'Purchase' definitions:

Definition of 'purchase'

(from WordNet)
noun
The acquisition of something for payment; "they closed the purchase with a handshake"
noun
Something acquired by purchase
noun
A means of exerting influence or gaining advantage; "he could get no purchase on the situation"
noun
The mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use a lever [syn: leverage, purchase]
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" [syn: buy, purchase] [ant: sell]

Definition of 'Purchase'

From: GCIDE
  • Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), n. [OE. purchds, F. pourchas eager pursuit. See Purchase, v. t.]
  • 1. The act of seeking, getting, or obtaining anything. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • I'll . . . get meat to have thee, Or lose my life in the purchase. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The act of seeking and acquiring property. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. The acquisition of title to, or properly in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent. [1913 Webster]
  • It is foolish to lay out money in the purchase of repentance. --Franklin. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. That which is obtained, got, or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition. --Chaucer. B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]
  • We met with little purchase upon this coast, except two small vessels of Golconda. --De Foe. [1913 Webster]
  • A beauty-waning and distressed widow . . . Made prize and purchase of his lustful eye. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • A politician, to do great things, looks for a power -- what our workmen call a purchase. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. (Law) Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement. --Blackstone. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Purchase'

From: GCIDE
  • Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), v. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • That loves the thing he can not purchase. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • Your accent is Something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • His faults . . . hereditary Rather than purchased. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a price; as, to purchase land, or a house. [1913 Webster]
  • The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth. --Gen. xxv. 10. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.; as, to purchase favor with flattery. [1913 Webster]
  • One poor retiring minute . . . Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • A world who would not purchase with a bruise? --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. (Law) (a) To acquire by any means except descent or inheritance. --Blackstone. (b) To buy for a price. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Purchase'

From: GCIDE
  • Purchase \Pur"chase\, v. i.
  • 1. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert one's self. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage. --Ld. Berners. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To acquire wealth or property. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Sure our lawyers Would not purchase half so fast. --J. Webster. [1913 Webster]