v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Purchased p. pr. & vb. n. Purchasing. ] [ OE. purchasen, porchacen, OF. porchacier, purchacier, to pursue, to seek eagerly, F. pourchasser; OF. pour, por, pur, for (L. pro) + chacier to pursue, to chase. See Chase. ] 1. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

That loves the thing he can not purchase. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your accent is Something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

His faults . . . hereditary
Rather than purchased. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a price; as, to purchase land, or a house. [ 1913 Webster ]

The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth. Gen. xxv. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.; as, to purchase favor with flattery. [ 1913 Webster ]

One poor retiring minute . . .
Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A world who would not purchase with a bruise? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) (a) To acquire by any means except descent or inheritance. Blackstone. (b) To buy for a price. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to; as, to purchase a cannon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert one's self. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage. Ld. Berners. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To acquire wealth or property. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Sure our lawyers
Would not purchase half so fast. J. Webster. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. purchds, F. pourchas eager pursuit. See Purchase, v. t. ] 1. The act of seeking, getting, or obtaining anything. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I'll . . . get meat to have thee,
Or lose my life in the purchase. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of seeking and acquiring property. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The acquisition of title to, or properly in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is foolish to lay out money in the purchase of repentance. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. That which is obtained, got, or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition. Chaucer. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

We met with little purchase upon this coast, except two small vessels of Golconda. De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

A beauty-waning and distressed widow . . .
Made prize and purchase of his lustful eye. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent. “The scrip was complete evidence of his right in the purchase.” Wheaton. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Any mechanical hold, or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle, capstan, and the like; also, the apparatus, tackle, or device by which the advantage is gained. [ 1913 Webster ]

A politician, to do great things, looks for a power -- what our workmen call a purchase. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Law) Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Purchase criminal, robbery. [ Obs. ] Spenser. --
Purchase money, the money paid, or contracted to be paid, for anything bought. Berkeley. --
Worth [ so many ] years' purchase, or
At [ so many ] years' purchase, a phrase by which the value or cost of a thing is expressed in the length of time required for the income to amount to the purchasing price; as, he bought the estate at a twenty years' purchase. To say one's life is
not worth a day's purchase in the same as saying one will not live a day, or is in imminent peril. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who purchases; one who acquires property for a consideration, generally of money; a buyer; a vendee. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) One who acquires an estate in lands by his own act or agreement, or who takes or obtains an estate by any means other than by descent or inheritance. [ 1913 Webster ]