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单词 buy
释义

buyn.

Brit. /bʌɪ/, U.S. /baɪ/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: buy v.
Etymology: < buy v.
Originally U.S.
1.
a. A thing purchased or bought.In quot. 1826 as a pun on goodbye.
ΚΠ
1826 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia (1984) II. 520 Five Shillings should have been supererogatory..But I wanted the Book: and so Good-by, Half Guinea! ?Good Buy?
1903 Longman's Mag. Mar. 444 What do you think of my new buy?
1987 Chem. Business July 16/3 The company is..actively searching for acquisitions. Recent buys include Day-Go Color.., and Penray.
2021 @aufgehendeRest 25 Nov. in twitter.com (accessed 14 June 2022) Schopenhauer: On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and Other Writings. My latest buy!
b. Originally Stock Market. A worthwhile purchase; a bargain. Cf. best buy n.Recorded earliest in best buy n.
ΘΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > [noun] > a purchase > a bargain
good cheapc1375
great cheapc1375
Robin Hood bargain1709
rug1746
bargain1766
best buy1879
snip1926
steal1942
bargoon1964
sacrifice1976
1879 F. A. Buck Let. 29 June in Yankee Trader in Gold Rush (1930) 274 I believe the Mammoth Mine here to be the best buy in the lot.
1881 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 18 June The conclusion was that the Philadelphia market was a buy, whether the New York market was a buy or not.
1923 Glendale (Calif.) Daily Press 20 Sept. 8/8 (advt.) A business corner..with 5-room residence on rear of lot—a real buy at $5250.
2017 irishmirror.ie (Nexis) 19 Aug. Steven Gerrard has heaped praise on Alexandre Lacazette, describing Arsenal's big summer signing as a ‘real buy’.
2.
a. Police slang and Criminals' slang. An act of purchasing stolen or illicit goods, esp. drugs.
Π
1906 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 15 Sept. 6 Will you back up the buy?
1930 J. Tully Shadows of Men 213 When too destitute to ‘make a buy’..he would seek other addicts and tell them marvelous tales until they would give him a ‘jolt’.
1989 Spin Oct. 42/2 An undercover narc had made a buy, and now, armed with a warrant, they were raiding a boarding house.
2003 Y. B. Moore Triple Take xviii. 174 When a new dealer called for a shipment, Valdez would tell him when and where to make the buy.
b. More generally: an act of purchasing something; a purchase.
Π
1907 E. Gates in Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 20 July 9/3 When a feller made a buy, he wanted to vote like he pleased.
1954 J. Thompson Hell of Woman (1984) xii. 96 He'd look me right in the eye and say the lady had changed her mind or her husband wouldn't let her go through with the buy.
1995 Denver Post 22 Jan. aa5/5 A buyer can hook into a video auction via satellite dish and..can make a buy by phone while at home.

Phrases

P1. on the buy: actively buying or hoping to buy.
Π
1871 All Year Round 23 Sept. 405/1 All honest miners, who are on the buy, may purchase more than two claims from those who are on the sell.
1929 Star 21 Aug. 18/2 His clients are ‘on the buy’.
2020 @Common_Ilke 3 Sept. in twitter.com (accessed 31 Mar. 2022) Back out on the buy yesterday. Sourcing and handpicking top drawer vintage items.
P2.
best buy n. an item or product which gives the best value for money out of all its competitors; also as a modifier.Not common in North American usage.
Π
1879 F. A. Buck Let. 29 June in Yankee Trader in Gold Rush (1930) 274 I believe the Mammoth Mine here to be the best buy in the lot.
1964 Which? Feb. 43/2 Because each of these prams had some drawbacks, we do not choose a Best Buy.
1986 Marketing Week 29 Aug. 14/3 Support for the brand..involves a ten-week TV campaign worth £1.5m plus radio advertising, sponsorship of ‘best-buy’ programmes..and a consumer press officer.
2009 Independent 14 Dec. 30/4 Any gamer worth their salt can tell you, the best buys are all online.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).

buyv.

Brit. /bʌɪ/, U.S. /baɪ/
Inflections: Past tense and past participle bought Brit. /bɔːt/, U.S. /bɔt/, /bɑt/;
Forms: 1. Present stem. a. Infinitive. early Old English byccgan, early Old English bygcgan (in prefixed forms), Old English becgan, Old English biccenne (inflected infinitive, probably transmission error), Old English bicgan, Old English bigcan (rare), Old English bigcgan (rare), Old English biggan (in prefixed forms), Old English biicgan (transmission error), Old English byca (Northumbrian, in prefixed forms), Old English bycca (Northumbrian), Old English bycgan, Old English bycggan, Old English bygca (Northumbrian, in prefixed forms), late Old English byggan, early Middle English bicge (in prefixed forms), early Middle English biggenn ( Ormulum), early Middle English bucge (south-west midlands), early Middle English buge, Middle English be, Middle English bege (in prefixed forms, south-eastern), Middle English begge, Middle English beie, Middle English bey, Middle English beye (chiefly East Anglian and east midlands), Middle English bi (northern), Middle English biegge, Middle English biȝe, Middle English bigg (in prefixed forms), Middle English bigge, Middle English bii (northern), Middle English bij (northern), Middle English biy (northern), Middle English buȝe (in prefixed forms, south-west midlands), Middle English bugge (chiefly south-west midlands), Middle English byche (south-western), Middle English byge, Middle English byȝe, Middle English bygge, Middle English byi (northern), Middle English byye, Middle English–1500s bie, Middle English–1500s by, Middle English–1600s buye, Middle English–1600s bye, late Middle English 1600s– buy, 1500s–1600s buie; Scottish pre-1700 bay, pre-1700 by, pre-1700 bye, pre-1700 1700s– buy, 1900s– beh (Dundee). b. Also 3rd singular indicative. early Old English bygð (in prefixed forms), Old English bigþ, Old English byges (Northumbrian), Old English bygeþ, Old English bygeð, Old English bygiþ (Mercian), Old English bygið (Mercian, in prefixed forms), late Old English bigeð (in prefixed forms), early Middle English beið, early Middle English bihð, early Middle English bueð (west midlands), early Middle English buið (in prefixed forms), early Middle English buð (south-west midlands), Middle English bayþ (south-eastern), Middle English begget (Hampshire), Middle English beith, Middle English bieth, Middle English bieþ, Middle English biggeth, Middle English biggeþ, Middle English buggeþ (south-west midlands), Middle English buyeþ (south-west midlands), Middle English byeth, Middle English byeþ, Middle English byggeth, Middle English byggeþ, Middle English byth. c. Originally imperative singular. early Old English bege (Kentish), Old English bige, Old English bycge (Mercian, in prefixed forms), Old English byg (Northumbrian), Old English byge, Old English bygeð (Northumbrian, plural), early Middle English buȝe (south-west midlands), Middle English beye, Middle English bi, Middle English bu (south-west midlands), Middle English buy (south-west midlands), Middle English bye; N.E.D. (1888) also records forms early Middle English bue, Middle English by. d. Also present participle. 1800s beighin (English regional (Lancashire)), 2000s– ban (Irish English (northern)). 2. Past tense.

α. Old English bohcte (in prefixed forms), Old English (Northumbrian)–Middle English (northern) bochte, Old English–Middle English (chiefly early) bohte, late Old English bocte, early Middle English bohhte ( Ormulum), early Middle English bohut (south-west midlands), early Middle English bouchte, early Middle English boust, Middle English bhowte, Middle English boghte, Middle English boȝt, Middle English boȝte, Middle English bouȝt, Middle English bouȝte, Middle English bouht, Middle English bouhte, Middle English bout, Middle English boute, Middle English bowght, Middle English bowhte, Middle English bowt, Middle English bowte, Middle English–1600s boght, Middle English–1600s boughte, Middle English– bought, 1500s bowth, 1900s– bocht (Irish English (northern)); English regional 1800s boft (Cornwall), 1800s bote (Warwickshire), 1800s boucht (northern), 1800s bowt (northern); Scottish pre-1700 boght, pre-1700 bowght, pre-1700 boycht, pre-1700 1700s– bocht, pre-1700 1700s– bought, pre-1700 1800s– boucht, 1800s– bowcht, 1900s– bowt.

β. English regional (southern) 1800s buyed, 1900s– buy'd.

3. Past participle.

α. Old English giboht (Northumbrian), Old English–early Middle English geboht, Old English (in prefixed forms (not ge-))– Middle English boht, early Middle English bogt, early Middle English boust, early Middle English ibeht (south-west midlands), Middle English boffte (south-western), Middle English boghte, Middle English boȝt, Middle English boȝte, Middle English bohut (northern), Middle English bouȝht, Middle English bouȝt, Middle English bouȝte, Middle English boukt, Middle English bout, Middle English bouth, Middle English bowght, Middle English bowȝt, Middle English bowt, Middle English bowth, Middle English iboȝt, Middle English iboht, Middle English ibouȝt, Middle English ibouht, Middle English iboukt, Middle English ibout, Middle English jbowȝt, Middle English yboght, Middle English yboghte, Middle English yboȝt, Middle English yboht, Middle English ybought, Middle English ybouȝt, Middle English ybouȝte, Middle English ybouht, Middle English ybout, Middle English ybowyete, Middle English–1500s bouht, Middle English–1500s bowte, Middle English–1600s boght, Middle English–1600s boughte, Middle English– bought, 1500s beyght, 1900s– bocht (Irish English (northern)); English regional 1800s boft (Cornwall), 1800s bowt (northern); Scottish pre-1700 boght, pre-1700 bowcht, pre-1700 bowght, pre-1700 bowth, pre-1700 boych, pre-1700 boycht, pre-1700 1700s– bocht, pre-1700 1700s– bought, pre-1700 1800s– boucht, 1900s– boat, 1900s– bo't; N.E.D. (1888) also records a form Middle English ybouȝht.

β. 1800s bowten (English regional (northern)), 1800s– boughten (regional or nonstandard).

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon buggean (past participle giboht) to buy, purchase, Old Icelandic byggja to get married (literally ‘to buy oneself a wife’), to lend or let out for rent, Norwegian (Nynorsk) byggja to let out for rent, to engage (a servant), Old Swedish byggia to let out for rent, to marry (a woman), Gothic bugjan (past tense bauhta, past participle bauhts) to buy; further etymology unknown.The attested senses of the word in North Germanic show semantic narrowing. Similar senses are also attested in Old English (‘to enter into a marriage contract for (a wife)’, ‘to hire or engage (a workman)’), but do not survive into Middle English. Form history. In Old English a weak verb of Class I. Forms of the present stem show regular i-mutation of the inherited stem vowel u . In Old English the form of the present stem bycg- reflects gemination of stem-final West Germanic g before the inflectional suffix j and the development of that geminated consonant to a voiced affricate. This stem form originally occurred in the infinitive, 1st singular and plural present indicative, present subjunctive, present participle, and imperative plural. The stem form without gemination, Old English byg- , shows regular palatalization of the stem-final consonant, with subsequent development of a long vowel or a diphthong in Middle English. This stem form originally occurred in the 2nd and 3rd singular present indicative and imperative singular (compare Forms 1b and 1c); levelling to all other forms of the present tense (already very occasionally attested in Old English; compare Northumbrian byges , present indicative plural) is reflected in the modern standard pronunciation (Brit. /bʌɪ/, U.S. /baɪ/; < east midland and northern Middle English long ī ). The modern standard spelling buy apparently originally reflects a west midland pronunciation of the vowel in Middle English which preserved the original rounding of Old English y . The inherited weak past tense and past participle (see Forms 2 and 3) are formed from the base without gemination or i-mutation. The past tense bohte and past participle boht reflect regular Germanic lowering of the zero-grade stem vowel u to o (before the mid to low vowels of the original endings). The modern standard English forms developed from this by regular sound changes. With the past participle forms boughten , bowten compare earlier boughten adj. and discussion at that entry. Prefixed forms. In Old English the prefixed form gebycgan i-bye v. is also attested (earlier in sense 3b); compare also abycgan abye v., bebycgan to sell or give in exchange, (also) to buy (which survives into early Middle English in the past participle form biboht ; compare be- prefix). Prefixed gebycgan i-bye v. is only slightly less frequent than unprefixed bycgan in Old English, but its Middle English reflex is rare. It is unclear whether the Old English prefixed past participle forms (e.g. geboht ) represent the prefixed or the unprefixed verb, as formally they may belong to either (this is less true of equivalent Middle English forms, given the rarity of the prefixed verb in Middle English). In Middle English unprefixed forms may sometimes be aphetic from abye v. (especially in senses of branch II.); compare bye v.
I. To purchase, obtain by exchange, redeem, accept.
1.
a. To get possession or use of (anything offered or available for sale or hire) by giving an equivalent, esp. in money; to purchase. Also: to pay to secure the services of (a person). Correlative to sell.
(a) transitive. Without construction. To purchase (something).
ΘΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)]
cheapc950
buyc1000
takea1382
purchasec1390
costa1400
coffc1425
redeem?1520
cope1570
fetch1605
shop1944
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxiii. 213 Ic bohte ænne tun, and me is neod to farenne and ðone sceawian.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. ix. l. 304 Ich haue no peny..polettes for to bigge.
1542 H. Brinkelow Lamentacion sig. Ciii No man wyll bye their ware any moare.
1574 J. Baret Aluearie B 920 Be the price neuer so great, it is wel bought that a man must needes haue.
1591 R. Greene Notable Discouery of Coosenage f. 16v A Flaxe wife that wanted Coales..cheped, bargaind, and bought them.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 i. ii. 51 I bought him [sc. a servant] in Paules. View more context for this quotation
1714 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. c23 Oct. (1965) I. 232 To..buy some little Cornish Burrough.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 280 With you a man can neither earn nor buy his dinner, without a speculation. View more context for this quotation
1855 Ld. Tennyson Brook in Maud & Other Poems 113 We bought the farm we tenanted before.
1887 St. Louis (Missouri) Daily Globe-Democrat 1 Feb. 8/5 Manager Williams, of Cleveland, is in Louisville to buy a player. He wants an infielder, and made an offer for either Collins, Mack or White.
1925 Amer. Mercury Oct. 249/2 She has her hair shingled, buys heavy shoes, and cultivates a flat, boyish bosom.
2011 Independent 4 July (Viewspaper section) 7/5 He didn't go and buy a car, book a holiday or even take his partner out to dinner.
(b) transitive To purchase (something) for, at, †mid, †of a specified price or with money or an equivalent. Also with adverb, as cheap, dear, etc., or prepositional phrase specifying a price under, above, etc., a given amount.
Π
OE Monastic Canticles (Vesp. D.xii) (1976) xi. 4 Conparavimus nostra ligna cum pretio : we bohtan urne wudu mid weorðe.
a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Lamb.) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 185 Nis he fol chapmon þe buþ deore a wac þing.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 8017 Buy [c1425 Harl. Bu] a peire of a marc, oþer þou ssalt acorie sore.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 36 To begge..corn..lesse be þe haluedele þanne hit his worþ.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 88 Images and porteratures of menne wer in olde tyme bought at high prices.
c1613 ( in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 37 Under a hundred shillings I can by non.
1704 tr. G. F. Gemelli Careri Voy. round World iii. v, in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. IV. 385/2 The Spaniards value these Rings, and buy them very dear.
1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. (1849) xi. vii. 122 The island of Manhattan was bought for sixty guilders.
1878 Daily News 16 Sept. 3/1 Old hens..are to be bought at a shilling each.
1921 Los Angeles Times 27 Sept. i. 13/8 (advt.) Anyone contemplating camping or touring trips can buy cheap the latest model folding house trailer.
2013 C. LeDuff Detroit 41 Frankie had bought his house for $70,000 a decade earlier.
(c) transitive. With indirect object (in early use with dative of person), or with for, †to: to purchase (something) for (a person).
Π
OE Seven Sleepers (Julius) (1994) 46 Nim nu, broþor, sumne dæl feos mid þe..and us sumne dæl hlafes bige.
OE West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) iv. 8 His leorningcnihtas ferdon þa to þære ceastre woldon him mete bicgan.
a1350 in R. H. Robbins Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 7 Wer þer ouþer in þis toun ale or wy[n] isch hit wolde bugge to lemmon myn.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4764 Þai moght noght find to bi þam bred.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) iiii. sig. Aiii Pyers..bought for them abylementes & Jewelles.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 i. ii. 51 Heele buy me a horse in Smithfield.
1659–60 A. Hay Diary (1901) 134 I went..to buy a sute of ryding cloaths to my wiffe.
1728 Stamford Mercury 29 Feb. 72/1 The Mare..bought for him on Michaelmas Day at Stow Fair proves a stoln horse.
1784 W. Cowper Let. 21 Mar. (1981) II. 228 Your Mother wishes you to buy for her ten yards and a half of yard-wide Irish.
1814 B. Hofland Merchant's Widow vi. 96 It would have bought him books, paid his admission to lectures, and added greatly to his comforts.
1879 I. L. Bird Lady's Life Rocky Mts. I. 278 I bought a cardigan for myself..and some thick socks.
1941 C. S. Ford in T. McFeat Indians of N. Pacific Coast (1987) 129 He sold it to a chief from the Nimkis tribe who was buying it for his daughter's husband.
1976 Lancs. Evening Post 7 Dec. 3/3 She had apparently used the money to buy clothes for her children.
2013 M. C. Smith Tatiana (2014) vi. 59 I bought her a drink, and she bought me a drink, and one thing led to another.
(d) transitive. To purchase (something) from, (regional and nonstandard) off, †at, or †of a seller.
Π
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Josh. (Claud.) xxiv. 32 Iosepes ban..hi bebyrigdon on Sichem, on ðæs landes dæle ðe Iacob bohte æt Emores sunum.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 8 A kyng of Fraunce boughte þeise relikes somtyme of the Jewes.
1503–4 in L. T. Smith Common-place Bk. 15th Cent. (1886) 173 Item bowte of Roger Cawthaw..v cumbe berly.
1584 Briefe Declar. Desires Faithfull Ministers 133 They [sc. bishops] compell men to buy Bookes of them.
1600 Lady Hoby Diary 13 June (1930) 126 Then I talked with a goldsmith and bought some thing of him.
1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 371 Selling their Sugars unextracted from the Cane to the Venetians, and buying it againe from them after it is refined.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. 50 I bought of a Pedlar..a little Straw Hat.
1775 J. Warren Speech 6 Mar. in Orations (1785) 59 They..entered into a treaty with the natives, and bought from them the lands.
1820 B. Silliman Remarks Tour Hartford & Quebec 121 In one place, they told us, that a man bought of a poor widow, the right of digging on her ground for hidden treasure.
1841 in W. A. Leighton Flora of Shropshire 497 He planted..a Yewtree, which he bought off a poor cobbler for sixpence.
1890 E. Favenc in C. Taylor Tales of Austral Tropics (1997) 65 When real, living shepherds were still in existence, and stockmen..made their own stockwhips instead of buying them from a store.
1904 Conservator Mar. 8/1 At Toulon I saw boys who were buying penny ices of a perambulating vendor.
1966 A. Young in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 147 Why dont you buy this joint off me so I can be straight for lunch.
2009 D. Diamond Behind Bell iii. 212 It was my first time buying weed from a dealer, and I didn't want to look like a chump.
b.
(a) intransitive. To make a purchase or purchases; to be or become a purchaser. Often contrasted or coupled with sell.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (intransitive)]
buyc1000
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xxv. 10 Þa hig ferdun & woldon bycgean þa com se brydguma.
OE Ælfric Homily: Sermo de Die Iudicii (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 591 Swa swa on Loðes dagum eft syððan gelamp, menn æton and druncon, bohtan and sealdan.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 213 Þat is ure alre wune þe biggeð and silleð.
c1330 Simonie (Auch.) (1991) l. 355 Sumtime were chapmen þat treweliche bouhten and solde; And nu is þilke assise broke.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Hengwrt) (1871) l. 1493 This Marchant..byeth and creanceth.
1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 31 To By and selle, auccionari.
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 116 He that byth dere may sel dere.
1659 A. Hay Diary (1901) 220 It was not expedient to me to buy from them.
1755 T. Smollett tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote I. iii. xi. 162 He that buys and denies, his own purse belies.
1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters xiv. 360 Pestering her swain to buy for her.
1912 Herald & Presbyter 7 Aug. 22/3 I had bought from him [sc. a Syrian salesman with oriental goods] before, and though I did not know his name or history, I recognized in him a man of refinement.
1983 Which? Sept. 392/3 Make sure that the company you buy from can offer a comprehensive and convenient after-care service.
2004 R. M. Abrams Six-week Start-up ii. 69 In the business world, whether you're buying or selling, you're likely to need a ‘middle man’—a person or company that can put buyers and sellers together.
(b) intransitive. To be employed as an agent who selects and purchases stock or materials for a retail or manufacturing business; to work as a buyer. Chiefly with for.
Π
1754 Leeds Intelligencer 19 Nov. As all Persons concerned in the Woollen Trade are obliged to fix their Marks at the End of the Cloths, for the future it would be a Duty incumbent on those Persons, who buy for the Company, to examine the Marks.
1898 Biogr. & Geneal. Hist. Cass, Miami, Howard & Tipton Counties, Indiana I. 62 When a young man..[he] inspected timber in the south for the government... Subsequently he bought for a firm in Spain.
1946 Amer. Perfumer Nov. 50/2 ‘Some lines that have been slow have been pepped up by these colors,’ said a man who buys for a large store.
2007 West Austral. (Perth) (Nexis) 24 Feb. 48 The bale was bought by [an] Eastern States buyer..who buys for a Savile Row tailor in London.
c. transitive. Of money or an equivalent: to be the means of purchasing or obtaining (something); to be a sufficient payment for.Also often (in negative constructions) in proverbial and idiomatic expressions stating that money, gold, or other material wealth is of no use in obtaining something immaterial and desirable, as love, good health, happiness, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > be means of buying
buy1600
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. i. 171 Can the world buie such a iewel? View more context for this quotation
1602 Kyd's Spanish Trag. (new ed.) iii. sig. H3 All the vndelued mynes cannot buy An ounce of iustice.
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo 87 A London mingled colour cloth, would haue bought at Lisborne two chests of Sugar.
1691 J. Locke Wks. (1727) II. 67 If one Ounce of Silver will buy, i.e. is of equal Value to one Bushel of Wheat.
1825 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Wks. (1859) I. 28 As much money as will buy them the necessaries of life.
1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 2 Dec. b1/1 The old saw that money cannot buy happiness may have some support from an international study by social scientists who find that the more money people make, the more they want, so longterm happiness keeps eluding them.
2005 Cape Etc. (Cape Town) Feb. 36/1 (caption) A mere R16 will buy you a roti from Sunrise Chip 'n Ranch that's as long as your forearm and twice as tasty.
2.
a. transitive. figurative. To obtain, gain, or procure (something, esp. something desired), esp. in exchange for something else, through effort, sacrifice, etc. Also with indirect object. Cf. to buy time at Phrases 6.In quot. OE with the thing obtained in the (partitive) genitive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by sacrifice or suffering
buyc1175
purchasea1450
share1591
OE Guthlac A 76 Wuldres bycgað, sellað ælmessan, earme frefrað, beoð rummode ryhtra gestreona.
a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) l. 65 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 222 Africh man mid þat he haueð mai bugge [a1225 Lamb. buggen] heueriche.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 91 Þe loue of herte, þet is þe godes peny, huer-mide me bayþ alle þe guodes of þe wordle.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 2487 And þouȝ so be, it may not be wonne, But þat I moste with my dethe it bye [1513 Pynson beye], I wil not leue.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) x. viii. 157 Desyrand he mycht by for mekill thing That he had nevir twichit Pallas ȝyng.
a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 65 B [u] ying witte at the dearest hand, that is, by long experience of the hurt and shame that cummeth of mischeif.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 102 Short intermission bought with double smart. View more context for this quotation
1813 W. Scott Rokeby i. x. 15 Forced the embarrassed host to buy, By query close, direct reply.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. xviii. 329 A war which could buy them neither spoil nor land.
1925 Pop. Mech. Aug. (advertising section) 152/1 (advt.) If..you are a graduate salesman..you can cash in on the knowledge you have bought with hard work and experience.
1995 V. McDonnell Imagination of Heart xxv. 240 With the help of a bottle I kept on the bedside table, I bought myself a few hours oblivion and peace.
2020 Hong Kong Free Press (Nexis) 25 Nov. ‘The fruit of democracy is bought with blood and sweat!’ Ma Chun-Man, 30, shouted in West Kowloon court. He is accused of inciting others to commit secession.
b. transitive. To cause or bring about (a situation, esp. a problematic or unpleasant one) for a person; to inflict (something unpleasant) on oneself.
Π
1899 Kirwin Kansan 31 Aug. The administration is up against the real thing in this war business. Like fighting the bear—they can't lick him, and they cannot let loose without help. They bought a whole lot of trouble from someone who did not own it.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 41 To buy, to have something not desired, such as a job, thrust on one unexpectedly, e.g., ‘Just as he was going out, he ran into the Corporal and bought a fatigue.’
1932 L. Berg Prison Doctor 221 Them New York wisecracks is going to buy you plenty of grief!
1951 D. Cusack & F. James Come in Spinner 245 If you don't want to buy a fight, you'd better keep your eyes in front of you.
2013 J. Melby Gauntlet (e-book ed.) xlviii The act of defiance bought him a punch to the stomach.
3.
a. transitive. figurative (in religious contexts). To redeem (a person, a person's soul, humankind, etc.) from sin, hell, etc. In early use apparently as an extended use of sense 3b, although this is recorded later. In later use chiefly by conscious metaphor from sense 1.
Π
OE Descent into Hell 64 Þonne he his hlafordes hyldo gelyfeð, þæt hine of þam bendum bicgan wille.
lOE Wulfstan Baptism (Corpus Cambr. 302) (1957) 173 Mid gelicum wurðe Crist bohte þone kasere & þone rican kyning & þone earming.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 19 Þet þet ear us bohte deore.
a1350 (a1250) Harrowing of Hell (Harl.) (1907) l. 182 Ffor my deþ wes monkune yboht.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xvii. 336 Mary, That bare the byrth that all can by [1489 Adv. all gan by].
1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1325/1 By hys payne to..bye our soules from payne.
1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. i. xix. f. 56v Quhilk hais bocht vs with his precious blude.
1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island i. xxxii. 9 Who (God) bought'st man, whom man (though God) did sell.
1707 I. Watts Hymns & Spiritual Songs (ed. 2) iii. 314 God the Son..who bought us with his Blood.
1836 J. Gilbert Christian Atonem. vi. 237 So far from mercy having been properly purchased for us, mercy herself buys us.
1882 Eccl. Observer 1 June 148/2 We belong, not to ourselves, but to Him who bought us with His blood.
1911 H. T. Kerr Children's Story-sermons lxvii. 178 Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us. He has bought us from sin and selfishness and made us free.
2013 T. L. Hiegel Trav. through Ephesians iv. 29 God ‘bought’ us from the possession of Satan and death with the high cost of Jesus' blood on the cross.
†b. transitive. To secure the release of (a captive) by paying a price; to ransom, redeem. Obsolete except in theological contexts (see sense 3a).Quot. OE shows equivalent use of prefixed i-bye v.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > salvation, redemption > save, redeem [verb (transitive)]
aleseOE
abyeOE
buyc1175
washc1175
winc1220
salvea1225
savec1225
forbuyc1315
ransomc1350
signc1350
again-buya1382
forechoosea1400
gain-buy1435
redeemc1438
pre-elect1561
sa'1604
electa1617
unsina1631
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > liberation > set free [verb (transitive)] > deliver or redeem
freeOE
buyc1175
quita1250
frelsc1250
to buy out1297
out-takea1350
OE Poenitentiale Pseudo-Egberti (Laud) iv. 57. 67 Þæt man gebicge man of þeowdome & hine syþþan gefreoge [L. pro redemptione captivorum].]
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2396 Gudlac ledde forh þa wif-mon swiðe fæire, & he heo bohte swiðe deore; bruken he heo þohte.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 21439 Þai wald haf all again him boght, Bot grant o ju þan gatt þai noght.
4.
a. transitive. To gain the support or cooperation of (a person) by means of a payment or reward, esp. in a way regarded as unethical or underhand; to engage or induce (someone) to or to do something in this way; to win over or influence by bribery.Cf. to buy off at Phrasal verbs 1; to buy over at Phrasal verbs 1. [Compare bought adj. 2 and also late Old English unaboht , ungeboht in the sense ‘not bribed’ (see discussion at abye v.).]
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe
meedOE
underorna1325
corrump1387
forbuy1393
hirec1400
wage1461
fee1487
under-arearc1503
bribe1528
grease1528
money1528
corrupt1548
budc1565
to feed with money1567
to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580
sweeten1594
to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598
over-bribe1619
to buy off1629
palter1641
to take off1646
buy1652
overmoneya1661
bub1684
to speak to ——1687
to tickle in the palm1694
daub1699
overbuy1710
touch1752
palm1767
to get at ——1780
fix1790
subsidize1793
sop1837
to buy over1848
backsheesh1850
nobble1856
square1859
hippodrome1866
see1867
boodleize1883
boodle1886
to get to ——1901
reach1906
straighten1923
lubricate1928
to keep (someone) sweet1939
sling1939
to pay off1942
bung1950
OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xx.1 Homini patrifamilias qui exit primo mane conducere operarios in uineam suam : monn fæder hina ðæm ðe eode on ærne morgen bycgæ wyrhta in wingeard his.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 5048 Sich [women] that arn worth right nought That for money wole be bought.
1652 Free State comp. Monarchy 1 [I] did..lay out..the poore Talent God intrusted me with, to buy them to the waies of Peace.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 139 Nor is [he] with Pray'rs, or Bribes, or Flatt'ry bought . View more context for this quotation
1713 J. Addison Cato ii. ii. 57 Millions of worlds Should never buy me to be like that Cæsar.
1878 J. Morley Diderot II. 121 She did her best..to buy the author.
2010 C. M. Fagin in S. Gordon When Chicken Soup isn't Enough 139 You can't wine and dine me to get me to support this program. You can't buy me with lunch, or with anything else.
b. transitive. To obtain (a person's vote, support, or influence) by means of payment or inducement in a way viewed as unethical or underhand; to secure (an electoral victory, verdict, etc.) in this way. Also and in earliest use: to pay to obtain (a position, advancement, etc.) by bribery.
Π
a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 26 Nou wol vch fol clerc..wende to þe bysshop ant bugge bayly.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 27837 Symoni, Als gastli thing to selle or byi.
1568 G. Turberville tr. D. Mancinus Plaine Path to Perfect Vertue sig. Hvv To buie an office be not thou too quicke or sharply set: But when thou hast it frankly giuen or offred thée, do get And take it yelding worthie thanks.
1611 J. Spicer Sale of Salt 338 Alexander the sixt..is said to haue bought the voyce of many Cardinals.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 193 The practice of buying boroughs, and canvassing for votes.
1800 M. Edgeworth Eton Montem ii, in Parent's Assistant (ed. 3) VI. 150 Why, unless he bought a vote, he'd never win one.
1891 Cent. Mag. Dec. 207/1 The elder Mozart had worn the fetters of practically forced servitude all his life, and felt that it was better to buy advancement at the cost of a few twinges of wounded pride than to starve in helpless freedom.
1941 G. W. Johnson Roosevelt viii. 285 A man who believes the election was bought is an apostate American who has repudiated the faith on which the Republic was founded.
2014 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 25 Sept. 34/3 [They] became aggressively defensive toward any critics and some are charged with buying the support of anyone they thought would further their cause.
5. intransitive and transitive. Cards. In pontoon (blackjack) and similar games: to request and receive (a card, to be dealt face down) from the deck, in return for an increase in one's initial stake; to request or be dealt a card in this way. Also used in requesting a card from the dealer.
Π
1911 Washington Post 21 May (Miscellany section) 3/6 As Light buys the first card, he naturally fills his straight.
1921 P. Alston Card Games, & how to play Them 122 Having bought a player can then twist, but once having twisted, a card cannot be bought.
1948 Strand Mag. 116 45 The man on her left bought a knave of hearts and the ten of hearts.
1986 A. Marks Card Games properly Explained xx. 215 If a player elects to buy a card he must say ‘buy one’ and increase his initial stake.
2008 Guardian (Nexis) 22 Nov. (Mag.) 46 You can opt to twist after buying, but never to buy after twisting.
6.
a. transitive. British colloquial. To be prepared to listen to (a story, explanation, etc.). Originally and chiefly in I'll buy it: ‘I'll accept your explanation’; (contextually, in reply to a question, riddle, etc.) ‘I give up’; ‘I don't know, but tell me the answer’.
ΚΠ
1919 A. Greening Better Yarn xiv. 221 ‘Suppose I went into the grocer's with a bob, and came out with fifteen eggs, what would they be?’ ‘Go ahead.., I'll buy it; what would they be?’ ‘Rotten!’
1926 E. Wallace More Educated Evans vi. 139 ‘It's rather early in the day for fairy-tales,’ he said, ‘but I'll buy this one.’
1932 D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xi. 128 I'll buy it, Inspector. What did he do with it?
1957 P. Frankau Bridge 136 ‘Confession coming,’ he said. ‘I'll buy it. Something that happened last night?’
2011 G. Kent Devil-devil xvii. 119 ‘I think’, said Kella carefully.., ‘that Senda Iabuli might have been murdered twice.’... ‘All right,’ he said, ‘I'll buy it. What was that supposed to mean? How could anyone be killed twice?’
b. transitive. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.). To accept the truth of (a statement, theory, etc.); to believe; to approve of (something). Chiefly in negative constructions, e.g. I don’t buy it.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > accept as true, believe [verb (transitive)]
ylevec888
leve971
ween971
i-weneOE
takec1175
trowc1175
truth?c1250
thinka1275
believec1300
trustc1325
hold1340
trist1340
to give (one's) faith to (also unto)c1405
accept?c1430
admitc1449
credencea1529
to take a person at his (also her) word1535
credit1547
faith1576
to take a person's word1576
receive1581
creed1596
understand1751
Adam and Eve1925
buy1926
1944 Amer. Speech 19 72/1 If the work is perfect, the inspector buys it... In the drilling departments, one might hear a worker say, ‘I am waiting for the company to buy this hole.’
1949 Time 2 May 8/1 After talking it over with the President..Secretary Johnson bought the Air Force point of view.
1951 I. Shaw Troubled Air xiii. 213 People feel that the best way to prove how loyal they are is to be as nasty..as they know how, and I'm not buying any of that.
1952 M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) ix. 182 It doesn't seem to me likely that they cooked it up between them... More likely she half guessed and he told her. I'm willing to buy that for what it's worth.
2022 L. Mlodinow Emotional iv. 71 The police didn't buy their story. They charged Cardella with lying, and Wezyk and Woodall with..the negligent use of a firearm.
†II. To pay the penalty for, to expiate, atone for. Cf. abye v.
7. transitive. To pay the penalty for (an offence); to atone for, suffer for, make amends for, expiate (a crime, one's sins, another's guilt, etc.). Also and in earliest use intransitive: to pay the penalty, to suffer. Often with adverbial complement, as bitter, dear, sore, etc. Cf. abye v. 2. Obsolete. to buy the bargain: to pay dearly for a thing; to pay the price. Cf. to abye the bargain at abye v. 2.In quot. OE contextually translating classical Latin vapulare to be beaten, to suffer blows.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > atonement > atone for [verb (transitive)]
beetc897
i-bye10..
abyelOE
answer?a1300
buya1300
amendc1300
mendc1330
forbuy1340
redressa1387
answera1400
byea1400
filla1400
peasea1400
ransoma1400
to pay for——c1400
recompense?a1439
abidea1450
satisfyc1460
redeema1464
repaira1513
syth1513
reconcile1535
acquit1567
dispense1590
assoil1596
propitiate1610
expiatea1626
atone1661
retrievea1679
OE Glosses to Colloquies of Ælfric Bata (St. John's Oxf. 154) in A. S. Napier Old Eng. Glosses (1900) 224/1 Vapulabunt [certe in crastinum quod sic foras discurrunt] : bicgað.
c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) l. 884 To deþe he hem alle broȝte, His fader deþ wel dere hi boȝte.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 1146 Þou sal bye [a1400 Vesp. bi] hit selcouþ dere.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xvi. l. 304 Now he buyeþ hit ful bitere.
c1440 Sir Degrevant (Thornton) (1949) l. 753 Scho sayd, ‘Traytoure, þou sall by! How was þou swa hardy To seke me with velany?’
a1500 (?a1400) Morte Arthur (1903) l. 2076 His dedis shall be bought full sore.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 455/1 I bye the bargayne, or I fele the hurte or displeasure of a thyng.
a1556 N. Udall Ralph Roister Doister (?1566) iv. vii. sig. G.iijv Let them the bargaine bie.
c1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses iv. 664 'Twill not long be..Before thou buy this curious skill with tears.
8. transitive (in passive). Of a crime, offence, etc.: to result in punishment or a penalty being imposed upon (an offender). Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 13849 And qua þis couenand haldes noght þat it be dere apon him boght.

