Buy
[baɪ]
Definition
(verb.) accept as true; 'I can't buy this story'.
(verb.) 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'.
(verb.) acquire by trade or sacrifice or exchange; 'She wanted to buy his love with her dedication to him and his work'.
(verb.) be worth or be capable of buying; 'This sum will buy you a ride on the train'.
Editor: Monica--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) 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. t.) To acquire or procure by something given or done in exchange, literally or figuratively; to get, at a cost or sacrifice; to buy pleasure with pain.
(v. i.) To negotiate or treat about a purchase.
Typist: Rosa
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Purchase, bargain for.
Editor: Patrick
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Purchase, bribe, subsidize, suborn
ANT:Sell, vend, hawk, retail
Edited by Dorothy
Definition
v.t. to purchase for money: to bribe: to obtain in exchange for something:—pr.p. buy′ing; pa.t. and pa.p. bought (bawt).—adj. Buy′able capable of being bought.—n. Buy′er one who buys a purchaser.—Buy and sell (Shak.) to barter; Buy in to purchase a stock: to buy back for the owner at an auction; Buy off or out to gain release from military service by payment of money; Buy over to gain by bribery; Buy up to purchase the whole stock.
Typed by Essie
Examples
- She asks for a hundred pounds, and endeavors to buy them off. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Well, then, we'll all go ahead and buy up niggers, said the man, if that's the way of Providence,--won't we, Squire? Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I want some money, you know, Aunt--some to buy little things for myself--and he doesn't give me any. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- People admired the machines as a curiosity, but none were induced to buy them or help him pecuniarily. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Why does he buy it then? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- You have money, and can buy the means of travelling to the seacoast as quickly as the journey can be made. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- So long as your grand folks wants to buy men and women, I'm as good as they is, said Haley; 'tan't any meaner sellin' on 'em, that 't is buyin'! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- We bought books and magazines in the town and a copy of Hoyle and learned many two-handed card games. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Her uncle, always liberal, had bought a garden-chair for her express use. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Sons of white fathers, with all our haughty feelings burning in their veins, will not always be bought and sold and traded. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I was not bought, body and soul. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- See here, I've bought a statuette for you! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Generally speaking, meats are the most expensive foods we can purchase, and hence should be bought seldom and in small quantities. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- He bought Mr. Peacock's practice, which, they say, is worth eight or nine hundred a-year. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Buying and selling was transacted by means of money in England then as well as now. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- And then you have added so much to it yourself, you are always buying books. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- He gave me my watch and chain, and spared no expense in buying them; both were of superior workmanship, and very expensive. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I can't resist them when I see Sallie buying all she wants, and pitying me because I don't. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Was it for him to have the shame of buying her, or the meanness of punishing her? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- But as Warren Hastings looked at gold and thought of buying Daylesford, so Joshua Rigg looked at Stone Court and thought of buying gold. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- There was no buying of foundry iron by analysis, no high carbon steels, no fancy tool steels--nor any efficiency experts with their stop watches and scientific speed-and-feed tables. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- A man to-day buys a ready-made shirt for fifty cents, which fifty years ago would have cost him $2. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Mr. Brocklehurst buys all our food and all our clothes. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- The man buys it, of course, and finds nothing in it. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- You can't tell what you're smoking in one of these new houses--likely as not the CHEF buys the cigars. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Speculators buys 'em up cheap, when they's little, and gets 'em raised for market. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The tailor does not attempt to make his own shoes, but buys them of the shoemaker. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The man who buys, does not always mean to sell again, but frequently to use or to consume; whereas he who sells always means to buy again. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Checked by Dale