different between buy vs forestaller

English

Etymology

From Middle English bien, biggen, buggen, from Old English byc?an (“to buy, pay for, acquire, redeem, ransom, procure, get done, sell”), from Proto-West Germanic *buggjan, from Proto-Germanic *bugjan? (“to buy”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *b??g?- (“to bend”), or from Proto-Indo-European *b?eug?- (“to take away, deliver”).

Cognate with Scots by (“to buy, purchase”), obsolete Dutch beugen (“to buy”), Old Saxon buggian, buggean (“to buy”), Old Norse byggja (“to procure a wife, lend at interest, let out”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (bugjan, “to buy”). The spelling with “u” is from the Southwest, while the pronunciation with /a?/ is from the East Midlands.

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?, IPA^(key): /ba?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: bi, bye, by

Verb

buy (third-person singular simple present buys, present participle buying, simple past bought, past participle bought or (rare, dialectal) boughten)

1. (transitive) To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods
   • 1793, Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography

     Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries.

2. (transitive) To obtain, especially by some sacrifice.
3. (transitive) To bribe.

4. (transitive) To be equivalent to in value.

5. (transitive, informal) to accept as true; to believe

6. (intransitive) To make a purchase or purchases, to treat (for a drink, meal or gift)

7. (poker slang, transitive) To make a bluff, usually a large one.

Alternative forms

• buie (archaic)

Synonyms

• (obtain in exchange for money): cheap (obsolete), purchase
• (accept as true): accept, believe, swallow (informal), take on
• ((intransitive) make a purchase): make a buy

Antonyms

• (obtain in exchange for money): cheap (obsolete), sell, vend
• (accept as true): disbelieve, reject, pitch

Derived terms

Related terms

• aby

Translations

Noun

buy (plural buys)

1. Something which is bought; a purchase.

Antonyms

• sale

Derived terms

• buydown
• buyout
• impulse buy

Translations

References

• buy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• buy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• BYU

Tatar

Noun

buy

1. length

Wolof

Noun

buy

1. A baobab fruit.

English

Etymology

From Middle English forstaller, forstallor, forstallar, equivalent to forestall +? -er.

Noun

forestaller (plural forestallers)

1. A person who forestalls, especially one who buys goods before they can be sold on the open market in anticipation of rising prices

Usage notes

For at least a period of time in the late-18th century, under English Royal law, forestaller had a more narrow meaning which included the concept of not selling again in the same market within three months. By this de jure restriction, legislation attempted to distinguish between a socially useful function (storing grain for a potential future dearth) and an alleged socially harmful function of buying up grain so as to increase the price to the poor or needy by facilitating a so-called excess profit to the intermediary.