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buy

[bahy]
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verb (used with object), bought, buy·ing.
  1. to acquire the possession of, or the right to, by paying or promising to pay an equivalent, especially in money; purchase.
  2. to acquire by exchange or concession: to buy favor with flattery.
  3. to hire or obtain the services of: The Yankees bought a new center fielder.
  4. to bribe: Most public officials cannot be bought.
  5. to be the monetary or purchasing equivalent of: Ten dollars buys less than it used to.
  6. Chiefly Theology. to redeem; ransom.
  7. Cards. to draw or be dealt (a card): He bought an ace.
  8. Informal.
    1. to accept or believe: I don't buy that explanation.
    2. to be deceived by: He bought the whole story.
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verb (used without object), bought, buy·ing.
  1. to be or become a purchaser.
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noun
  1. an act or instance of buying.
  2. something bought or to be bought; purchase: That coat was a sensible buy.
  3. a bargain: The couch was a real buy.
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Verb Phrases
  1. buy down, to lower or reduce (the mortgage interest rate) by means of a buy-down.
  2. buy in,
    1. to buy a supply of; accumulate a stock of.
    2. to buy back one's own possession at an auction.
    3. to undertake a buy-in.
    Also buy into.
  3. buy into, to purchase a share, interest, or membership in: They tried to buy into the club but were not accepted.
  4. buy off, to get rid of (a claim, opposition, etc.) by payment; purchase the noninterference of; bribe: The corrupt official bought off those who might expose him.
  5. buy out, to secure all of (an owner or partner's) share or interest in an enterprise: She bought out an established pharmacist and is doing very well.
  6. buy up, to buy as much as one can of something or as much as is offered for sale: He bought up the last of the strawberries at the fruit market.
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Idioms
  1. buy it, Slang. to get killed: He bought it at Dunkirk.
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Origin of buy

before 1000; Middle English byen, variant of byggen, buggen, Old English bycgan; cognate with Old Saxon buggjan, Gothic bugjan to buy, Old Norse byggja to lend, rent
Related formsbuy·a·ble, adjectivenon·buy·ing, adjective, nounpre·buy, verb (used with object), pre·bought, pre·buy·ing.re·buy, verb, re·bought, re·buy·ing.un·buy·a·ble, adjectiveun·buy·ing, adjective
Can be confusedbuy by bye

Synonym study

1. Buy, purchase imply obtaining or acquiring property or goods for a price. Buy is the common and informal word, applying to any such transaction: to buy a house, vegetables at the market. Purchase is more formal and may connote buying on a larger scale, in a finer store, and the like: to purchase a year's supplies.

Antonyms

1. sell.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for buy

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Would you mind selling it to me if I will give you money enough to buy a new one?

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • Winter was near and he had no money to buy cloaks for his children.

    Ancient Man

    Hendrik Willem van Loon

  • You know I do not care about money, except just to buy my clothes and things.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • There, some are tempted to buy; and some repent of having bought.

  • She can't do it, and buy food and clothes, and pay room-rent and carfare.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

British Dictionary definitions for buy

buy

verb buys, buying or bought (mainly tr)
  1. to acquire by paying or promising to pay a sum of money or the equivalent; purchase
  2. to be capable of purchasingmoney can't buy love
  3. to acquire by any exchange or sacrificeto buy time by equivocation
  4. (intr) to act as a buyer
  5. to bribe or corrupt; hire by or as by bribery
  6. slang to accept as true, practical, etc
  7. (intr foll by into) to purchase shares of (a company)we bought into General Motors
  8. (tr) theol (esp of Christ) to ransom or redeem (a Christian or the soul of a Christian)
  9. have bought it slang to be killed
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noun
  1. a purchase (often in the phrases good or bad buy)
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See also buy in, buy into, buy off, buy out, buy up

Word Origin

Old English bycgan; related to Old Norse byggja to let out, lend, Gothic bugjan to buy

usage

The use of off after buy as in I bought this off my neighbour was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable in informal contexts
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for buy

v.

Old English bycgan (past tense bohte) "to buy, pay for, acquire; redeem, ransom; procure; get done," from Proto-Germanic *bugjanan (cf. Old Saxon buggjan, Old Norse byggja, Gothic bugjan), of unknown origin, not found outside Germanic.

The surviving spelling is southwest England dialect; the word was generally pronounced in Old English and Middle English with a -dg- sound as "budge," or "bidge." Meaning "believe, accept as true" first recorded 1926. Related: Bought; buying. To buy time "prevent further deterioration but make no improvement" is attested from 1946.

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n.

"a purchase," especially a worthwhile one, 1879, American English, from buy (v.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper