hire-purchase system

American  

[hahyuhr-pur-chuhs] / ˈhaɪərˈpɜr tʃəs /

noun

British.

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

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Etymology

Origin of hire-purchase system

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

You can get them on the hire-purchase system.

From People of Position by Boehm, H. Richard

She managed secretly to save enough money to surprise and delight Olivier with a hired piano, which, on the hire-purchase system became their property at the end of a certain number of months.

From Jean Christophe: in Paris The Market-Place, Antoinette, the House by Cannan, Gilbert

He took the young man round to a neighbouring costumier’s, and secured a dress-suit on the hire-purchase system, at a very small outlay of ready money which he advanced.

From The Intriguers by Le Queux, William

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