buy it
Idioms-
Suffer a severe reversal, as in If they can't raise the money in time, they'll buy it . [ Slang ; mid-1900s]
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Be killed; die. For example, By the time we could get to the hospital, he had bought it . Originating during World War I as military slang, this term later was extended to peacetime forms of death. A later slang equivalent is buy the farm , dating from about 1950. For example, He'll soon buy the farm riding that motorcycle . According to J.E. Lighter, it alludes to training flights crashing in a farmer's field, causing the farmer to sue the government for damages sufficient to pay off the farm's mortgage. Since the pilot usually died in such a crash, he in effect bought the farm with his life.
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Believe it; see buy something .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Culkin himself had interest in purchasing it at one point, telling The New York Times: “I had half a mind to buy it—just for giggles.”
From MarketWatch
In those places consumers could buy it and take delivery from long futures contracts on maturation, without pressuring miners to bring anymore to the market, he said.
From MarketWatch
Now he’s trying to help his new boss buy it.
The house has appreciated about $500,000 since I bought it and my mortgage, which I could pay off, is 3.25%.
From MarketWatch
“I don’t buy anything, but I like to fantasize. I send listings to friends, and they’re like, ‘Just buy it then!’”
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