Phrases

P1. to buy and sell. In figurative and extended use: to trade or deal with (a person, a person's life, something immaterial) as with merchandise; to traffic in.
a. transitive. With a person or as person's life as object; esp. (in early use) to seal the fate of (a person); to treat (a person's life) as forfeit; (later chiefly) to betray for a bribe. Chiefly in passive, as to be bought and sold.
ΚΠ
c1330 Roland & Vernagu (Auch.) (1882) l. 838 Smite ich eft on siþe Þi liif is bouȝt & seld.
c1450 in F. J. Furnivall Hymns to Virgin & Christ (1867) 59 Quod desteine, ‘he is bouȝt & solde;’ Quod deeþ, ‘his eende make schal we.’
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III v. vi. 35 Dickon thy master is bought and sould . View more context for this quotation
1633 J. Ford Loues Sacrifice iv. sig. I3v My Lord you are vndone... Lost; and I feare your life is bought and sold.
1792 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 644 We're bought and sold for English gold.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Ringlet 33 She that gave you's bought and sold.
1991 M. Dibdin Dirty Tricks (1992) 142 The teachers who had taken Clive's on-your-bike homilies at face value got angry when they discovered how they'd been bought and sold.
b. transitive. To deal in (something abstract, as one's honour, justice, love, etc.) as a commodity, esp. in a way viewed as corrupt or corrupting.
ΚΠ
a1450 York Plays (1885) 420 (MED) Thus schall þe sothe be bought and solde.
1548 N. Lesse in tr. P. Melanchthon Iustif. Man by Faith Only Ep. Ded. f. iiiv The Papystes professynge the name of Christ do vtterly denye Christe in byenge and sellynge the saluation of man.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII i. i. 192 The Cardinall Does buy and sell his Honour as he pleases. View more context for this quotation
1774 J. Hanway Virtue in Humble Life I. 81 Those christians, who have made their religion a kind of market for churchmen to buy and sell souls: who presume to take upon themselves to acquit or condemn them, as it turns to their own worldly advantage.
1828 ‘A. Eldon’ Continental Traveller's Oracle I. 279 Kings, ministers, and prelates, thus buy and sell honours, virtues, and sometimes—nations.
1872 M. Oliphant Mem. De Montalembert II. xii. 68 What should I do among all those low people, who buy and sell their consciences?
1936 R. Conner Time to Kill 187 They were..a match for no city woman in the matter of buying and selling virtue.
1980 Detroit Free Press 8 July 7 a/5 The good old days when special interests and consenting politicians could buy and sell influence in the privacy of their own smoke-filled rooms.
2013 J. Kenny Spark xxxii. 317 It was the whole rotten system where corporations could buy and sell justice.
P2. to buy (something) over a person's head: to buy for a higher price than someone else, to outbid a person for; (later also) to purchase something without regard to the pre-existing claim, offer, interest, authority, etc., of the person affected, in a way regarded as underhand or improper.Cf. over a person's head at head n.1 Phrases 1k.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (intransitive)] > make various types of bid
revie1591
underbid1611
bida1616
overbid1616
to buy over a person's head1682
ticket1778
spring1851
tender1865
jolly1869
1578 T. Lupton All for Money sig. Aiijv Who will not preuent his neighbour with buying things ouer his head.
1682 G. Wheler Journey into Greece ii. 195 The Bishops are always buying it over one anothers Heads.
1755 T. Cibber Epist. to D. Garrick 22 A mistaken Purchaser bought my Farm over my Head, when I had no Suspicion of such Proceeding.
1841 Bradshaw's Jrnl. 11 Dec. 83/2 What business had he with them, I wonder? He bought them over my head, too.
1901 Cornhill Mag. Mar. 406 He would buy an entire collection rather than risk the chance of a volume he desired being bought over his head at an auction.
1981 New Scientist 14 May 450/1 The house had been the headquarters of the Sussex Archaeological Society for many years when Dawson bought it over their heads and turned them out.
2021 Express Online (Nexis) 10 Feb. Will Gail be left homeless as David enacts his revenge for his mum buying the house over his head?
†P3. slang (originally cant). to buy a brush: to make good one's escape; to make a speedy departure; to leave, to clear off. Cf. brush v.1 3. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily
fleec825
runOE
swervea1225
biwevec1275
skip1338
streekc1380
warpa1400
yerna1400
smoltc1400
stepc1460
to flee (one's) touch?1515
skirr1548
rubc1550
to make awaya1566
lope1575
scuddle1577
scoura1592
to take the start1600
to walk off1604
to break awaya1616
to make off1652
to fly off1667
scuttle1681
whew1684
scamper1687
whistle off1689
brush1699
to buy a brush1699
to take (its, etc.) wing1704
decamp1751
to take (a) French leave1751
morris1765
to rush off1794
to hop the twig1797
to run along1803
scoot1805
to take off1815
speela1818
to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
absquatulize1829
mosey1829
absquatulate1830
put1834
streak1834
vamoose1834
to put out1835
cut1836
stump it1841
scratch1843
scarper1846
to vamoose the ranch1847
hook1851
shoo1851
slide1859
to cut and run1861
get1861
skedaddle1862
bolt1864
cheese it1866
to do a bunkc1870
to wake snakes1872
bunk1877
nit1882
to pull one's freight1884
fooster1892
to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892
smoke1893
mooch1899
to fly the coop1901
skyhoot1901
shemozzle1902
to light a shuck1905
to beat it1906
pooter1907
to take a run-out powder1909
blow1912
to buzz off1914
to hop it1914
skate1915
beetle1919
scram1928
amscray1931
boogie1940
skidoo1949
bug1950
do a flit1952
to do a scarper1958
to hit, split or take the breeze1959
to do a runner1980
to be (also get, go) ghost1986
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Let's buy a Brush, let us scour off, and make what shift we can to secure our selves from being apprehended.
1718 Eng. Rogue Reviv'd 18 Mr. Fuller having made Hay there whilst the Sun shin'd, he bought a Brush, and went over into the Mint, that common Receptacle of all Rogues, that have a Mind to Cheat their Creditors.
?1795 Laugh when you Can 57 Mr. Beefhead..still kept fast hold of the halter for security that Ralph should not ‘buy a brush’, or in plainer words, jump out of the window and march off.
1837 Spirit of Times 12 Aug. 206/1 I wished her a good night, and bought a brush.
P4. to buy it: to suffer some mishap or reverse; esp. to be wounded; to get killed, to die; to be damaged or destroyed. Cf. sense 2b, to buy the farm (also ranch, plot, etc.) at Phrases 9.There is apparently no evidence of continuity between later evidence and quot. 1826, which perhaps shows a contextual use of sense 2a or sense 2b, although this is recorded later (perhaps cf. quot. 1925 at sense 2b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)]
forsweltc888
sweltc888
adeadeOE
deadc950
wendeOE
i-wite971
starveOE
witea1000
forfereOE
forthfareOE
forworthc1000
to go (also depart , pass, i-wite, chare) out of this worldOE
queleOE
fallOE
to take (also nim, underfo) (the) deathOE
to shed (one's own) blood?a1100
diec1135
endc1175
farec1175
to give up the ghostc1175
letc1200
aswelta1250
leavea1250
to-sweltc1275
to-worthc1275
to yield (up) the ghost (soul, breath, life, spirit)c1290
finea1300
spilla1300
part?1316
to leese one's life-daysa1325
to nim the way of deathc1325
to tine, leave, lose the sweatc1330
flit1340
trance1340
determinec1374
disperisha1382
to go the way of all the eartha1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
miscarryc1387
shut1390
goa1393
to die upa1400
expirea1400
fleea1400
to pass awaya1400
to seek out of lifea1400–50
to sye hethena1400
tinea1400
trespass14..
espirec1430
to end one's days?a1439
decease1439
to go away?a1450
ungoc1450
unlivec1450
to change one's lifea1470
vade1495
depart1501
to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) naturea1513
to decease this world1515
to go over?1520
jet1530
vade1530
to go westa1532
to pick over the perch1532
galpa1535
to die the death1535
to depart to God1548
to go home1561
mort1568
inlaikc1575
shuffle1576
finish1578
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
relent1587
unbreathe1589
transpass1592
to lose one's breath1596
to make a die (of it)1611
to go offa1616
fail1623
to go out1635
to peak over the percha1641
exita1652
drop1654
to knock offa1657
to kick upa1658
to pay nature her due1657
ghost1666
to march off1693
to die off1697
pike1697
to drop off1699
tip (over) the perch1699
to pass (also go, be called, etc.) to one's reward1703
sink1718
vent1718
to launch into eternity1719
to join the majority1721
demise1727
to pack off1735
to slip one's cable1751
turf1763
to move off1764
to pop off the hooks1764
to hop off1797
to pass on1805
to go to glory1814
sough1816
to hand in one's accounts1817
to slip one's breatha1819
croak1819
to slip one's wind1819
stiffen1820
weed1824
buy1825
to drop short1826
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) to1839
to get one's (also the) call1839
to drop (etc.) off the hooks1840
to unreeve one's lifeline1840
to step out1844
to cash, pass or send in one's checks1845
to hand in one's checks1845
to go off the handle1848
to go under1848
succumb1849
to turn one's toes up1851
to peg out1852
walk1858
snuff1864
to go or be up the flume1865
to pass outc1867
to cash in one's chips1870
to go (also pass over) to the majority1883
to cash in1884
to cop it1884
snuff1885
to belly up1886
perch1886
to kick the bucket1889
off1890
to knock over1892
to pass over1897
to stop one1901
to pass in1904
to hand in one's marble1911
the silver cord is loosed1911
pip1913
to cross over1915
conk1917
to check out1921
to kick off1921
to pack up1925
to step off1926
to take the ferry1928
peg1931
to meet one's Maker1933
to kiss off1935
to crease it1959
zonk1968
cark1977
to cark it1979
to take a dirt nap1981
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > happen unfortunately [verb (intransitive)] > suffer misfortune or a mishap
mishappenc1230
mishapc1385
mistidec1390
spill1390
misbetide?a1400
misfalla1400
mistime1402
misfortune?a1425
misbefallc1450
miscapea1535
mischancea1542
to come home by unhappinessc1555
mislucka1617
buy1825
pratfall1940
schlimazel1963
1826 W. N. Glascock Naval Sketch-bk. I. 27 Never mind, in closing with Crappo, [sc. the French] if we didn't buy it with his raking broadsides.
1920 W. Noble With Bristol Fighter Squadron v. 70 The wings and fuselage, with fifty-three bullet holes, caused us to realize on our return how near we had been to ‘buying it’.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 41 To buy, to be scored off or victimized. Of a man getting an answer to a question which made him ridiculous: ‘He bought it that time.’
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 39 He bought it, he was shot down.
1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 16 He's bought it, he is dead—that is, he has paid with his life.
1944 J. E. Morpurgo in Penguin New Writing 22 11 I'm afraid we want you elsewhere... Jim Barton bought it, and you'll have to take on his troop.
1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 261 He'd lived in London before the war, but the whole street where he'd hung out had bought it in the blitz.
2018 J. Miles Anat. Miracle xix. 282 Hooper..bought it in an IED attack.
P5. to buy low (and) sell high (and variants): to buy assets when prices are low and retain them until their price increases. Later also buy low (and) sell high (and variants): used to express the principle or belief that the greatest profit to be earned (typically from investments on the stock market) is by using this method or technique.
Π
1568 ( D. Lindsay Satyre (Bannatyne) l. 3114 in Wks. (1931) II. 362 That fassone was na folly, To sell richt deir, & by gud chaip.
1698 Britania Nova Illustrata 16 (note) It is the Customary Trade of Merchants, to Buy Cheap, and Sell Dear; but it is the Truest Policy, and most for the Publick Good, that they should Buy Dear, and Sell so too.
1832 Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer 21 July The Farmers of Georgia: May they buy low sell high and never be taxed with a infernal tariff.
1864 W. H. Thomes Gold Hunters' Adventures lxxxi. 548 We had ready money enough on hand to take advantage of the markets, and buy low and sell dear.
1978 J. E. Mahoney Buy Low sell High 11 Those who claim that the way to make money in the stock market is to ‘buy low, sell high’ are being derided. Yet that is the only way to make money.
1997 J. Grote & J. McGeeney Clever as Serpents 71 In financial markets, the ultimate rule of thumb is ‘buy cheap and sell dear’.
2022 Financial Express (India) (Nexis) 12 May Retail US market investors have been buying the dip since..stock prices began to fall... This perhaps could be the right approach as buy low, sell high remains a robust principle to create wealth over a longer time frame.
P6. to buy time: to delay an action, event, etc., in order to allow more time for preparation; to take a course of action which will allow more time to do something else.
Π
1832 Observer 31 Dec. The contest now, therefore, is purely one of time and resources, that is, of money to buy time.
1876 Gen. Rep. Admin. Bombay Presidency 1874–75 p. xxxi A discontent which is chiefly caused by their first being terrified into signing bonds far in excess of what they owe in order to buy time.
1957 Times 11 May 6/3 The preservation of Jordan last month has bought time, and may have shifted the formal power of alignments of the Middle East.
2020 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 25 Apr. 21 All he could offer was an oestrogen-suppressant drug that would slow the growth of the tumours and buy some time.
P7. Horse Racing slang. to buy money: to bet (heavily) at short odds on a favourite.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > bet [verb (intransitive)] > type of betting
run or throw a levant1714
levant1797
to pound it1819
field1860
to go for the gloves1861
to buy money1906
plunge1939
to bet like the Watsons1949
(to bet (etc.)) on the nose1951
1860 Bell's Life in London 29 July 4/4 The favourites, it will be seen, were successful in every race, although from the odds laid it amounted almost to ‘buying money’.
1906 A. C. Fox-Davies Dangerville Inheritance vii. 99 The public had left off buying money, and the wagering had become slack.
1928 Daily Express 12 July 12/2 Backers..had to buy money over On Avon and Rainbow Bridge.
2019 Racing Post (Nexis) 5 June 12 Anyone who thought they were buying money on..Locker Room Talk would have been worried down the back straight after the short-priced favourite jumped markedly to his right and was unable to get True Romance off the bridle.
P8. Finance. to buy the (also on) dip and variants: to purchase a stock, commodity, asset, etc., after its price has dropped.
Π
1888 Philadelphia Inquirer 31 Dec. 6/1 Operators who use a little caution in buying on dips will find it to their interest during the next sixty days.
1922 N.Y. Times 28 May 21/3 The local element was somewhat less bearish of late, and bought on the dips.
1983 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 21 Mar. Investors should use any price weakness to buy fixed-income investments, or as Richardson said: ‘Buy the dips’.
1987 Bond Buyer (Nexis) 30 Jan. 3 They wanted to buy the dip. And there's no dip.
2021 @AndrewL33582005 5 Nov. in twitter.com (accessed 5 Nov. 2021) Understand the depth of the company you invest. Buy the dips and know when you invest it means patience and time against the manipulation of the market.
P9. Originally U.S. Air Force slang. to buy the farm (also ranch, plot, etc.): (of the pilot of an aeroplane) to crash fatally; (hence more generally) to be killed; to die (cf. Phrases 4). [Perhaps with allusion to the notion that a farmer whose farm is damaged by a military plane crash would be compensated by the government. Compare earlier use referring to (non-fatal) motoring accidents in which a damaged vehicle, etc., is referred to as being bought as in quot. 1938.]
ΚΠ
1938 Amer. Speech 13 308/2 Bought a car (or telephone pole, etc.), a driver is to blame for an accident.]
1954 N.Y. Times Mag. 7 Mar. 20/1 [In a glossary of jet pilots' slang] Bought a plot, had a fatal crash.
1963 E. M. Miller Exile to Stars (1964) 29 The police dispatcher says a plane just bought the farm.
1968 K. H. Cooper Aerobics 125 If the clot is in a coronary artery, you've bought the farm.
1976 C. R. Anderson Grunts 154 They don't do nothing for a guy till after he buys the ranch.
1989 D. Koontz Midnight i. xi. 296 I was in surgery, having a bullet taken out of my chest, and I almost bought the farm.
1999 S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) xi. 322 For one hundred and fifty seconds he genuinely checked out, kicked the bucket, bought the farm.

Compounds

buy-off n. an act of buying someone off; a payment made (often dishonestly or controversially) as an incentive to relinquish a claim or proceed with a course of action; cf. to buy off at Phrasal verbs 1.
Π
1942 Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer 18 June 16/3 Pirate Henry Morgan..becomes governor of Jamaica as the result of a personal reformation rather than as a buy-off by the British.
1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 10 Apr. [The] Mayor..described the deal as a buy-off. He was one of six regional councillors to oppose the agreement when Council approved it at a special meeting yesterday.
2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Nov. a27/1 Their legislative maneuverings—the buy-offs and back-room deals, the inevitable coziness with lobbyists—exposed the weakness of modern liberal governance.
buy rating n. Finance a recommendation to buy stocks or shares in a company, commodity, etc., given by an investment analyst.
Π
1941 Barron's 1 Dec. 6/1 (advt.) We reviewed the outlook for every important company whose stock is actively traded... We selected 25 as outstandingly attractive. Every one carries a ‘buy’ rating.
1992 Wall Street Jrnl. 4 Nov. c2/2 John McMillin of Prudential Securities reiterated a buy rating on Tyson after recently touring the company's two new acquisitions.
2020 Business Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 23 May OCBC Investment Research issued a buy rating on the stock given its cheap valuations and strong balance sheet.
buy-to-leave adj. designating or relating to a property purchased by an investor who intends to leave it empty rather than rent it out or live in it. [After buy-to-let adj.]
Π
2002 Sunday Tel. 3 Mar. 17 They will have been bought as an investment by large companies who are happy for them to sit vacant until they decide to sell them on several years later... Not so much buy-to-let, in other words, as buy-to-leave.]
2007 Mirror 20 Apr. 14/1 Buy-to-leave speculators are making millions of pounds without having to go to the bother of having tenants.
2014 Evening Standard (Nexis) 3 Apr. 55 Now Islington has recognised the problem of buy-to-leave housing, other central boroughs should follow suit.
buy-up n. the purchasing of a commodity so as to acquire a large amount or to remove it from the open market; (also) an instance of this; cf. to buy up at Phrasal verbs 1.
Π
1971 Billboard 30 Jan. 3/1 Dome Distributing in New York has become the wholly owned subsidiary of the GRT Record Group because of the buy-up of the stock controlled by Bernie Block and Stan Drayson.
1998 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) (Nexis) 30 Aug. 3 Government intervention in the markets—a reputed $ 100 billion buy-up of stocks—was not a rash or lightly taken decision.
2021 Times (Nexis) 10 Aug. 34 (headline) A buy-up of shares has the market abuzz but Delivery Hero denies interest in a takeover.

