| English Dictionary |
PAY OFF
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does pay off mean?
• PAY OFF (verb)
The verb PAY OFF has 6 senses:
1. yield a profit or result
2. eliminate by paying off (debts)
3. pay off (loans or promissory notes)
4. do or give something to somebody in return
5. pay someone with influence in order to receive a favor
6. take vengeance on or get even
Familiarity information: PAY OFF used as a verb is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Yield a profit or result
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Context example:
His efforts finally paid off
Hypernyms (to "pay off" is one way to...):
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Sense 2
Meaning:
Eliminate by paying off (debts)
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Synonyms:
liquidate; pay off
Hypernyms (to "pay off" is one way to...):
ante up; pay; pay up (cancel or discharge a debt)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pay off"):
lift (pay off (a mortgage))
amortise; amortize (liquidate gradually)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Pay off (loans or promissory notes)
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Synonyms:
pay off; redeem
Hypernyms (to "pay off" is one way to...):
pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 4
Meaning:
Do or give something to somebody in return
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Synonyms:
compensate; make up; pay; pay off
Context example:
Does she pay you for the work you are doing?
Hypernyms (to "pay off" is one way to...):
settle (dispose of; make a financial settlement)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Sense 5
Meaning:
Pay someone with influence in order to receive a favor
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Synonyms:
buy off; pay off
Hypernyms (to "pay off" is one way to...):
bribe; buy; corrupt; grease one's palms (make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence)
Domain category:
crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sense 6
Meaning:
Take vengeance on or get even
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
Synonyms:
Context example:
This time I got him
Hypernyms (to "pay off" is one way to...):
get back; get even (take revenge or even out a score)
Verb group:
pay (make a compensation for)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Context examples
You seem determined to make more money, and your efforts will likely start to pay off this month.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Because she had the money there with which to pay off the brokers.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Yet the king hath given me a living here in the southlands, and please God these two lads of mine will pay off a debt that hath been owing over long.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And then, Fanny, the glory of fixing one who has been shot at by so many; of having it in one's power to pay off the debts of one's sex!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Wolf Larsen put the wheel hard up, to port, and we began to pay off.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
His blood might pay off a mortgage or send a son to college.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The Professor watched whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Then he laid himself down and slept off a little of his weariness; and when he awoke the next morning he broke off a head both of the good and the bad salad, and thought to himself, This will help me to my fortune again, and enable me to pay off some folks for their treachery.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
When Buck earned sixteen hundred dollars in five minutes for John Thornton, he made it possible for his master to pay off certain debts and to journey with his partners into the East after a fabled lost mine, the history of which was as old as the history of the country.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
On this day, you may send a large check, perhaps to pay off a credit card bill or college tuition.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"The word of the old, and the gun of the young." (Albanian proverb)
"If you wish, ask for more." (Arabic proverb)
"Those who had some shame are dead." (Egyptian proverb)