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 ]
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