Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAR'GAIN, n. [Fr. barguigner, to haggle, to hem and haw; Arm. barguignour, a haggler; It. bargagnare, to cavil, contend; bargain; Ir. braighean, debate. It seems to accord with It. briga, Sp. brega, and Fr. brigue.]

1. An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds himself to transfer the right to some property; for a consideration, and the other party binds himself to receive the property and pay the consideration.
2. Stipulation; interested dealing.
3. Purchase, or the thing purchased. – Locke.
4. In popular language, final event; upshot; as, we must make the best of a bad bargain. To sell bargains, is a vulgar phrase. To strike a bargain, is to ratify an agreement, originally by striking, or shaking hands. The Latin ferire fœdus, may represent a like ceremony, unless it refers to the practice of killing a victim, at the solemn ratification of oaths. Bargain and sale, in law, a species of conveyance, by which the bargainer contracts to convey the lands to the bargainee, and becomes by such contract a trustee for and seised to the use of the bargainee. The statute then completes the purchase; that is, the bargain vests the use, and the statute vests the possession. – Blackstone.