pay out

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

[edit] Verb

to pay out (third-person singular simple present pays out, present participle paying out, simple past and past participle paid out or rarely (but less so for the rope sense) payed out)

1. To distribute money; to disburse
2. (nautical) To slacken a rope by lengthening it; to allow a rope to run out.
3. To repay, take revenge
   • 1981, P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins, revised edition, chapter 7,

     The pigeon, very offended, flew back to the Bird Woman and, to pay out Mary Poppins, stuck the rose in the ribbon of the Bird Woman's hat.