bought

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /bɔːt/, SAMPA: /bO:t/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt
• (GenAm) IPA: /bɔt/, SAMPA: /bOt/
• (cot–caught merger, Northern Cities Vowel Shift) IPA: /bɑt/, SAMPA: /bAt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology 1

See buy

Verb

bought

1. Simple past tense and past participle of buy.

   She bought an expensive bag last week.

   People have bought gas masks.

   Our products can be bought at your local store.

Usage notes

In some native English-speaking countries, "bought" is often mispronounced as "brought" (and vice versa) despite the fact that the two words mean different things.

Derived terms

• overbought

Etymology 2

Probably an alteration of bight, after bow.

Alternative forms

• bout

Noun

bought (plural boughts)

1. (obsolete) A bend or hollow in a human or animal body.
2. (obsolete) A curve or bend in a river, mountain chain, or other geographical feature.
   • 1612, John Smith, Map of Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, p. 159:

     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.

3. (obsolete) The part of a sling that contains the stone.
4. (obsolete) A fold, bend, or coil in a tail, snake's body etc.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:

     Her huge long taile her den all ouerspred, / Yet was in knots and many boughtes vpwound, / Pointed with mortall sting.

References

• bought in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  
• The Oxford English Dictionary.