Phrasal verbs

PV1. With adverbs, in specialized senses. to buy down
Chiefly North American.
1. transitive. To make an initial payment to purchase (the current owner's equity in) a property, so as to leave only the existing mortgage to repay, often at a preferential rate. Also intransitive with to. Now rare.Chiefly in classified advertisements.
Π
1926 Chicago Tribune 11 Apr. xi. 24/6 $2,300 Cash buys equity down to mortgage in my new 5 rm. mod. brick bung.
1960 Mich. Chron. 3 Dec. iv. 6/4 (property listing) Only $2,800 needed to buy down to a 4½% mortgage at $85.00 month.
1983 Quad-City Herald (Brewster, Washington) 17 Mar. 11/2 Buy down equity and assume contract.
2. transitive. To purchase a reduction in (the interest rate payable on a mortgage or other loan); esp. (often of a builder, property developer, etc.) to pay a lump sum to a lender to reduce the interest due on a mortgage for a homebuyer, typically for a limited period at the start of repayment. Also: to reduce the interest rate of (a mortgage) in this way. Cf. buy-down n.
Π
1974 Daily Breeze (Torrance, Calif.) 25 Aug. d8/2 Many developers are offering 9 per cent only because they ‘buy down’ the interest by paying heavy ‘points’ costs.
1980 Toronto Star 22 Dec. a13/3 When rates get high, builders resort to ‘buying down’ a mortgage.
2008 K. Gottberg Compl. Guide to selling Your Own Home in Calif. xii. 169 Normally it takes 1% of the loan amount, or one point, to buy down the interest rate 1/8th of a percent for one year of the loan.
 to buy in
1.
a. transitive. To purchase (something, as supplies or commodities) from an external supplier or source, either for one's own use or for resale; to purchase a large stock of (something) in this way. Cf. to sell out 4 at sell v. Phrasal verbs.
ΘΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > collect a stock of (goods) by buying
to buy in1622
1622 E. Misselden Free Trade 71 Some..few..doe ioine..to engrosse and buy in a Commodity, and sell it out againe at their owne price.
1628 R. Sanderson Two Serm. Paules-Crosse 36 To buy in provision for his house.
1747 Gen. Descr. All Trades 93 The Fresh-fishmongers are early Risers to attend the Market to buy in Goods.
1844 Biogr. Dict. (Soc. Diffusion Useful Knowl.) IV. 80/2 [When threatened with war, D'Aubusson] would quickly repair the fortifications, and buy in corn from Sicily, Naples, and the Turkish coasts.
1924 L. E. Viner Held by Bolsheviks vi. 159 In order to buy in provisions before the prices go up in leaps and bounds, we deemed it advisable to get hold of Soviet money.
1967 Economist 8 July (Work Horses Suppl.) p. viii/1 They would never be able to justify tooling to make engines, gearboxes, axles and the like, in such small numbers and would have to buy these in from outside.
2013 House of Commons Culture, Media, & Sport Comm.: Nuisance Calls: 4th Rep. I. 91 Organisations will pass on, sell or buy in data on a vague understanding that individuals have consented for the data to be shared.
b. transitive. spec. (of a farmer) to purchase (animals) from another farmer or breeder; esp. to purchase (stock) to breed from rather than keeping the animals one has bred oneself for the purpose. Also intransitive with object understood.
Π
1676 S. Degge Parson's Counsellor 170 If one buy in Sheep out of another Parish, the Tithe is to be divided..; but if it be not known from whence Sheep so bought in, came, then the whole Tithe is to be paid.
1749 W. Ellis Compl. Syst. Improvem. Sheep Contents sig. b2 Profit that a Hertfordshire Farmer made, by buying in a Parcel of Ewes forward in Lamb.
1840 Franklin Farmer (Lexington, Kentucky) 11 Jan. 154/2 If he [sc. a farmer] prefer to buy in, rather than breed, it will be found that the..West Highland breed will pay more money than any other.
1861 Times 16 Oct. Many farmers buy in ewes in autumn.
2012 Your Chickens Apr. 26/1 I knew I had to either buy in better stock, hatch earlier, or spend years trying to breed more size into my large Partridge and Silver Pencilled Wyandottes.
2. transitive. To purchase or repurchase (property) as or on behalf of the owner; later esp. to withdraw (an item which has failed to reach its reserve price) from an auction.In earliest use with reference to the repurchase of church benefices annexed by a lay person, corporation, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > buy back > at auction
to buy in1642
1626 N. Shute Corona Charitatis 34 Hee hath giuen two thousand eight hundred pounds, to buy in certaine Impropriations, in some Northerne Counties, where there is least preaching.
1642 E. Dering Coll. Speeches on Relig. 161 Impropriations may be bought in.
a1676 M. Hale Disc. Provis. for Poor (1683) 58 If a man had a Rent of Inheritance issuing out of his Land, he would not think much of giving sixteen Years. purchase to buy it in.
1770 J. Wilkes Corr. (1805) IV. 31 Mrs. Macauley bought-in herself the house in Berners-street.
1826 T. Coventry Mortgage Precedents 159 A bankrupt's reversionary estate was offered for sale by auction, and 950l. was bid for it, but the assignee bought it in for 1000l., and afterwards, when it was reduced into possession, it fetched only 510l.
1836 T. Hood Coming of Age in Comic Ann. 90 Let Robins advertise..My ‘Man's Estate,’ I'm sure enough I shall not buy it in.
2008 D. Thompson $12 Million Stuffed Shark 146 Lots that did not meet their reserve and were bought-in were nevertheless listed as having been sold.
3. Finance.
a. transitive. †(a) to purchase (stocks, shares or other securities); to purchase as a financial investment (obsolete); (b) (of a company, bond issuer, etc.) to repurchase (one’s own stock, shares, or other securities) on the open market, for any of various reasons (see buy-in n. 1c); (c) to purchase (shares or other securities) in order to replace undelivered securities which one has previously purchased from another seller, with any extra costs arising from the new purchase typically being chargeable to the defaulting seller (cf. buy-in n. 1b).
Π
1681 J. Child Treat. E.-India Trade 11 I..had rather buy in this Stock..at 300l. for 100l. then come into any New Stock at even Money.
1721 Polit. State Great Brit. Feb. 120 [Referring to the directors of the South Sea Company forcing up the price of its stock.] Employing upwards of Two Millions of Money about the Time of taking in the Redeemables, to buy in Stock at 6 or 700, or more.
1756 B. Cleeve Scheme for preventing Further Increase National Debt 10 When it happens that Stocks are under Par, the Trustees shall be impowered to buy in Stocks.., in Trust, for the Nation.
1838 N. Carolina Standard 17 Jan. The Bank might resolve to buy in a half million of its own Stock, at 50 or 25 per cent. above par; thought it were reality, worth no more than par.
1841 Rep. Cases Queen's Bench X. 28 If the selling broker is not prepared to fulfil his contract, the purchaser may buy in shares to make up the deficiency, and charge the selling broker with any loss by difference of price.
1846 H. Clarke Railway Reg. 3 356 The shares have been run down, and statements have been put forth..to cause discontent on the part of those who had bought in shares at a high premium.
1934 Los Angeles Times 3 Aug. ii. 18/8 Roberts Public Markets advanced 1¼ points.., as traders viewed results of operations and the fact that the company has for several months been buying in its shares.
1994 Which? May 51/2 If there is a long delay in sending the certificate or transfer form, the market-maker (who bought your shares from your broker) may be able to ‘buy in’ the shares rather than wait for you. They will go back into the market and buy the same amount of shares (at the prevailing market price) and charge you for any extra costs.
2007 C. H. Browne Little Bk. Value Investing xiii. 100 Wouldn't the shareholders..have been better off with the company buying in its own shares or paying out generous dividends?
b. intransitive. To purchase given stocks, shares, currency, etc., with the expectation of making a profit; to invest in a given enterprise or asset. Cf. to buy into —— 2 at Phrasal verbs 2.Not always clearly distinguishable from intransitive use of sense 1a.
Π
1720 Exam. & Explan. South-sea Company's Scheme 25 It is equally a Cheat upon such as shall buy in for the Managers of any Society, to divide more than the real Profits, in order to sell out their own Stock at a higher Price than it is intrinsickly worth, as it is upon their Members to divide less than their Profits, that they may buy in for their own Advantage, at less than the real Value.
1780 J. Hope Lett. on Credit ii, in Thoughts 223 They who bought in, during the low prices of the Stocks, now reap the benefit of their rise.
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey II. iii. viii. 105 Young Premium, the son of the celebrated loan-monger, has bought in.
1840 Fraser's Mag. 40 606 The..capitalist reappeared on the Bourse; buying in cautiously for the rise.
1922 Sat. Evening Post 19 Aug. 85/1 I haven't got to buy in, or anything—I haven't got to put up a cent.
1999 D. Gardner & T. Gardner Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers (2000) iv. 72 You will have bought in at a low price and your gains will have been significant enough that..you'll still be in the black.
2018 Reason Jan. 35/2 He sold off his final chunk for some of the hottest alt-coin, ethereum, buying in at around $8..then selling out again at around $11.
4. intransitive. To purchase a commission as an officer in a regiment. rare (historical in later use). Cf. to buy into —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [verb (intransitive)] > invest
invest1817
to buy in1826
society > armed hostility > military organization > enlistment or recruitment > appointment to rank > be appointed to rank [verb (intransitive)] > buy commission
to buy in1826
1725 Orig. & Genuine Lett. to Tatler & Spectator II. 116 By his behaviour and good management got himself..recommended to buy in as a lieutenant in —— regiment.
1958 H. H. Peckham War for Independence i. 13 Younger sons of titled families usually bought in as ensigns and moved up by purchase as vacancies occurred.
2020 J. Barbarosa Soldier's Forbidden Lover vii. 63 I bought in as a lieutenant and reached my current rank through promotions over the years.
 to buy off
1. transitive. To pay (a person) to give up a claim, a course of action, etc., esp. in a way regarded as dishonest or underhand; to remove or get rid of (a person's claim, opposition, or interference) by payment or bribery. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe
meedOE
underorna1325
corrump1387
forbuy1393
hirec1400
wage1461
fee1487
under-arearc1503
bribe1528
grease1528
money1528
corrupt1548
budc1565
to feed with money1567
to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580
sweeten1594
to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598
over-bribe1619
to buy off1629
palter1641
to take off1646
buy1652
overmoneya1661
bub1684
to speak to ——1687
to tickle in the palm1694
daub1699
overbuy1710
touch1752
palm1767
to get at ——1780
fix1790
subsidize1793
sop1837
to buy over1848
backsheesh1850
nobble1856
square1859
hippodrome1866
see1867
boodleize1883
boodle1886
to get to ——1901
reach1906
straighten1923
lubricate1928
to keep (someone) sweet1939
sling1939
to pay off1942
bung1950
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > pay to be rid of
outbuyc1300
to buy out1598
redeem1705
to buy off1851
1629 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. (ed. 5) xxxiv. sig. G4v One whom no rate can buy off from the least piece of his freedome.
1746 H. Winder Crit. & Chronol. Hist. Rise Knowl. II. xviii. 280 He also..went to meet the Scythians that had invaded Asia, and bought them off, so that they marched no further.
1851 H. Martineau Hist. Eng. (1878) i. iv. 89 Buying off the Prince's claim for the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall.
1865 R. C. Trench Gustavus Adolphus ii. 65 To buy off the presence of troops by enormous gifts to their captains.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) II. ix. 408 Gruffydd was perhaps bought off in this way.
1939 Investig. of Un-Amer. Propaganda Activities in Hearings before Special Comm. Un-Amer. Activities (U.S. House of Representatives, 76th Congress, 1st Sess.) VIII. 6564 The counsel began by brazenly trying to buy them off with personal cash gifts.
1969 Times 21 Oct. 11/1 Their spokesman says that Lord Robens cannot buy off their claim for shorter hours by meeting their wage demand in full.
2008 N.Y. Times Mag. 27 July 47/1 Narco-traffickers were buying off hundreds of police chiefs, judges and other officials.
2. transitive. To release (a person) from military service by payment. Often reflexive. Now chiefly historical.
ΚΠ
1677 Earl of Orrery Treat. Art of War 19 Too commonly these Press-masters, Press those who are abler to buy themselves off, than able to make fit Soldiers to serve their King and Countrey.
1786 Arminian Mag. Sept. 485 He also enlisted in the Train of Artillery, and served for a time, till his mother bought him off.
1859 Bath Chron. 27 Oct. 7/4 He enlisted as a youthful freak, and seems to have been under the impression that his friends would buy him off.
1865 J. A. Horner Edgar Akeroyd i. 2 He..enlisted as a private soldier and served in various parts of the world for four or five years. At the end of that time he bought himself off and went to Russia.
1900 A. W. à Beckett London at End of Cent. xx. 177 He begs his father to buy him off when he finds his barrack life rougher than he anticipated.
2011 J. Büssow Hamidian Palestine x. 488 The conscription measures often met with much resistance. Members of wealthy families mostly bought themselves off.
 to buy out
†1. transitive. To redeem or ransom (a person or thing); to release, save, or deliver from captivity, death, damnation, etc. Obsolete.In quot. c1175: to buy (an animal due for sacrifice) back for a price.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > ransom > [verb (transitive)]
acquit?c1225
raim?c1225
to buy out1297
borrowa1300
ransoma1382
to put (a person) to (his or her) finance1418
raquite1454
loose1473
redeem?a1475
overbuya1525
redempa1525
remerce1559
reescate1645
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > liberation > set free [verb (transitive)] > deliver or redeem
freeOE
buyc1175
quita1250
frelsc1250
to buy out1297
out-takea1350
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) 7879 Þe laȝheboc Badd Issraæle þeode Aȝȝ biggenn ut unnclene deor Wiþþ fife wehhte off sillferr.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 10207 Hor maistres hom out bouȝte.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 306 Pirati..hade taken the sone of a gret myȝty man, and brouȝt him to þe prison of þe Emperour, faste y-bounde. This yong man wrote to his fadir, praying him to bey him out.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) i. ii. 5 Not being able to buy out his life. View more context for this quotation
