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

Let us sell what we grow to the people who want to buy it, at home and abroad.

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As an incorrigible collector of classical music recordings for 30 years, I confess I have never thought of the National Symphony Orchestra’s appearance on an album cover a reason to buy it.

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He bought it in the room and we’ve been on it ever since.

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We had to do some real adjustments, and we just weren’t able, at the time, to buy it back, even if we would have wanted to.

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"We lacked for nothing but when I wanted to buy a car I had to work hard before I could buy it," he says.

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Related Words

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