Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
boughten [bawt-n] ExamplesWord Origin adjective Northern and North Midland U.S. Nonstandard.
Origin of boughten First recorded in 1785–95; bought + -en3 Examples from the Web for boughten Historical Examples of boughten
“I could of boughten some candies,” complained Microby Dandeline.
James B. Hendryx
And still more often as an adjective, as in “it was a boughten dress.”
Henry L. Mencken
“Abuse and slander from that boughten sheet, the Alta–yes,” retorted Sinton.
Louis John Stellman
They was boughten socks from Mrs. Carslake’s shop of all sorts.
Eden Phillpotts
I’ll know better next hitch, for boughten wit is the best in a general way.
Thomas Chandler Haliburton
British Dictionary definitions for boughten boughten adjective
- a dialect word for bought (def. 2)
Word Origin and History for boughten adj.
irregular past participle of buy; as an adjective from 1793, especially in colloquial U.S. usage, of clothing and other items, opposed to “made.”
BOUGHTEN. Which is bought. This is a common word in the interior of New England and New York. It is applied to articles purchased from the shops, to distinguish them from similar articles of home manufacture. [Bartlett, “Dictionary of Americanisms,” 1848]