purchase

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the acquisition of something for payment

   they closed the purchase with a handshake

2. 2
   noun

   a means of exerting influence or gaining advantage

   They could get no purchase on the situation, despite their prestige.

3. 3
   noun

   The acquisition of title to, or property in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.

   They offer a free hamburger with the purchase of a drink.

4. 4
   noun

   That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent.

   He was pleased with his latest purchase.

5. 5
   noun

   The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)

   I'll […] get meat to save thee, / Or lose my life i’ th’ purchase.

6. 6
   noun

   A price paid for a house or estate, etc. equal to the amount of the rent or income during the stated number of years.

   Suppose a freehold house to be worth 20 years’ purchase […]

7. 7
   noun

   Any mechanical hold or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle or capstan.

   It is hard to get purchase on a nail without a pry bar or hammer.

8. 8
   noun

   The apparatus, tackle or device by which such mechanical advantage is gained and (in nautical terminology) the ratio of such a device, like a pulley, or block and tackle.

   He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure."

Etymology

From Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-Norman purchacer (“seek to obtain”) from pur- (from Latin pro-) + chac(i)er (“to chase, pursue”). Compare Old French porchacier (“to follow, to chase”), which has given French pourchasser (“to chase without relent”).