BUY (bought)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does buy mean? 

• BUY (noun)
  The noun BUY has 1 sense:

1. an advantageous purchase

  Familiarity information: BUY used as a noun is very rare.

• BUY (verb)
  The verb BUY has 5 senses:

1. obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction

2. make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence

3. be worth or be capable of buying

4. acquire by trade or sacrifice or exchange

5. accept as true

  Familiarity information: BUY used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An advantageous purchase

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

bargain; buy; steal

Context example:

the stock was a real buy at that price

Hypernyms ("buy" is a kind of...):

purchase (something acquired by purchase)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "buy"):

song (a very small sum)

travel bargain (a bargain rate for travellers on commercial routes (usually air routes))

Derivation:

buy (obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction)

buy (be worth or be capable of buying)

• BUY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they buy    ... he / she / it buys   
Past simple: bought
Past participle: bought
-ing form: buying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

buy; purchase

Context example:

She buys for the big department store

Hypernyms (to "buy" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

"Buy" entails doing...:

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Verb group:

buy (be worth or be capable of buying)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "buy"):

buy back; repurchase (buy what had previously been sold, lost, or given away)

take (buy, select)

get (purchase)

subscribe; subscribe to; take (receive or obtain regularly)

buy out; buy up; take over (take over ownership of; of corporations and companies)

pick up (buy casually or spontaneously)

buy food; take out (purchase prepared food to be eaten at home)

impulse-buy (buy on impulse without proper reflection)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Sentence example:

The children buy the ball

Antonym:

sell (exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent)

Also:

buy in (amass so as to keep for future use or sale or for a particular occasion or use)

buy out; buy up (take over ownership of; of corporations and companies)

Derivation:

buy (an advantageous purchase)

buyer (a person who buys)

buying (the act of buying)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

bribe; buy; corrupt; grease one's palms

Context example:

This judge can be bought

Hypernyms (to "buy" is one way to...):

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

Domain category:

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "buy"):

sop (give a conciliatory gift or bribe to)

buy off; pay off (pay someone with influence in order to receive a favor)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot buy Sue

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be worth or be capable of buying

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

This sum will buy you a ride on the train

Hypernyms (to "buy" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Verb group:

buy; purchase (obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

buy (an advantageous purchase)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Acquire by trade or sacrifice or exchange

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

She wanted to buy his love with her dedication to him and his work

Hypernyms (to "buy" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Accept as true

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

I can't buy this story

Hypernyms (to "buy" is one way to...):

believe (accept as true; take to be true)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They won't buy the story

 Context examples 

We are bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and horses.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Johnson, it seems, bought a suit of oilskins from the slop-chest and found them to be of greatly inferior quality.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It is worth buying a raffle ticket or two or a few scratch-off lotto tickets—and scratch them on December 15, 25, and 27.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

See, said she, I have bought all these with your yellow buttons: but I did not touch them myself; the pedlars went themselves and dug them up.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"Perhaps Mr. Miller will sell him," she suggested. "We can buy him."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A hundred yards farther on, Buck came upon one of the sled-dogs Thornton had bought in Dawson.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

"Wiki-Wiki," his Hawaiian short story, was bought by Warren's Monthly for two hundred and fifty dollars.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I see myself, as evening closes in, coming over the bridge at Rochester, footsore and tired, and eating bread that I had bought for supper.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Secondly, growers would spend less on buying and applying chemicals—a major part of their overhead cost.

(Transferring Sorghum’s Weed-Killing Power to Rice, U.S. Department of Agriculture)