buy

buy

I. buy¹ S1 W1 /baɪ/ BrE AmE verb (past tense and past participle bought /bɔːt $ bɒːt/)
[Language: Old English; Origin: bycgan]
1.
a) [intransitive and transitive] to get something by paying money for it OPP sell:
Where did you buy that dress?
Ricky showed her the painting he’d bought that morning.
buy somebody something
Let me buy you a drink.
buy something for somebody/something
The money will be used to buy equipment for the school.
buy (something) from somebody
It’s cheaper to buy direct from the manufacturer.
buy something for $10/£200 etc
Dan bought the car for $2,000.
It’s much cheaper to buy in bulk (=buy large quantities of something).
b) [transitive] if a sum of money buys something, it is enough to pay for it:
$50 doesn’t buy much these days.
buy somebody something
$15 should buy us a pizza and a drink.
2. buy (somebody) time to deliberately make more time for yourself to do something, for example by delaying a decision:
‘Can we talk about it later?’ he said, trying to buy a little more time.
3. [transitive] informal to believe something that someone tells you, especially when it is not likely to be true:
‘Let’s just say it was an accident.’ ‘He’ll never buy that.’
4. [transitive] informal to pay money to someone, especially someone in a position of authority, in order to persuade them to do something dishonest SYN bribe:
People say the judge had been bought by the Mafia.
5. buy something at the cost/expense/price of something to get something that you want, but only by losing something else:
The town has been careful not to buy prosperity at the expense of its character.
6. somebody bought it old-fashioned informal someone was killed
7. buy off-plan if you buy property off-plan, you buy a house, flat etc that is just starting to be built, with an arrangement to pay part of the cost of the property at that time and the balance when the property is finished
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THESAURUS
▪ buy to pay money for something so that you can own it: I’ve just bought a new car. | The painting was bought by a museum in New York.
▪ purchase formal to buy something, especially something large or expensive, in a business deal or by a legal contract: They purchased 5,000 acres of land.
▪ acquire formal to become the owner of something large or expensive such as property, a company, or a valuable object: In 2007 the business was acquired by a Dutch company. | Television companies were then allowed to acquire more stations.
▪ get especially spoken to buy something, especially ordinary things such as food, clothes, or things for your house: Did you remember to get some bread? | I never know what to get Dad for his birthday.
▪ snap something up informal to buy something immediately, especially because it is very cheap, or because you want it very much and you are worried that someone else might buy it first: Real estate in the area is being snapped up by developers.
▪ pick something up informal to buy something, especially something ordinary such as food or a newspaper, or something that you have found by chance and are pleased about owning: Could you pick up some milk on your way home? | It’s just a little thing I picked up when I was in Kathmandu.
▪ stock up to buy a lot of something you use regularly, because you may not be able to buy it later, or because you are planning to use more of it than usual: The supermarkets are full of people stocking up for the New Year’s holiday. | We always stock up on cheap wine when we go to France. | Before the blizzard, we stocked up on food.
▪ splash out British English informal, splurge American English informal to buy something you would not usually buy, because it is too expensive, in order to celebrate an event or make yourself feel good: Why don’t you splash out on a new dress for the party? | We splurged on an expensive hotel for the last night of the vacation.
buy something ↔ in phrasal verb
to buy something in large quantities:
Companies are buying in supplies of paper, in case the price goes up.
buy into something phrasal verb
1. informal to accept that an idea is right and allow it to influence you:
I never bought into this idea that you have to be thin to be attractive.
2. to buy part of a business or organization, especially because you want to control it:
Investors were invited to buy into state-owned enterprises.
buy somebody ↔ off phrasal verb
to pay someone money to stop them causing trouble or threatening you SYN bribe
buy out phrasal verb
1. buy somebody/something ↔ out to buy someone’s share of a business or property that you previously owned together, so that you have complete control ⇨ ↑buyout
2. buy somebody out of something to pay money so that someone can leave an organization such as the army before their contract has ended
buy something ↔ up phrasal verb
to quickly buy as much of something as possible, for example land, tickets, or goods:
Much of the land was bought up by property developers.