acquisition
    n 1: the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession
         of something; "the acquisition of wealth"; "the acquisition
         of one company by another"
    2: something acquired; "a recent acquisition by the museum"
    3: the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge; "the
       child's acquisition of language" [syn: learning,
       acquisition]
    4: an ability that has been acquired by training [syn: skill,
       accomplishment, acquirement, acquisition, attainment]

Acquisition \Ac`qui*si"tion\, n. [L. acquisitio, fr. acquirere:
   cf. F. acquisition. See Acquire.]
   1. The act or process of acquiring.
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            The acquisition or loss of a province. --Macaulay.
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   2. Specifically: (Business, Finance) The purchase of one
      commercial enterprise by another, whether for cash, or in
      a trade of stock of the purchasing company for that of the
      purchased company.

   Syn: buyout, takeover.
        [PJC]

   3. The thing acquired or gained; an acquirement; a gain; as,
      learning is an acquisition.
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   Syn: See Acquirement.
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ACQUISITION, property, contracts, descent. The act by which the person
procures the property of a thing.
    2. An acquisition, may be temporary or perpetual, and be procured either
for a valuable consideration, for example, by buying the same; or without
consideration, as by gift or descent.
    3. Acquisition may be divided into original and derivative. Original
acquisition is procured by occupancy, 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 490; 2 Kent. Com.
289; Menstr. Leg. du Dr. Civ. Rom. Sec. 344 ; by accession, 1 Bouv. Inst. n.
Sec. 499; 2 Kent., Com. 293; by intellectual labor, namely, for inventions,
which are secured by patent rights and for the authorship of books, maps,
and charts, which is protected by copyrights. 1. Bouv. Inst. n. 508.
    4. Derivative acquisitions are those which are procured from others,
either by act of law, or by act of the parties. Goods and chattels may
change owners by act of law in the cases of forfeiture, succession,
marriage, judgment, insolvency, and intestacy. And by act of the parties, by
gift or sale. Property may be acquired by a man himself, or by those who are
in his power, for him; as by his children while minors; 1 N. Hamps. R. 28; 1
United States Law Journ. 513 ; by his apprentices or his slaves. Vide Ruth.
Inst. ch. 6 & 7; Dig. 41, 1, 53; Inst. 2,9; Id. 2,9,3.