Definition of 'buy'
Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present
tense buys
, present participle buying
, past tense, past participle bought
1. verb
If you buy something, you obtain it by paying money for it.
He could not afford to buy a house. [VERB noun]
They can now be bought fresh in supermarkets. [VERB noun]
Lizzie bought herself a mountain bike. [V pron-refl n]
I'd like to buy him lunch. [VERB noun noun]
2. verb
If you talk about the quantity or standard of goods an amount of money buys, you are referring to the price of the goods or the value of the money.
About £70,000 buys a habitable house around here. [VERB noun]
If the pound's value is high, British investors will spend their money abroad because
the pound will buy them more. [VERB noun noun]
3. verb
4. verb [usually passive]
5. verb
[informal]
I'm not buying any of that nonsense. [VERB noun]
6. countable noun
This was still a good buy even at the higher price.
COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
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Video: pronunciation of 'buy'
verbWord forms: buys, buying or bought (mainly tr)
▶ USAGE The use of off after buy as in I bought this off my neighbour was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable in informal contexts8. (transitive) theology
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin of 'buy'
verb transitiveWord forms: bought or ˈbuying
2.
to get as by an exchange
buy victory with human lives
3.
to be the means of purchasing
all that money can buy
4.
to bribe or hire as by bribing
6. Theology; Archaic
to redeem
noun
9.
the act of buying; a purchase
11. US, Informal
something worth the price; bargain
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
adjective
Example sentences containing 'buy'
These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content.
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I buy something to eat on the way home, cook it, watch TV, read a book. CHAMELEON (2002)In a way...' `They're looking to buy something through an associate of yours. CHAMELEON (2002)Two and a half billion dollars tended to buy respectability, regardless of how such a fortune was amassed. CHAMELEON (2002)
More idioms containing 'buy'
Trends of 'buy'
Very Common. buy is one of the 4000 most commonly used words in the Collins dictionary
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Translations for 'buy'
British English: buy
/baɪ/ VERB
If you buy something, you obtain it by paying money for it.
He could not afford to buy a house.
- American English: buy
- Arabic: يَشتَري
- Brazilian Portuguese: comprar
- Chinese: 买
- Croatian: kupiti
- Czech: koupit
- Danish: købe
- Dutch: kopen
- European Spanish: comprar
- Finnish: ostaa
- French: acheter
- German: kaufen
- Greek: αγοράζω
- Italian: acquistare
- Japanese: 買う
- Korean: 사다
- Norwegian: kjøpe
- Polish: kupić
- European Portuguese: comprar
- Romanian: a cumpăra
- Russian: покупать
- Latin American Spanish: comprar
- Swedish: köpa
- Thai: ซื้อ
- Turkish: satın almak
- Ukrainian: купувати
- Vietnamese: mua
Nearby words of 'buy'
Source
Definition of buy from the
Collins English Dictionary
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