Purchase

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɜːtʃəs/, IPA: /ˈpɚːtʃəs/

Origin

From Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-Norman purchacer ("seek to obtain") from pur- (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").

Full definition of purchase

Noun

1. (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)
• Beaumont and FletcherI'll ... get meat to have thee,
  Or lose my life in the purchase.
2. An individual item one has purchased.
3. 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.
4. That which is obtained, got or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
5. That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent.He was pleased with his latest purchase.
6. (uncountable) 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.
7. 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.
8. (rock climbing, uncountable) The amount of hold one has from an individual foothold or ledge.
9. (legal, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.

Derived terms

• purchase order
• repurchase

Verb

1. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.
• Spenserthat loves the thing he cannot purchase
• ShakespeareYour accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.
• ShakespeareHis faults ... hereditary
  Rather than purchased.
2. To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent.to purchase land, to purchase a house
3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.to purchase favor with flattery
• ShakespeareOne poor retiring minute ...
  Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.
4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
• ShakespeareNot tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
5. To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to.to purchase a cannon
6. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
• Ld. BernersDuke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
7. 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

Synonyms

• (buy) procure

Derived terms

• purchable
• purchasing agent
• purchasing power