buy it

1. Suffer a severe reversal, as in If they can't raise the money in time, they'll buy it . [ Slang ; mid-1900s]

2. 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.

3. Believe it; see buy something .

Example Sentences

"You think you keep it for them", Declutter Hub's Jansen adds, "but actually it's your memory, because you remember going to shops and buying it with them and thinking how cute they looked."

From BBC

Farage has denied avoiding more than £44,000 in additional stamp duty on the purchase of the house by putting it in his partner's name, saying that she bought it with her own funds.

From BBC

He has been renovating the 2,500 acre, 17th century shooting estate since he bought it in 2022 for an estimated £80m.

From BBC

“I started out by making my own sticker sheet just at home, in my bedroom. And people wanted to buy it, but I never wanted to start a business,” Calvi said.

From Los Angeles Times

Monroe bought it for $75,000 in 1962 and died there six months later, the only home she ever owned by herself.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cease 
• close 
• conclude 
• depart 
• die 
• finish 
• lapse 
• pass 
• pass away 
• quit 
• run out 
• terminate