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Webster 1913 Edition

Purchase

Pur′chase

(?; 48)
,
Verb.
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.
That loves the thing he can not
purchase
.
Spenser.
Your accent is Something finer than you could
purchase
in so removed a dwelling.
Shakespeare
His faults . . . hereditary
Rather than
purchased
.
Shakespeare
2.
To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a price;
as, to
purchase
land, or a house
.
The field which Abraham
purchased
of the sons of Heth.
Gen. xxv. 10.
3.
To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.;
as, to
purchase
favor with flattery
.
One poor retiring minute . . .
Would
purchase
thee a thousand thousand friends.
Shakespeare
A world who would not
purchase
with a bruise?
Milton.
4.
To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
[Obs.]
Not tears nor prayers shall
purchase
out abuses.
Shakespeare
5.
(Law)
(a)
To acquire by any means except descent or inheritance.
Blackstone.
(b)
To buy for a price.
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
.

Pur′chase

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert one’s self.
[Obs.]
Duke John of Brabant
purchased
greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
Ld. Berners.
2.
To acquire wealth or property.
[Obs.]
Sure our lawyers
Would not
purchase
half so fast.
J. Webster.

Pur′chase

(?; 48)
,
Noun.
[OE.
purchds
, F.
pourchas
eager pursuit. See
Purchase
,
Verb.
T.
]
1.
The act of seeking, getting, or obtaining anything.
[Obs.]
I'll . . . get meat to have thee,
Or lose my life in the
purchase
.
Beau. & Fl.
2.
The act of seeking and acquiring property.
3.
The acquisition of title to, or properly in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.
It is foolish to lay out money in the
purchase
of repentance.
Franklin.
4.
That which is obtained, got, or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
Chaucer. B. Jonson.
We met with little
purchase
upon this coast, except two small vessels of Golconda.
De Foe.
A beauty-waning and distressed widow . . .
Made prize and
purchase
of his lustful eye.
Shakespeare
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.
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.
A politician, to do great things, looks for a power – what our workmen call a
purchase
.
Burke.
7.
(Law)
Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.
Blackstone.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Purchase

PUR'CHASE

,
Verb.
T.
[This word seems to be considered by Blackstone as formed from the L. perquisitio. This is an error. The word is from the root of chase; purchaser is to pursue to the end or object, and hence to obtain. In Law Latin, purchase, the noun, was written purchacium. The legal use of the word in obtaining writs, shows best its true origin; to purchase a writ, is to sue out a writ, that is, to seek it out; for sue, seek, and L. sequor, are all of one origin, and synonymous with chase.]
1.
In its primary and legal sense, to gain, obtain or acquire by any means, except by descent or hereditary right.
2.
In common usage, to buy; to obtain property by paying an equivalent in money. It differs from barter only in the circumstance, that in purchasing, the price or equivalent given or secured is money; in bartering,the equivalent is given in goods. We purchase lands or goods for ready money or on credit.
3.
To obtain by an expense of labor, danger or other sacrifice; as, to purchase favor with flattery.
A world who would not purchase with a bruise?
4.
To expiate or recompense by a fine or forfeit; as, to purchase out abuses with tears and prayer.
5.
To sue out or procure, as a writ.

PUR'CHASE

,
Verb.
I.
In seaman's language, to draw in ; as, the capstern purchases apace, that is, it draws in the cable apace, it gains it.

PUR'CHASE

, n.
1.
In law, the act of obtaining or acquiring the title to lands and tenements by money, deed, gift or any means, except by descent; the acquisition of lands and tenements by a man's own act or agreement.
2.
In law, the suing out and obtaining a writ.
3.
In common usage, the acquisition of the title or property of any thing by rendering an equivalent in money.
It is foolish to lay out money in the purchase of repentance.
4.
That which is purchased; any thing of which the property is obtained by giving an equivalent price in money.
The scrip was complete evidence of his right in the purchase.
5.
That which is obtained by labor, danger, art, &c.
A beauty waning and distressed widow
Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye--
6.
Formerly, robbery, and the thing stolen.
7.
Any mechanical power or force applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies.

Definition 2024

Purchase

Purchase

See also: purchase

English

Proper noun

Purchase

  1. A surname​.

purchase

purchase

See also: Purchase

English

Noun

purchase ‎(countable and uncountable, plural purchases)

  1. (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)
    • Beaumont and Fletcher
      I'll […] get meat to have thee, / Or lose my life in the purchase.
  2. An individual item one has purchased.
  3. 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.
  4. That which is obtained, got or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
  5. That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent.
    He was pleased with his latest purchase.
  6. (uncountable) Any mechanical hold or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle or capstan.
    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.
  9. (law, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Blackstone to this entry?)

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

purchase ‎(third-person singular simple present purchases, present participle purchasing, simple past and past participle purchased)

  1. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.
    • Spenser
      that loves the thing he cannot purchase
    • Shakespeare
      Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.
    • Shakespeare
      His faults […] hereditary / Rather than purchased.
  2. To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent.
    to purchase land, to purchase a house
  3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.
    to purchase favor with flattery
    • Shakespeare
      One poor retiring minute […] / Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.
  4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
    • Shakespeare
      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 purchase a cannon
  6. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
    • Ld. Berners
      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

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-Norman purchacer ‎(“seek to obtain”) from pur- (Latin pro-) + chac(i)er ‎(“to chase, pursue”). Compare Old French porchacier ‎(“to follow, to chase”), which has given French pourchasser ‎(“to chase without relent”).

Pronunciation

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