pay off
Britishverb
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(tr, adverb) to pay all that is due in wages, etc, and discharge from employment
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(tr, adverb) to pay the complete amount of (a debt, bill, etc)
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(intr, adverb) to turn out to be profitable, effective, etc
the gamble paid off
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to take revenge on (a person) or for (a wrong done)
to pay someone off for an insult
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informal (tr, adverb) to give a bribe to
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(intr, adverb) nautical (of a vessel) to make leeway
noun
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the final settlement, esp in retribution
the payoff came when the gang besieged the squealer's house
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informal the climax, consequence, or outcome of events, a story, etc, esp when unexpected or improbable
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the final payment of a debt, salary, etc
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the time of such a payment
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informal a bribe
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Pay the full amount on a debt or on wages, as in The car's finally paid off , or Les pays off the workers every Friday evening . [Early 1700s]
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Produce a profit, as in That gamble did not pay off . [Mid-1900s]
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Also, pay off an old score . Get revenge on someone for some grievance, require, as in Jerry was satisfied; he'd paid off his ex-partner when he bought him out at half-price , or Amy went out with her roommate's boyfriend, but she was paying off and old score .
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Bribe, as in The owner of the bar paid off the local police so he wouldn't get in trouble for serving liquor to minors . [ Colloquial ; c. 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.
There are lawyers letters about deals to pay off her creditors and an email from Epstein claiming to have helped her financially for 15 years.
From BBC
Investors are still struggling to see how investments like the one Amazon made in OpenAI this past week are going to pay off.
From Barron's
The company has said it will monetize those shares within the next three weeks to help pay off debt, giving it further fuel to buy back shares and expand its dividend program.
From Barron's
She hasn’t had a job for years, so her boyfriend pays the full rent for the two of them, covers travel and pays off her credit cards when she can’t.
From MarketWatch
“I have been farming since the 1980s, and elephants had never been a problem for me,” said Nkhata, who is still paying off $100 in medical bills.
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.
