purchase Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the acquisition of something for payment
    • they closed the purchase with a handshake
  2. noun something acquired by purchase
  3. noun a means of exerting influence or gaining advantage
    • he could get no purchase on the situation
  4. noun the mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use a lever
    leverage.
  5. verb obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
    buy.
    • The family purchased a new car
    • The conglomerate acquired a new company
    • She buys for the big department store

WordNet

Pur"chase transitive verb
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Purchased ; present participle & verbal noun Purchasing
Definitions
  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. Shak.
    His faults . . . hereditary Rather than purchased. Shak.
  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. Shak.
    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. Shak.
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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 noun
Etymology
OE. purchds, F. pourchas eager pursuit. See Purchase, v. t.
Definitions
  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. Shak.
  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.

Webster 1913