buy

Study(17)

UK [bɑj] US [baɪ]

verb 5noun 1

Collocations

(verb.)

ADV

cheaply

You can buy good quality clothes cheaply if you shop during the winter sales.

VERB + BUY

can/can't afford to

PREP

for

She bought a new dress for the wedding last month.

from

She bought a used laptop from an online seller last week.

PHRASES

buy and sell

My uncle started a successful business buying and selling used cars five years ago.

money can/can't buy

Health and happiness are two things that money can't buy, no matter how wealthy you are.

Definitions

verb

To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.

Who'd Father buy the car for? He bought it for me, not for you.

Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries.

To obtain, especially by some sacrifice.

I've bought material comfort by foregoing my dreams.

You just bought yourself an assault charge!

To suffer consequences for (something) through being deprived of something; to pay for (something one has done).

VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood, As I am Iacke Strawe, thou ſhalt buy it with thy blood.

To bribe.

He tried to buy me with gifts, but I wouldn't give up my beliefs.

After Bongino reiterated that Epstein killed himself, he was flooded with responses of disbelief. "WHO has bought the both of you?" one X user asked of Bongino and Patel, referencing the Fox News interview.

To be equivalent to in value.

The dollar doesn't buy as much as it used to.

noun

Something which is bought; a purchase.

At only $30, the second-hand kitchen table was a great buy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — an advantageous purchase

verb — obtain by purchase

purchase

verb — make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence

Antonyms

sell

Idioms & Phrases

buy straw hats in winter

Of stocks, to buy when both demand and price are low, so as to sell when demand and price are high.

buy the farm

To die; generally, to die in battle or in a plane crash.

You're just as dead if you buy the farm in an "incident" as if you buy it in a declared war.

buy out

to purchase the entire stock or extent of something

[…] the present Earl had no colour or pretence of right to the estate; and yet the appellants had thought fit to buy him out, […]

buy it

To die.

He bought it in a shootout.

buy time

To purposefully cause a delay, in order to achieve something else.

We need you to buy us some time, so distract the security guard for a few minutes.

Example Bank

Who'd Father buy the car for? He bought it for me, not for you.

Wiktionary

Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries.

Wiktionary

I've bought material comfort by foregoing my dreams.

Wiktionary

At only $30, the second-hand kitchen table was a great buy.

Wiktionary

It's a pity that you can't buy miracles like you would buy potatoes.

Tatoeba · #1840

Someday I will buy a cotton candy machine.

Tatoeba · #1886

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, buy is marked as archaic. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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