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]
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.
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.

However Epstein did not buy it then either.

From BBC

No one would advertise it, nobody bought it.

From Los Angeles Times

That allows it to match any offer for its stock and buy it back, which helps limit the number of shareholders.

From MarketWatch

The New York Times stake, as noted, looks like a question mark as to which Berkshire manager bought it.

From Barron's

With not enough time to fundraise to buy it for the town, a local businessman stepped in and bought it.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023