1633 Bp. J. Hall Plaine Explic. Hard Texts ii. 291 By whom, wee are..bought out from the bondage of sin.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt III. xxxvii. 51 If anything bad happens to Felix, I may as well go and sit in the parish Pound, and nobody to buy me out.
†2. transitive. To make amends or atone for (a sin, an error, misdeed, etc.). Obsolete.
Π
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) 7873 Þuss birrþ himm..biggen ut att Drihhtin swa All hiss unnclene dede þurrh rihht shriffte.
1574 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. St. Paule to Galathians ii. f. 81v [Men] babbling paternosters to buy out their sinnes, and..gadding on pilgrimage to get there the things which in poperie are tearmed the workes of supererogation.
3.
a. transitive. To remove or get rid of (a burden, penalty, etc.) by making some form of payment; to purchase one's release from (an obligation, condition, contract, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > pay to be rid of
outbuyc1300
to buy out1598
redeem1705
to buy off1851
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iv. ii. 23 They haue bought out their seruices. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) iii. i. 90 Dreading the curse [sc. excommunication] that money may buy out . View more context for this quotation
1828 Ld. Grenville Sinking Fund 42 A landed proprietor..buys out..a rent-charge with which it [sc. his estate] is burthened.
1885 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 14 875 Money paid in order to buy out the execution [sc. of a writ].
1993 Sports Illustr. 3 May 29/1 The Lions ponied up some big money to buy out that pesky no-trade clause.
1997 Football Europe Aug. 4/1 Were another club to seek to buy out Predrag Mijatovic's contract, for example, they would now have to stump up a staggering £100 million to buy him out of a contract that runs until the year 2003.
b. transitive (chiefly reflexive). To release (a person) from an obligation, duty, agreement, contract, etc., by payment; (formerly often) to purchase a discharge from the armed services for (a person) (now chiefly historical); to release (a professional athlete) from his or her contract before its completion date.
Π
1756 C. ANSTEY Mem. Noted Buckhorse II. xxv. 238 I that had done so much for the Fellow, made him a Gentleman.., bought him out of the Army, and maintained him like a Lord.
1850 D. Jerrold Catspaw v. 58 I have bought him out, and—(handing parchment to Captain)—and there is the receipt.
1958 Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 11/5 (headline) Addis..parted with his life savings of £75 to buy himself out of the Army last September... Then he received a call-up notice [for national service].
1991 A. Eagleson & S. Young Power Play vii. 143 What we did late in August of 1977 was make a deal that would relieve the NHL clubs by allowing them to buy out players they didn't want to keep. In such cases they would pay one-third of the balance due on a signed contract after the players involved cleared waivers (by which other clubs could pick up players they wanted).
2000 T. Carew Jihad! (2001) i. 21 By this time I had been in long enough to have enough to buy myself out—or ‘discharge by purchase’ as the jargon had it.
4.
a. transitive. To pay (a person) to give up a property, a share of something, a right, etc.In quot. c1325 referring to a person paying a higher price in order to pre-empt another bidder.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > dispossess by payment
to buy out1644
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7778 So þat hii þat bode mest broȝte out monion...me boȝte [a1400 Trin. Cambr. broute] is out wiþ wou.]
1644 J. Goodwin Θεομαχια 26 By buying out some Inhabitant, or by purchasing ground.
1753 S. Hopkins Hist. Mem. Housatunnuk Indians 51 Being reduc'd, he was oblig'd to sell. Some Gentlemen therefore bought him out, and gave the Land to the Indians.
1840 R. H. Barham Leech of Folkestone in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 117 A Yeoman of Kent, With his yearly rent, Will buy them out all three!
1885 Spectator 25 July 967/1 In so far as the landlords are bought out.
1922 Printer's Ink 2 Mar. 146/2 Gradually he bought out the owners until he possessed practically the entire stock of the company.
2009 Guardian 4 May 24/3 Some hedge funds try to block restructuring deals, in the expectation that other lenders will buy them out.
b. transitive. To gain control of (a property, a share of something, a right, etc.) by purchase; to purchase a controlling share of (a company, business, etc.).
Π
1805 G. Caines Cases Argued & Determined Court for Trial of Impeachments State of N.-Y. I. 74 Ker, wishing to buy out the interest of Cochran, agreed [etc.].
1836 W. Irving Astoria I. ii. 31 He bought out the Mackinaw Company, and merged that and the American Fur Company into a new association.
1898 Economist 8 Oct. 1459/1 The Havemeyers..announced their intention of going into the coffee business. This they did by buying out a controlling interest in the principal competitor of the Arbuckles.
1994 Maclean's (Toronto) 7 Nov. 56/3 The Cineplex-Odeon board allowed him and Gottlieb to buy out the company's live entertainment division.
2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black xi. 360 In the seventies it was bought out by a steakhouse chain.
 to buy over
transitive. To gain the support or cooperation of (a person) by means of a payment; to win over by bribery. Also (and in earliest use) with to preceding a noun or phrase indicating the party or cause which a person is induced to join, support, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > illegal payment or exaction > [verb (transitive)] > bribe
meedOE
underorna1325
corrump1387
forbuy1393
hirec1400
wage1461
fee1487
under-arearc1503
bribe1528
grease1528
money1528
corrupt1548
budc1565
to feed with money1567
to put out a person's eyes with (a gift, bribe, etc.)1580
sweeten1594
to grease the fist or (one) in the fist1598
over-bribe1619
to buy off1629
palter1641
to take off1646
buy1652
overmoneya1661
bub1684
to speak to ——1687
to tickle in the palm1694
daub1699
overbuy1710
touch1752
palm1767
to get at ——1780
fix1790
subsidize1793
sop1837
to buy over1848
backsheesh1850
nobble1856
square1859
hippodrome1866
see1867
boodleize1883
boodle1886
to get to ——1901
reach1906
straighten1923
lubricate1928
to keep (someone) sweet1939
sling1939
to pay off1942
bung1950
1650 M. Nedham tr. P. Grégoire in Case Common-wealth Eng. ii. i. 37 They [sc. Mercenaries] are easily corrupted with Money, and with rewards and promises of better Pay, bought over to any other Party.
1670 M. Medbourne tr. Molière Tartuffe v. vi. 58 I with a little money Will buy him over to do what I please.
1756 Scots Mag. Mar. 155/1 Fearing that several of his friends should desert him, he resolved to buy over as many as he could of the contrary interest.
1848 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 64 630 Attempting to buy over their chiefs?
1877 M. E. Braddon Weavers & Weft 328 He..bought over the lodging-house keeper to his interest.
1961 F. Cali Spanish Arts of Lat. Amer. i. 37 Cortés is said to have bought him over with two thousand gold pesos and an appointment as alcade of Vera Cruz.
2018 T. Ali Uprising in Pakistan iii. 64 The..regime had made various attempts to buy him over, but he had consistently refused and emerged as one of the most principled critics of the dictatorship.
 to buy up
1. transitive. To pay to acquire all or a large amount of (a commodity, stock, etc.), typically so as to remove from the market or control the supply.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > buy the whole stock of
to buy up1533
1463–5 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Apr. 1463 §56. m. 43 The seid people..have comme into this londe..and bought up by the handes of their gardes, hostes and guydes, the grete and chief stuffe of Englissh hornes unwrought of tanners and bochers.
1533–4 Act 25 Henry VIII c. 4 §1 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 440 They bye up all maner of fyshe thether brought.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 52v Wee have them..that would buy them vp by the whole sale, and make them away againe by retaile.
1622 E. Misselden Free Trade 56 Another who bought vp all the Iron in Sicilia.
1624 J. Gee Foot out of Snare 48 The most of these Books..were bought-vp by Papists.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 15 Mar. (1974) VIII. 113 Buying up of goods in case there should be war.
1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 214 Cleander had bought up all the Corn.
1867 R. Patterson in Fortn. Rev. July 77 An..appeal to the State to buy up all the railways in the kingdom.
1874 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. I. xiii. 630 John..was buying up help on every side.
1920 Hull Daily Mail 1 Mar. 3/6 All flour in stock has been bought up, and double the quantity could have been sold.
2010 D. Porter Humphrey Bogart ii. 140 Later in life Bogie threatened to buy up all copies of the film and have them all destroyed.
2. transitive. To absorb or take control of (a business, a company's assets) by purchase.
Π
1845 Colonial Gaz. 31 May 333/1 Lord Stanley will not deny..that he wished to buy up the Company's interests—to tempt the Company to separate themselves from the colonists, and for a pecuniary reward leave natives and settlers to their fate.
1863 Proc. Town Council Borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1862–3 367 If they borrowed money to buy up the company, they could only offer one security for that money.
2014 Daily Tel. 10 Sept. (Business section) 6/4 Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has been on an acquisition binge during the past two years, buying up 29 companies for a total of $16bn.
PV2. With prepositions, in specialized senses. to buy into ——
1. intransitive. To purchase a commission as an officer in (a regiment, the army). Now historical.
Π
1724 Briton 1 Jan. 94 I have known..a young Fellow of a timorous Disposition, buy into the Army, to conceal his want of Courage.
1841 W. Howitt in K. Meadows Heads of People 83 Tom, on the very first vacancy, bought into the Guards, and was soon marked out by the ladies as one of the most distingué officers that ever wore a uniform.
1873 Sat. Rev. 23 Aug. 236/1 A man who had bought into the army as it was must find himself in a very different position in the army as it is.
1995 J. J. Gallagher Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 iii. 37 Those unwilling to fight former British subjects could either sell their commissions or buy into a regiment that was being sent someplace else.
2. intransitive. To invest in (stocks, shares, property, a commercial venture, etc.), in the expectation of making a profit.
ΚΠ
1746 J. Bate Infidelity Scourged i. 19 Mr. Chubb, I warrant him, would have Faith enough to buy into the Stocks.
1807 J. Feltham Picture of London (ed. 8) 275 When Mr. Dibdin bought into the property, we understand Sadler's Wells was nearly a losing scheme.
1849 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 66 671 The man who buys into a public stock.
1869 J. Anderson Sawney's Lett. 44 In a short time I made a ‘raise’, And bought into a claim, And there they made me engineer, Or carman—'tis the same.
1928 Palm Beach (Florida) Post 20 Mar. 12/3 Electric Refrigeration touched a new top on reports that new interests were buying into the company.
2001 Financial Times 28 Apr. (Personal Finance section) 6/1 (heading) Market jitters throw up opportunities to buy into stocks at rock bottom prices.
3. figurative.
a. intransitive. Chiefly Australian colloquial. To involve oneself in (a risky undertaking, an argument, trouble, etc.).
Π
1904 Riverine Grazier (Hay, New S. Wales) 25 Nov. 2/6 A man who goes on a committee in a little town is a fool. He buys into trouble.
1919 Aussie: Austral. Soldiers' Mag. Apr. 4/1 I wasn't buying into any of them fancy stunts, so I buzzed off down to Nice.
1954 Argus (Melbourne) 24 Sept. 3/7 I could have shot the brute [sc. an escaped lioness] there and then; but I wasn't going to buy into trouble. The cartridges you get today barely stop a rabbit.
1986 A. R. Mather Deep Gold (1989) v. 118 He sighed. It hadn't been like that, but it was pointless buying into an argument.
2003 Sunday Times (Perth Austral.) (Nexis) 6 July Premier Geoff Gallop was reluctant to buy into a fight over the flag but did not entirely rule out the proposal.
b. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To agree with, subscribe to, or embrace (an idea, point of view, state of affairs, etc.); to accept the truth of; (also, with negative connotations) to be taken in by, to fall for.Cf. senses 2, 6b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > agreement, concurrence, or unanimity > agree with [verb (transitive)] > to specific point
to go along with1624
to buy into1972
1966 D. B. Harris in E. L. Mattil Seminar Art Educ. for Res. & Curriculum Devel. (Pennsylvania State Univ.) 171 Child A ‘buys into’ the experience and profits from it, child B does not ‘buy into’ the same experience and does not profit from it.
1972 Philos. Q. 22 136 Everybody else subjects himself to a rule requiring that he keep his promises..on the understanding that I will do the same (an understanding I give whenever I buy into the institution by using the word ‘I promise’ in the relevant circumstances).
1982 Jrnl. Higher Educ. 53 15 The extent to which the advisor has ‘bought into’ the ‘going’ perspective affects his ability to encourage students to develop new ideas.
1987 Atlantic Monthly Feb. 49/1 I don't buy into the Western-model germ theory that germs attack us. I am more attracted to the Eastern model, which has to do with a person's energy.
1999 Kred (Kent Univ. Students' Union) Nov. 21/1 Whoever we showed the footage to really bought into it, they thought it was absolutely real.
2015 Nature 15 Oct. 295/1 I don't buy into the pseudoscientific claims of reiki and spiritual healers.
 to buy out of ——
transitive (chiefly reflexive). To pay to release or relieve (a person) from captivity, a burden, obligation, punishment, military service, etc. Cf. to buy out at Phrasal verbs 1.
Π
1651 tr. F. de Quintana Hist. Don Fenise 104 He endeavoured to justifie his innocence by reasons, and to buy himself out of their hands by money.
1785 S. Told Acct. Life 129 The kinsman having received his [legacy], bought himself out of the army.
1995 Accountancy Nov. 106/2 The tenant has bought itself out of the lease by paying the lessor company £300,000.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 May 27/1 He..had become something of a financial milch cow for successive popes through his ability to buy himself out of various convictions for sodomy and assault.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
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n.1826v.OE
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