buy time

buy  (b)

v. bought (bôt), buy·ing, buys

v.tr.

1. To acquire in exchange for money or its equivalent; purchase. See Regional Note at boughten.

2. To be capable of purchasing: "Certainly there are lots of things in life that money won't buy" (Ogden Nash).

3. To acquire by sacrifice, exchange, or trade: wanted to buy love with gifts.

4. To bribe: tried to buy a judge.

5. Informal To accept the truth or feasibility of: The officer didn't buy my lame excuse for speeding.

v.intr.

To purchase something; act as a purchaser.

n.

1. Something bought or for sale; a purchase.

2. An act of purchasing: a drug buy.

3. Something that is underpriced; a bargain.

Phrasal Verbs:

buy into

1. To acquire a stake or interest in: bought into a risky real estate venture.

2. Informal To believe in, especially wholeheartedly or uncritically: couldn't buy into that brand of conservatism.

buy off

To bribe (an official, for example) in order to secure improper cooperation or gain exemption from a regulation or legal consequence.

buy out

To purchase the entire stock, business rights, or interests of.

buy up

To purchase all that is available of.

Idioms:

buy it Slang

To be killed.

buy time

To increase the time available for a specific purpose: "A moderate recovery thus buys time for Congress and the Administration to whittle the deficit" (G. David Wallace).

buy the farm Slang

To die, especially suddenly or violently.

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[Middle English, from Old English bycgan.]

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buya·ble adj.

Thesaurus

Verb

1.

buy time - act so as to delay an event or action in order to gain an advantage delay, detain, hold up - cause to be slowed down or delayed; "Traffic was delayed by the bad weather"; "she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform"