bought the farm
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
US slang, from the WWII era (first printed record in the US Air Force in the 1950's). Similar expressions like buy the plot and buy the lot also existed, although buy the farm is the only one to have survived. Probably related to older British slang buy it, buy one or buy the packet, both seemingly ironic references to something that one does not want to buy. May come from the common reflection that once someone had finished his service he would go home and buy a farm to settle on.
[edit] Verb
- (idiomatic, US informal euphemistic) Simple past tense and past participle of buy the farm: died; often refers to death in battle or by a plane crash.
[edit] References
- "Buy the farm" in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds, 2004.
