foot the bill

Idioms  

1. Pay the bill, settle the accounts, as in The bride's father was resigned to footing the bill for the wedding. This expression uses foot in the sense of “add up and put the total at the foot, or bottom, of an account.” [Colloquial; early 1800s]

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Example Sentences

But the consumers who had to foot the bill for the higher costs?

From Slate • Apr. 22, 2026

They say oil and gas companies still need to be held to account, so that the same communities that were subjected to decades of pollution won’t have to foot the bill for expensive cleanups.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026

However, he does allow his parents to foot the bill at family dinners for him, his wife and his son.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 27, 2026

Lee, who has a voluminous head of hair, asked the country’s health minister whether the state-run healthcare plan could foot the bill for hair-loss treatment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 5, 2026

He had decided to assemble a research team and explore the area in more detail the next year, and persuaded the National Geographic Society to foot the bill.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann