buy it



buy it

1. Suffer a severe reversal, as in If they can't raise the money in time, they'll buy it. [Slang; mid-1900s]
2. Be killed; die. For example, By the time we could get to the hospital, he had bought it. Originating during World War I as military slang, this term later was extended to peacetime forms of death. A later slang equivalent is buy the farm, dating from about 1950. For example, He'll soon buy the farm riding that motorcycle. According to J.E. Lighter, it alludes to training flights crashing in a farmer's field, causing the farmer to sue the government for damages sufficient to pay off the farm's mortgage. Since the pilot usually died in such a crash, he in effect bought the farm with his life.
3. Believe it; see buy something.
See also: buy

buy it

tv. to die. (see also buy the farm, buy the big one.) He lay there coughing for a few minutes, and then he bought it.
See also: buy

buy it

Slang
To be killed.
See also: buy

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Rodya-Russian
Adlington['ædliŋtən]
Yuayoo-ahJapanese
Sten-Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch
ÉLodiee-lo-DEEFrench
Bryson['braisn]