to pay money The insurance giant estimates that in Texas alone it will have to shell out $85 million to settle these claims.How much does the company expect to shell out for a solution to the problem?
Usage notes: usually said about large amounts of money
Pay, hand over, as in We had to shell out $1,000 for auto repairs. This expression transfers taking a seed such as a pea or nut out of its pod or shell to taking money out of one's pocket. [Colloquial; c. 1800]
To pay some amount of money, often reluctantly: I had to shell out $500 on car repairs. We had to shell the full amount of tuition out even though many of the classes had been canceled.