buy
pronunciation
How to pronounce buy in British English:
UK [baɪ]
How to pronounce buy in American English:
US [baɪ]
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- Noun:
- an advantageous purchase
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- Verb:
- obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
- make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
- acquire by trade or sacrifice or exchange
- accept as true
- be worth or be capable of buying
Word Origin
- buy
- buy: [OE] Buy has relatives in most other Germanic languages, with the exception of German, and can be traced back to a prehistoric Germanic *bugjan (the Old English form was bycgan), but no non-Germanic connections have ever been identified
- buy (v.)
- Old English bycgan (past tense bohte) "to buy, pay for, acquire; redeem, ransom; procure; get done," from Proto-Germanic *bugjan (cognates: Old Saxon buggjan, Old Norse byggja, Gothic bugjan), which is of unknown origin and not found outside Germanic. The surviving spelling is southwest England dialect; the word was generally pronounced in Old English and Middle English with a -dg- sound as "budge," or "bidge." Meaning "believe, accept as true" first recorded 1926. Related: Bought; buying. To buy time "prevent further deterioration but make no improvement" is attested from 1946.
- buy (n.)
- "a purchase," especially a worthwhile one, 1879, American English, from buy (v.).
Antonym
Example
- 1. You sold furniture to buy food .
- 2. Murchison itself failed in its own attempt to buy midwest .
- 3. Money may not buy happiness .
- 4. So how do you make the best buy ?
- 5. China was on track to buy 850 tonnes .