bargain
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: bägən
ipa: /ˈbɑːɡən/
ipa: /-ɡɪn/
enpr: bärgən
ipa: /ˈbɑːɹɡən/
note: Indic
ipa: /bɑ(r).ɡɛjn/
note: Indic
ipa: /bɑ(r).ɡen/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ɡən
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ɡɪn
Forms: form: bargains
Etymology: From Middle English bargaynen (“to bargain, make a pledge for sale”), from Old French bargaigner (“to bargain”), from Frankish *borganjan (“to borrow, lend”), from Proto-Germanic *burgijaną (“to borrow, lend”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to protect, secure”). Akin to Old High German boragēn, borgēn (“to look after, care for”) (German borgen), Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge”). More at borrow.
Compare French barguigner and Portuguese barganhar.
Senses: examples: text: A contract is a bargain that is legally binding.
ref: 1883, J. J. S Wharton, Wharton's Law Lexicon:
glosses: An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds themself to transfer the right to some property for a consideration, and the other party binds themself to receive the property and pay the consideration.
examples: text: […]And when your honors mean to solemnize
 The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you,
 Even at that time I may be married too.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
synonyms: contract
engagement
stipulation
glosses: An agreement or stipulation; mutual pledge.
synonyms: steal
antonyms: rip-off
glosses: An item purchased for significantly less than the usual, or recommended, price
examples: text: to buy (something) at a bargain
text: At that price, it’s not just a bargain, it’s a steal.
text: Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;[…].
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
glosses: A gainful transaction; an advantageous purchase.
examples: text: If he say so, may his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day! He lies to th' heart. She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
synonyms: purchase
glosses: The thing stipulated or purchased.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargain and sale
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargain-basement
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargain basement
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargain bin
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargain bucket
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargainer
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargain hunter
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargainor
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: bargainous
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: catching bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: drive a hard bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: Dutch bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: Faustian bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: fool's bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: in the bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: into the bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: keep one's side of the bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: make the best of a bad bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: plea bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: plea-bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: prebargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: Queen's hard bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: rue-bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: sell bargains
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: Smithfield bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: strike a bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: time-bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: time bargain
sense: Terms derived from bargain (noun)
word: wet bargain