Definition
verbTo obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
verbTo obtain, especially by some sacrifice.
Sentence Examples
It's a pity that you can't buy miracles like you would buy potatoes.
Someday I will buy a cotton candy machine.
Where did you buy that dress?
Word Origin & History
From Middle English byen, from Old English bycġan (“to buy, pay for, acquire, redeem, ransom, procure, get done, sell”), from Proto-West Germanic *buggjan, from Proto-Germanic *bugjaną (“to buy”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūgʰ- (“to bend”), or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to take away, deliver”).
Cognate with Scots buy (“to buy, purchase”), obsolete Dutch beugen (“to buy”), Old Saxon buggian, buggean (“to buy”), Old Norse byggja (“to build, settle”), Gothic 𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bugjan, “to buy”). The spelling with “u” is from the Southwest, while the pronunciation with /aɪ/ is from the East Midlands.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries."
— 1793, Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography:
"Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:23:
"VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood,
As I am Iacke Strawe, thou ſhalt buy it with thy blood."
— 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I:
"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."
— 2025 May 20, Tal Axelrod, “MAGA faithful grow frustrated with Trump's Justice Department”, in Axios:
"People like to say that dead people look asleep, and maybe she would have bought that under different circumstances."
— 2020, Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji, Faber & Faber Ltd, page 201: