pay out
Britishverb
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to distribute (money); disburse
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(tr) to release (a rope) gradually, hand over hand
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(tr) to retaliate against
noun
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Distribute money, disburse, as in He paid out the full amount . [Mid-1800s]
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Let out a rope by slackening, as in She paid out the rope until it was long enough to tie the canoe onto the car . This nautical expression dates from the late 1700s.
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.
The agency does not give multiple benefits out to people — it simply pays out the highest of the options available to that person at the time of claiming.
From MarketWatch
The state projects that local education agencies will ultimately pay out between $2 billion and $3 billion once cases work through the court system.
From Los Angeles Times
The financial contracts, like sports bets, pay out depending on the outcome of each game.
From Barron's
Young adults also were more likely to misunderstand how the program pays out benefits, the Cato poll found.
From MarketWatch
Kate says her home insurance company wouldn't pay out because the property had not been watertight.
From BBC
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.
