What does "purchase" mean?
Purchase: 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.
Additional senses
- 2.3. 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.
- 3.To expiate by a fine or forfeit. [Obs.] Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses. Shak.
- 4.(Law) (a) To acquire by any means except descent or inheritance. Blackstone. (b) To buy for a price.
- 5.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.
- 6.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.
- 7.To acquire wealth or property. [Obs.] Sure our lawyers Would not purchase half so fast. J. Webster.
- 8.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.
- 9.The act of seeking and acquiring property.
- 10.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.
- 11.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.
- 12.That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent. "The scrip was complete evidence of his right in the purchase." Wheaton.
- 13.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.
- 14.(Law) Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement. Blackstone. Purchase criminal, robbery. [Obs.] Spenser. -- Purchase money, the money paid, or contracted to be paid, for anything bought. Berkeley. -- Worth, 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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00