hire-purchase system
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of hire-purchase system
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
If this is the "hire-purchase system," a piano-less life is infinitely preferable to braving its manifold perils and penalties.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, April 25, 1891 by Various
You can get them on the hire-purchase system.
From People of Position by Boehm, H. Richard
Also houses could be built for people whose work takes them to town, but who want good air for their children; the hire-purchase system, you know.
From The Beautiful An Introduction to Psychological Aesthetics by Lee, Vernon
To-day he had successfully prosecuted a man who seemed to have lived for some time on the hire-purchase system, and it made him unusually cheerful.
From In the Year of Jubilee by Gissing, George
No: I have that on the hire-purchase system.
From You Never Can Tell by Shaw, Bernard
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.
