buy it

Idioms  

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 .

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Example Sentences

"I remember being excited about the book because I had to buy it off their own website and it felt like we were on maybe a similar journey."

From BBC

Andrew and Bennie said they had worked hard to keep the house open since their grandmother bought it back into the Wordsworth family.

From BBC

We sat on the edge of Willem’s bed gulping down the precious bun; I suspected that to buy it Willem had had to go without lunch.

From Literature

The newsroom now has fewer than 400 people, about the same head count as when he bought it.

From The Wall Street Journal

I’d planned to buy my ticket at the window, but there isn’t time; I’ll have to buy it on the train and pay the surcharge.

From Literature

Related Words

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