procure
verbUK /pɹəˈkjʊə/ · US /pɹəˈkjʊɹ/
Etymology From Middle English procuren, from Old French procurer, from Late Latin prōcūrāre (“to manage, administer”), from prō (“on behalf of”) + cūrō (“to care for”).
1
To acquire or obtain.
- if we procure not to ourselves more woe1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Later there would also be need for seeds and artificial manures, besides various tools and, finally, the machinery for the windmill. How these were to be procured, no one was able to imagine.1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
1 more example
- Folkestone: Network Rail and the White Cliffs Countryside Project have procured a herd of goats to keep vegetation on the slopes of Folkestone Warren under control, and to encourage rare species.2025 February 5, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Southern”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 22:
2
To obtain a person as a prostitute for somebody else.
3
To induce or persuade someone to do something.
4
Obsolete To contrive; to bring about; to effect; to cause.
- By all means possible they procure to have gold and silver among them in reproach.1551, Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robinson, Utopia:
- Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
5
Obsolete To solicit; to entreat.
- The famous Briton prince and faery knight, […] / Of the fair Alma greatly were procured / To make there lenger soiourne and abode.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1:
6
Obsolete To cause to come; to bring; to attract.
- What unaccustomed cause procures her hither?c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:
- Derived terms
- misprocure, procurable, procuracy, procurator, procure to pay, reprocure, unprocured
- Related terms
- procurement, procurer, procuress, proxy