bought
UK/ˈbɔːt//ˈbɔt/
bought is the simple past and past participle of buy.
Noun
bought (plural boughts)
- A bend; flexure; curve; a hollow angle.
- A bend or hollow in a human or animal body.
- A curve or bend in a river, mountain chain, or other geographical feature.
- the river it selfe turneth North east and is stil a navigable streame. On the westerne side of this bought is Tauxenent with 40 men.1612, John Smith, Map of Virginia, Kupperman, published 1988, page 159
- The part of a sling that contains the stone.
- A fold, bend, or coil in a tail, snake's body etc.
- Her huge long taile her den all ouerſpred, / Yet was in knots and many boughtes vpwound, / Pointed with mortall ſting.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 7
Meaning of buy
Verb
buy (third-person singular simple present buys, present participle buying, simple past bought, past participle bought or (archaic, rare, dialectal) boughten)
- To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
- Who'd Father buy the car for? He bought it for me, not for you.
- To obtain, especially by some sacrifice.
- I've bought material comfort by foregoing my dreams.
- To suffer consequences for (something) through being deprived of something; to pay for (something one has done).
- VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood,
As I am Iacke Strawe, thou ſhalt buy it with thy blood.1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I
- VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood,
- To bribe.
- He tried to buy me with gifts, but I wouldn't give up my beliefs.
- To be equivalent to in value.
- The dollar doesn't buy as much as it used to.
- to accept as true; to believe
- I'm not going to buy your stupid excuses anymore!
Adjective
bought
- Compromised by money from special interests; corrupt.
- Any senators who vote for this bill must be bought.
- Don't bother filing a complaint, the regulators are bought.
- Synonyms:
- bought and paid for
Synonyms of bought
Forms of bought
| plural | boughts |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bout |
| alternative form | bowt |
| alternative form | boughte |
| alternative form | bughte |
Origin of bought
See buy.
From Middle English bought, bowght, bouȝt, *buȝt, probably an alteration of bight, biȝt, byȝt (“bend, bight”) after bowen, buwen, buȝen (“to bow, bend”). Cognate with Scots boucht, bucht, bout (“bend”). More at bight and bout.
Words formed from bought
Phrases with bought
- bought in
- bought it
- bought up
- bought air
- bought off
- bought out
- bought back
- bought down
- bought into
- bought over
- bought time
- bought a pup
20 more phrasesFewer phrases
- bought off on
- bought to let
- bought the dip
- bought the dips
- bought the farm
- bought the rack
- bought some time
- bought the rumor
- bought priesthood
- bought the rabbit
- bought a ticket to
- bought priesthoods
- bought the big one
- bought wolf tickets
- bought out from under
- bought with one's ears
- bought straw hats in winter
- you break it, you bought it
- bought a dog and barked oneself
- been there, done that, bought the T-shirt
Words that rhyme with bought
Questions about bought
- What does bought mean?
- Bought means compromised by money from special interests; corrupt.
- What is bought the simple past and past participle of?
- Bought is the simple past and past participle of buy.
- What part of speech is bought?
- Bought can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce bought?
- Bought is pronounced /ˈbɔːt/ (UK).
Words near bought in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bought (page history and authors); buy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bought.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bought.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bought. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.