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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Purchased}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Purchasing}.] [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}.]
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.
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |