–verb (used with object)

1.	to acquire the possession of, or the right to, by paying or promising to pay an equivalent, esp. in money; purchase.

2.	to acquire by exchange or concession: to buy favor with flattery.

3.	to hire or obtain the services of: The Yankees bought a new center fielder.

4.	to bribe: Most public officials cannot be bought.

5.	to be the monetary or purchasing equivalent of: Ten dollars buys less than it used to.

6.	Chiefly Theology. to redeem; ransom.

7.	Cards. to draw or be dealt (a card): He bought an ace.

8.	Informal. a. to accept or believe: I don't buy that explanation. b. to be deceived by: He bought the whole story.

–verb (used without object)

9.	to be or become a purchaser.

–noun

10.	an act or instance of buying.

11.	something bought or to be bought; purchase: That coat was a sensible buy.

12.	a bargain: The couch was a real buy.

—Verb phrases

13.	buy down, to lower or reduce (the mortgage interest rate) by means of a buy-down.

14.	buy in, a. to buy a supply of; accumulate a stock of. b. to buy back one's own possession at an auction. c. to undertake a buy-in. Also, buy into.

15.	buy into, to purchase a share, interest, or membership in: They tried to buy into the club but were not accepted.

16.	buy off, to get rid of (a claim, opposition, etc.) by payment; purchase the noninterference of; bribe: The corrupt official bought off those who might expose him.

17.	buy out, to secure all of (an owner or partner's) share or interest in an enterprise: She bought out an established pharmacist and is doing very well.

18.	buy up, to buy as much as one can of something or as much as is offered for sale: He bought up the last of the strawberries at the fruit market.

—Idiom

19.	buy it, Slang. to get killed: He bought it at Dunkirk.

–definite article

1.	(used, esp. before a noun, with a specifying or particularizing effect, as opposed to the indefinite or generalizing force of the indefinite article a or an): the book you gave me; Come into the house.

2.	(used to mark a proper noun, natural phenomenon, ship, building, time, point of the compass, branch of endeavor, or field of study as something well-known or unique): the sun; the Alps; the Queen Elizabeth; the past; the West.

3.	(used with or as part of a title): the Duke of Wellington; the Reverend John Smith.

4.	(used to mark a noun as indicating the best-known, most approved, most important, most satisfying, etc.): the skiing center of the U.S.; If you're going to work hard, now is the time.

5.	(used to mark a noun as being used generically): The dog is a quadruped.

6.	(used in place of a possessive pronoun, to note a part of the body or a personal belonging): He won't be able to play football until the leg mends.

7.	(used before adjectives that are used substantively, to note an individual, a class or number of individuals, or an abstract idea): to visit the sick; from the sublime to the ridiculous.

8.	(used before a modifying adjective to specify or limit its modifying effect): He took the wrong road and drove miles out of his way.

9.	(used to indicate one particular decade of a lifetime or of a century): the sixties; the gay nineties.

10.	(one of many of a class or type, as of a manufactured item, as opposed to an individual one): Did you listen to the radio last night?

11.	enough: He saved until he had the money for a new car. She didn't have the courage to leave.

12.	(used distributively, to note any one separately) for, to, or in each; a or an: at one dollar the pound.