procure
pronunciation
How to pronounce procure in British English:
UK [prəˈkjʊə(r)]
How to pronounce procure in American English:
US [prəˈkjʊr]
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- Verb:
- get by special effort
- arrange for sexual partners for others
Word Origin
- procure
- procure: [13] The -cure of procure goes back to Latin cūrāre ‘look after’, source of English cure. Combination with prō- ‘for’ produced prōcūrāre ‘look after on behalf of someone else, manage’, which English acquired via Old French procurer as procure. The main modern sense ‘obtain’ developed via ‘take care, take pains’ and ‘bring about by taking pains’. The agent noun derived from the Latin verb was prōcūrātor ‘manager, agent’; English adopted this as procurator [13], and subsequently contracted it to proctor [14]. A similar process of contraction lies behind proxy, which goes back to Latin prōcūrātiō.=> cure, proctor, proxy
- procure (v.)
- c. 1300, "bring about, cause, effect," from Old French procurer "care for, be occupied with; bring about, cause; acquire, provide" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin procurare "manage, take care of;" from pro- "in behalf of" (see pro-) + curare "care for" (see cure (v.)). Main modern sense "obtain; recruit" (late 14c.) is via "take pains to get" (mid-14c.). Meaning "to obtain (women) for sexual gratification" is attested from c. 1600. Related: Procured; procuring.
Example
- 1. Staff members attach themselves to effective people , and the capacity to procure resources is good evidence of that ability .
- 2. It is unclear how the stores procure the apple merchandise .
- 3. As the amount of love shown is increased or decreased , the manipulating party is able to procure food , sexual indignities , and children : strapping , young things with shimmering hair and calves as powerful as a donkey 's heart .
- 4. In a bid to procure missile technology , the military junta turned to north korea for help ; just last year , the u.s. navy interdicted a shipment of missiles bound for myanmar .
- 5. Barbara ayers says special federal government programs offered to small , female-owned companies have helped her procure government contracts .