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.
Gianluca led the charge to buy it back in 2008.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
If we didn’t buy it, he couldn’t sell it.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Cavatoni, of the World Gold Council, said one standard approach to move gold stocks was to sell the commodity in one place and buy it in another.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Angels fans who chanted “sell the team” loudly during games this season got their wish, with Rams owner Stan Kroenke agreeing to buy it on Tuesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
The garland I was holding became an encumbrance, I felt I had been stupid to buy it.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
