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3. for a song

for a song

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*for a song

Fig. cheaply. (As if the singing of a song were payment. *Typically: buy something ~; get something ~; pick up someone ~.) No one else wanted it, so I picked it up for a song. I could buy this house for a song, because it's so ugly.

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for a song

very cheaply Land in the territory could be bought for a song in those days.

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for a song

very cheaply This is one of my favourite pieces of furniture and I got it for a song in a market. Property prices have come right down - houses are going for a song (= being sold very cheaply) at the moment.

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for a song

Very cheaply, for little money, especially for less than something is worth. For example, "I know a man ... sold a goodly manor for a song" (Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, 3:2). This idiom alludes to the pennies given to street singers or to the small cost of sheet music. [Late 1500s]

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for a song

Informal

At a low price: bought the antique tray for a song.

See also: song