*buy*

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bought p. pr. & vb. n. Buying ] [ OE. buggen, buggen, bien, AS. bycgan, akin to OS. buggean, Goth. bugjan. ] 1. To acquire the ownership of (property) by giving an accepted price or consideration therefor, or by agreeing to do so; to acquire by the payment of a price or value; to purchase; -- opposed to sell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries. B. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To acquire or procure by something given or done in exchange, literally or figuratively; to get, at a cost or sacrifice; to buy pleasure with pain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. Prov. xxiii. 23. [ 1913 Webster ]

To buy again. See Againbuy. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. --
To buy off. (a) To influence to compliance; to cause to bend or yield by some consideration; as, to buy off conscience. (b) To detach by a consideration given; as, to buy off one from a party. --
To buy out (a) To buy off, or detach from. Shak. (b) To purchase the share or shares of in a stock, fund, or partnership, by which the seller is separated from the company, and the purchaser takes his place; as, A buys out B. (c) To purchase the entire stock in trade and the good will of a business. --
To buy in, to purchase stock in any fund or partnership. --
To buy on credit, to purchase, on a promise, in fact or in law, to make payment at a future day. --
To buy the refusal (of anything), to give a consideration for the right of purchasing, at a fixed price, at a future time. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To negotiate or treat about a purchase. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will buy with you, sell with you. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who buys; a purchaser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the act of buying; as, buying equipment for the trip took several hours.
Syn. -- purchasing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Business, Finance) the acquisition of ownership of a company by purchasing a controlling percentage of its stock.
Syn. -- takeover. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. to take over ownership of; -- of corporations and companies.
Syn. -- take over, buy up. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. to buy on impulse without proper reflection. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The buying and selling of goods to be shipped from the vendor through the mail to the purchaser. Information about to be purchased may be found in catalogs, advertisements, on the web, etc., and purchase orders transmitted to the vendor by mail, telephone, or internet connection. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

v. t. 1. To buy too much. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To buy at too dear a rate. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]