought into a risky real estate venture.
- buy into Informal To believe in, especially wholeheartedly or uncritically: couldn't buy into that brand of conservatism.
- buy off To bribe (an official, for example) in order to secure improper cooperation or gain exemption from a regulation or legal consequence.
- buy out To purchase the entire stock, business rights, or interests of.
- buy up To purchase all that is available of.
- idiom. buy it Slang To be killed.
- idiom. buy time To increase the time available for a specific purpose: "A moderate recovery thus buys time for Congress and the Administration to whittle the deficit” ( G. David Wallace).
- idiom. buy the farm Slang To die, especially suddenly or violently.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To acquire the possession of, or the right or title to, by paying a consideration or an equivalent, usually in money; obtain by paying a price to the seller; purchase: opposed to sell.
- Hence To get, acquire, or procure for any kind of equivalent: as, to buy favor with flattery.
- To bribe; corrupt or pervert by giving a consideration; gain over by money, etc.
- To be sufficient to purchase or procure; serve as an equivalent in procuring: as, gold cannot buy health.
- To aby; suffer.
- To buy for the owner at a public sale, especially when an insufficient price is offered.
- To purchase all the share or shares of (a person) in a stock, fund, or partnership, or all his interest in a business: as, A buys out B.
- To be or become a purchaser.
Wiktionary
- v. To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods
- v. To bribe.
- v. to accept as true; to believe
- n. Something which is bought; a purchase.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To acquire the ownership of (property) by giving an accepted price or consideration therefor, or by agreeing to do so; to acquire by the payment of a price or value; to purchase; -- opposed to sell.
- v. To acquire or procure by something given or done in exchange, literally or figuratively; to get, at a cost or sacrifice.
- v. To negotiate or treat about a purchase.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
- v. acquire by trade or sacrifice or exchange
- v. obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
- v. accept as true
- n. an advantageous purchase
- v. be worth or be capable of buying
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English bycgan.
Examples
“If you haven't gotten ten to at least say they'll buy, where do you get your hubris to proclaim that thousands actually will buy?”
“Whandall understood that the word buy was an insult.”
“He said media reports wrongly characterize what he called "buy and sell" shops as pawnshops in stories about police raids.”
“The enormous investment is worthwhile not only for the opportunity at a title buy but also to persuade James to re-sign this summer.”
“We've been looking at what I call the buy-versus-make situation to see whether there isn't ultimately a more economic solution," he told analysts Thursday.”
“And yet the word "buy" is significant; for we are elsewhere bidden, "buy wine and milk without money and without price," and "buy of Christ gold tried in the fire," &c.”
“I hope Lindsey and McCain buy a house and and enjoy their golden years together”
Think Progress » Graham Falsely Claims GOP Has Only Used Reconciliation With ‘Bipartisan Support’
“WTF would YOU know about ‘expensive liquor’ when all you are allowed to buy is PAVLOV?”
“I'm half way through this month's Saveur and dreaming about the tamales that I use to buy from a lady on a country road out in Marble Falls.”
“Nuhiva's bumping along astern there, though what she can buy is beyond me.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘buy’.

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