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bought

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bought¹

  • /ˈbɔːt/ UK
  • /ˈbɔt/ US
  • /ˈbɑt/ cot caught merger
  • /ˈbɒt/ cot caught merger

Sounds like bot (cot–caught merger), baht (father–bother merger) · Rhymes with -ɔːt

Where it comes from

See buy.

verb

  1. participle, past simple past and past participle of buy She bought an expensive bag last week.

adjective

  1. informal Compromised by money from special interests; corrupt. Any senators who vote for this bill must be bought.

    Similar: bought and paid for

bought²

  • /ˈbɔːt/ UK
  • /ˈbɔt/ US
  • /ˈbɑt/ cot caught merger
  • /ˈbɒt/ cot caught merger

Sounds like bot (cot–caught merger), baht (father–bother merger) · Rhymes with -ɔːt

Where it comes from

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.

noun boughts · bout · bowt · boughte · bughte

  1. obsolete A bend; flexure; curve; a hollow angle.
  2. obsolete A bend or hollow in a human or animal body.
  3. obsolete 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.
  4. obsolete The part of a sling that contains the stone.
  5. obsolete 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.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sold, get, won, gotten, acquisition, invited, dearly, treated, redeemed, purchasing, learned, thought, paid, procurement, picked, purchase

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MLA

"bought." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bought. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

bought. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bought

Chicago

"bought." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bought.

BibTeX
@misc{bought_2026,
  title = {bought},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bought},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}