purchase
UK /ˈpɜːtʃɪs/ · US /ˈpɜɹ.tʃəs/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms purchases purchasing purchased
- noun 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.”
- noun That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent. “He was pleased with his latest purchase.”
- noun That which is obtained, got or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
- noun (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)
- noun A price paid for a house or estate, etc. equal to the amount of the rent or income during the stated number of years.
- noun (uncountable, also figuratively) 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.”
- noun 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.
- noun (climbing, uncountable) The amount of hold one has from an individual foothold or ledge.
- verb To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent. “to purchase land, to purchase a house”
- verb To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.
- verb To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc. “to purchase favor with flattery”
- verb To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
- verb To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to; to raise or move by mechanical means. “to purchase a cannon”
- verb To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
- verb 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.”
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A hamlet in Harrison, New York.
Synonyms
emption contact grip hold foothold support procure leverage buy
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-Norman purchacer (“seek to obtain”) from pur- (from 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”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire. Chaucer.
- verb To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a price; as, to purchase land, or a house.
- verb To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert one's self. [Obs.]
- verb To acquire wealth or property. [Obs.]
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.]
Etymology [OE. purchds, F. pourchas eager pursuit. See Purchase, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “purchase”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details