Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), n. [OE. purchds, F. pourchas eager
   pursuit. See {Purchase}, v. t.]
   1. The act of seeking, getting, or obtaining anything. [Obs.]

            I'll . . . get meat to have thee, Or lose my life in
            the purchase.                         --Beau. & Fl.

   2. The act of seeking and acquiring property.

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

            It is foolish to lay out money in the purchase of
            repentance.                           --Franklin.

   4. That which is obtained, got, or acquired, in any manner,
      honestly or dishonestly; property; possession;
      acquisition. --Chaucer. B. Jonson.

            We met with little purchase upon this coast, except
            two small vessels of Golconda.        --De Foe.

            A beauty-waning and distressed widow . . . Made
            prize and purchase of his lustful eye. --Shak.

   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.

   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.

            A politician, to do great things, looks for a power
            -- what our workmen call a purchase.  --Burke.

   7. (Law) Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means
      than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or
      agreement. --Blackstone.

   {Purchase criminal}, robbery. [Obs.] --Spenser.

   {Purchase money}, the money paid, or contracted to be paid,
      for anything bought. --Berkeley.

   {Worth, 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.

Purchase \Pur"chase\ (?; 48), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Purchased};
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Purchasing}.] [OE. purchasen, porchacen, OF.
   porchacier, purchacier, to pursue, to seek eagerly, F.
   pourchasser; OF. pour, por, pur, for (L. pro) + chacier to
   pursue, to chase. See {Chase}.]
   1. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain,
      obtain, or acquire. --Chaucer.

            That loves the thing he can not purchase. --Spenser.

            Your accent is Something finer than you could
            purchase in so removed a dwelling.    --Shak.

            His faults . . . hereditary Rather than purchased.
                                                  --Shak.

   2. To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a
      price; as, to purchase land, or a house.

            The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of
            Heth.                                 --Gen. xxv.
                                                  10.

   3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or
      sacrifice, etc.; as, to purchase favor with flattery.

            One poor retiring minute . . . Would purchase thee a
            thousand thousand friends.            --Shak.

            A world who would not purchase with a bruise?
                                                  --Milton.

   4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit. [Obs.]

            Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
                                                  --Shak.

   5. (Law)
      (a) To acquire by any means except descent or inheritance.
          --Blackstone.
      (b) To buy for a price.

   6. To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical
      advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to;
      as, to purchase a cannon.

Purchase \Pur"chase\, v. i.
   1. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to
      exert one's self. [Obs.]

            Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl
            of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
                                                  --Ld. Berners.

   2. To acquire wealth or property. [Obs.]

            Sure our lawyers Would not purchase half so fast.
                                                  --J. Webster.

Source : WordNet®

purchase
     n 1: the acquisition of something for payment; "they closed the
          purchase with a handshake"
     2: something acquired by purchase
     3: a means of exerting influence or gaining advantage; "he
        could get no purchase on the situation"
     4: the mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to
        use a lever [syn: {leverage}]

purchase
     v : obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial
         transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The
         conglomerate acquired a new company"; "She buys for the
         big department store" [syn: {buy}] [ant: {sell}]