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Pay off   /peɪ ɔf/   Listen
verb
Pay  v. t.  (past & past part. paid; pres. part. paying)  
1.
To satisfy, or content; specifically, to satisfy (another person) for service rendered, property delivered, etc.; to discharge one's obligation to; to make due return to; to compensate; to remunerate; to recompense; to requite; as, to pay workmen or servants. "May no penny ale them pay (i. e., satisfy)." "(She) pays me with disdain."
2.
Hence, figuratively: To compensate justly; to requite according to merit; to reward; to punish; to retort or retaliate upon. "For which, or pay me quickly, or I'll pay you."
3.
To discharge, as a debt, demand, or obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required; to deliver the amount or value of to the person to whom it is owing; to discharge a debt by delivering (money owed). "Pay me that thou owest." "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." "If they pay this tax, they starve."
4.
To discharge or fulfill, as a duy; to perform or render duty, as that which has been promised. "This day have I paid my vows."
5.
To give or offer, without an implied obligation; as, to pay attention; to pay a visit. "Not paying me a welcome."
To pay off.
(a)
To make compensation to and discharge; as, to pay off the crew of a ship.
(b)
To allow (a thread, cord, etc.) to run off; to unwind.
(c)
to bribe.
To pay one's duty, to render homage, as to a sovereign or other superior.
To pay out (Naut.), to pass out; hence, to slacken; to allow to run out; as, to pay out more cable. See under Cable.
To pay the piper, to bear the cost, expense, or trouble. (Colloq.)


Pay  v. i.  (past & past part. paid; pres. part. paying)  
1.
To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt. "The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again."
2.
Hence, to make or secure suitable return for expense or trouble; to be remunerative or profitable; to be worth the effort or pains required; as, it will pay to ride; it will pay to wait; politeness always pays.
To pay for.
(a)
To make amends for; to atone for; as, men often pay for their mistakes with loss of property or reputation, sometimes with life.
(b)
To give an equivalent for; to bear the expense of; to be mulcted on account of. "'T was I paid for your sleeps; I watched your wakings."
To pay off.
(a)
(Naut.) To fall to leeward, as the head of a vessel under sail.
(b)
to repay (a debt).
To pay on. To beat with vigor; to redouble blows. (Colloq.)
To pay round (Naut.) To turn the ship's head.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pay off" Quotes from Famous Books



... when, having saved enough to buy the house, he desired to add three rooms and a porch, and so make it large enough for them to live in. A few years were still to run on the mortgage, but times had been so bad that he had been forced to use up not only the little he had saved to pay off the principal, but the annual interest also. Gerhardt was helpless, and the consciousness of his precarious situation—the doctor's bill, the interest due upon the mortgage, together with the sums owed butcher and baker, who, through knowing him to be absolutely honest, ...
— Jennie Gerhardt - A Novel • Theodore Dreiser
... Sweden and Denmark both have good credit. The former, the best; they have money at four per cent; and it is not long since the King of Sweden borrowed three millions of guilders at this interest, to pay off old debts at five per cent. His interest is paid punctually. Prussia has no credit here, but the King's treasury is full by squeezing the last farthing from the people, and now and then he draws a little money from this Republic, ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX • Various
... to offer amusement of the very highest class, so that people will come to the church rather than go elsewhere in their leisure hours and thus be surrounded by influences of the best character and by an atmosphere that is elevating and refining. They have also undertaken to pay off the balance ...
— Russell H. Conwell • Agnes Rush Burr
... who were good for anything were indignant with our captain, this fellow, to curry favour—pah! And to think of his being here! Oh, if he'd a notion I was within twenty miles of him, he'd ferret me out to pay off old grudges. I'd rather anybody had the hundred pounds they think I am worth than that rascal. What a pity poor old Dixon could not be persuaded to give me up, and make a ...
— North and South • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
... turned out to be a complete failure, and your poor uncle will have to pay off Mr Deering's liabilities. When that is done, I am afraid we shall be very badly off, ...
— The Weathercock - Being the Adventures of a Boy with a Bias • George Manville Fenn


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