Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - buy

~1 v past tense and past participle bought 1 a) to get something by paying money for it  (Where did you buy that dress? | buy sb sth)  (Let me buy you a drink. | buy sth for)  (Sally's buying new curtains for the bedroom. | buy sth from sb)  (I bought this from an old guy in the market. | buy sth for $10/$200 etc)  (I bought it for two bucks at a garage sale. | buy sth for a song (=buy something very cheaply))  (- opposite sell1 (1)) b) if a sum of money buys something, that is what you can get with it  (A dollar doesn't buy much these days.) 2 buy time to get more time to do something, especially by making excuses  (Tell them we've got problems with the software, it might buy us more time.) 3 informal to believe an explanation or reason, especially one that is not very likely to be true  (We could say it was an accident, but he'd never buy that.) 4 AmE informal to pay money to someone, especially someone in an official position, in order to persuade them to do something dishonest; bribe  (They say the judge was bought.) 5 (have) bought it informal to be killed, especially in an accident or war  (Vic bought it somewhere in the desert.) buy in sth ~ phr v BrE to buy something in large quantities  (We'd better buy in more beer for the party.) buy into sth ~ phr v 1 to buy part of a business or organization, especially because you want to control it  (Clegg used the money to buy into a printing business.) 2 informal to believe an idea buy sb off ~ phr v to pay someone money to stop them causing trouble or threatening you; bribe1 buy out ~ phr v 1 T buy someone/something out) to buy someone's shares share2 (6) of a business that you previously owned together, so that you have complete control  (- see also buyout) 2 T buy someone out of something) to pay money so that someone can leave an organization such as the army before their contract has finished buy up sth ~  phrasal verb to quickly buy as much as you can of something such as land, tickets, food etc  (Much of the land has been bought up by property developers.) ~2 n be a good/bad buy to be worth or to be not worth the price you paid  (The wine is a good buy at $3.49)  (- see cheap1)