forbuy means to buy off; ransom; redeem (from sin, hell, etc.). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
Why “forbuy” is a great word
FORBUY — [Verb] To purchase the release of someone or something, as in ransoming a captive or redeeming from sin, or to secure something through bribery. From Middle English forbyen, forbiggen, forbuggen, equivalent to the intensive or completive prefix for- + buy (from Old English bycġan, "to buy"). First attested around 1315. Unlike "ransom," which denotes paying for a captive's freedom, or "bribe," which targets the corruption of conduct, to forbuy is to enact a transactional redemption that alters a fundamental state. It is the desperate clink of silver for a brigand's captive, the greasy warmth of gold passed under a magistrate's table, and the metaphysical price paid to redeem a soul from eternal debt—a single, somber verb for the world's profound and unsettling commerce of liberation.
verb
- To buy off; ransom; redeem (from sin, hell, etc.).
- To stone for; gain over; bribe.