pay-off

See also: payoff and pay off

English

Alternative forms

• payoff

Etymology

Deverbal from pay off.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.ɒf/, American: IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.ɔːf/

Noun

pay-off (plural pay-offs)

2. A payment in full; the state of having been paid in full.

   At the current monthly payment level, it'll take 32 more months to reach pay-off.

4. A reward.

   What's the pay-off for putting up with her nonsense for ages on end?

6. A return on investment.

   How soon could we realistically expect any pay-off from loading up on shares of that company?

8. A bribe.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bribe

   The prison break never could have succeeded if it hadn't been for multiple pay-offs to various corrupt officers.

10. (colloquial) A resolution or justification of an event that has already occurred, especially in fiction.

    Where's the pay-off for that whole segment of the plot?

12. (baseball) Short for payoff pitch.

    The bases are loaded, so he'd better make the pay-off count.

Derived terms

• payoff function
• payoff pitch

 

Related terms

• payback (noun)
• paydown (noun)

 

Translations

a payment

• