PAY FOR • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Pay for

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/peɪ fɔr/ Listen

verb

Pay v. i. (past & past part. paid; pres. part. paying)

To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt. "The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again."

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.

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Etymology of 'Pay for'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pay for" Quotes from Famous Books

... stripped Nigger would say some hard things to the white man with the strap in his hand, though he knew that he (the Negro) would pay for it dearly, for when a slave showed spirit that way the master or overseer laid the lash on all ...

— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume IV, Georgia Narratives, Part 1 • Works Projects Administration

... "'it's an ill wind that blows nobody good,' and although I'm sorry enough to lose the ship, yet finding you goes a long way towards reconciling me to her fate, especially as I have not to pay for her." ...

— The Three Admirals • W.H.G. Kingston

... I was sent here. Had I been the commander of the troops, I should have shot them without mercy. It is our law for war times, and these Belgian civilians must be taught that they cannot fire on German soldiers and not pay for it with their lives and their homes. With the women and children, however, the case is different. On my own responsibility I am feeding the destitute. Every day I give away to these people between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred loaves of bread; and I ...

— Paths of Glory - Impressions of War Written At and Near the Front • Irvin S. Cobb

... I want this Indian to pay for more torture of mine than you can dream of! Get back out of the way! ...

— The Heart of the Desert - Kut-Le of the Desert • Honore Willsie Morrow

... opinion, after a careful investigation of the facts, that Floyd at this time was true to the Union, and that he remained so until December 24th, when it was discovered that he had been advancing large sums of money from the Treasury to contractors, to pay for work which had never been commenced. To make the loss good, nearly a million of dollars was taken ...

— Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61 • Abner Doubleday

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