1
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Phrase(s): pay something off
to pay all of a debt; to pay the final payment for something bought on credit. • This month I’ll pay the car off. • Did you pay off the gas bill yet?, Phrase(s): pay someone off
1. Lit. to pay what is owed to a person. • I can’t pay you off until Wednesday when I get my paycheck. • I have to use this money to pay off Sarah. 2. Fig. to bribe someone. • Max asked Lefty if he had paid the cops off yet. • Lefty paid off the cops on time., Phrase(s): pay off
to yield profits; to result in benefits. • My investment in those stocks has really paid off. • The time I spent in school paid off in later years.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
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1. Pay the full amount on a debt or on wages, as in The car's finally paid off, or Les pays off the workers every Friday evening. [Early 1700s] 2. Produce a profit, as in That gamble did not pay off. [Mid-1900s] 3. Also, pay off an old score. Get revenge on someone for some grievance, requite, as in Jerry was satisfied; he'd paid off his ex-partner when he bought him out at half-price, or Amy went out with her roommate's boyfriend, but she was paying off an old score. 4. Bribe, as in The owner of the bar paid off the local police so he wouldn't get in trouble for serving liquor to minors. [Colloquial; c. 1900]
American Heritage Idioms