hire-purchase system

[hahyuh r-pur-chuh s]

noun British.

a system of payment for a commodity in regular installments while using it.

Origin of hire-purchase system

First recorded in 1895–1900

Also called hire-pur·chase.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hire-purchase

Historical Examples of hire-purchase

X 31, a woman, has obtained jewellery on the hire-purchase system.
The Criminal & the Community
James Devon
If this is the "hire-purchase system," a piano-less life is infinitely preferable to braving its manifold perils and penalties.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 100, April 25, 1891
Various
Many undertakers carry out wiring on the easy payment or hire-purchase system.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 6
Various
This was an extension of the hire-purchase plan (buying on credit) initiated by Clark of the Singer Company.
The Invention of the Sewing Machine
Grace Rogers Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for hire-purchase

hire-purchase

noun

British, Australian, NZ and Southern African
1. a system for purchasing merchandise, such as cars or furniture, in which the buyer takes possession of the merchandise on payment of a deposit and completes the purchase by paying a series of regular instalments while the seller retains ownership until the final instalment is paid
2. (as modifier)hire-purchase legislation
Abbreviation: HP, h.p. US and Canadian equivalents: instalment plan, installment plan

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012