The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dear-bought \Dear"-bought`\, a. Bought at a high price; as, dear-bought experience.
Usage examples of "dear-bought".
To our right the Acropolis rose high, spectatress of a thousand changes, of ancient glory, Turkish slavery, and the restoration of dear-bought liberty.
They talked about arrest for debt, sheriff's officers, sponging-houses and the like for some time, with profound and dear-bought knowledge of the subject, and after a while Jack agreed that a thousand would see his friend clear until he could draw his long-overdue pay and see the factor who looked after his Scottish estate: with a vessel as slow and unwieldy and unlucky as the Berenice there could be no question of prize-money, above all on such an unpromising voyage.
They at length obtained a dear-bought victory, the Cypriote flies, and the castle is taken.
Even the taste of the next generation showed a change, for Cotton Mather's son, Samuel, noted as a blemish his father's “straining for far-fetched and dear-bought hints.