Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
buy out en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(idiomatic, transitive) to purchase the entire stock or extent of something
[…] and when he complained met with the reply that if he did not like his partner's methods he could either clear out or buy him out.
2006, Percy Harris, Forty Years in and Out of Parliament, page 18:[…] the present Earl had no colour or pretence of right to the estate; and yet the appellants had thought fit to buy him out, […]
1784, Josiah Brown, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords., Reports of cases, upon appeals and writs of error, in the high court of Parliament, from the year 1701 to the year 1779. Volume 11, page 444:
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(transitive) to purchase the ownership of a company
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To close someone's contract by paying him or her a sum of money, the terms of which are often stated in the contract itself.
A standard NHL contract, agreed to by both players and owners, has what is called a buy-out clause. If a player's performance deteriorates to the point that he is put on waivers and there are no takers, meaning nobody in the NHL wants him, his club can buy him out at one-third of what's left on the contract.
1986, Punch Imlach, Heaven and Hell in the NHL, page 149:
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(transitive) To gain release for (a person) from military service by payment of money.
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(US, dated, intransitive, slang) To avoid a punishment or escape a difficult situation.
You always manage to buy out at the last second.
Forms
Deriveds
buy-out · buyout
Synonyms
buy off