See Also: Purchase(money)
Purchase fee(money)
PURCHASE(finance)
purchase(1)(dictionary)
Purchase(medicine)
Purchase fee(finance)
Purchase method(finance)
Purchase loan(finance)
Purchase order(finance)
Purchase fund(finance)

purchase(1) (iou)



purchase noun. ME.
[Anglo-Norman purchas, Old French por-, formed as PURCHASE verb. Later also directly from the verb.]
I. The action or an act of purchasing.
The action of hunting; the chasing and catching of prey. Also, pillage, plunder, capture. ME-E18.
An attempt to obtain or effect something; endeavour; machination; contrivance. ME-M16.
The action or process of obtaining or acquiring something for oneself in any way; acquisition, gain. ME-L16.
a. The action of making one's living or gaining one's sustenance, esp. in an irregular way. obsolete exc. Scot. LME.
b. A means of livelihood; an occupation. L16-M17.
Law. The acquisition of property, esp. land, by personal action and not by inheritance or descent. LME.
spec.
a. Acquisition by payment of money or some other valuable equivalent; the action or an act of buying. L16.
F. Kaplan The purchase of an additional..piece of land.
b. Hist. The action or system of buying commissions in the army; payment made for an appointment in the commissioned ranks. L18.
fig. Acquisition by the expenditure of effort, suffering, etc. M17.
II. The product of purchasing; something purchased.
a. That which is obtained or acquired; gains, winnings; esp. spoil, booty, plunder; spec. a prize or booty taken by a privateer. ME-E18.
b. An advantage gained or possessed. LME-L17.
The annual return or rent from land. L16.
a. A thing purchased or bought. L16.
P. H. Johnson They unpacked their parcels and studied each purchase.
b. A bargain of a specified kind. Now rare or obsolete. E17.
III. Senses from PURCHASE verb 7.
A hold or position on something for advantageously applying power; the advantage gained by such application. E18.
B. England Their boots found no purchase in the scrub. Oxford Journal Cutting gear to get a purchase on the..tangled metal.
A device by means of which power may be usefully applied or increased; esp. (Nautical) a rope, a pulley, a windlass. E18.
fig. A position of advantage for accomplishing something; a means by which one's power or influence is increased. L18.
H. P. Liddon The will has a..strong purchase over the understanding in matters of belief.
Phrases: at five years' purchase, at seven years' purchase, etc., at a cost of five, seven, etc., years' rent. compulsory purchase the legally enforced purchase, usu. by a local authority, of privately owned land or property. not worth an hour's purchase, not worth a day's purchase, etc., not likely to last an hour, day, etc. offshore purchase: see OFFSHORE adjective.
Comb.: purchase-money the sum for which anything is or may be purchased; purchase price the price at which something is put on sale; purchase tax Hist. a tax levied at wholesale, between 1940 and 1973, on saleable goods at a higher rate on luxuries than on essentials.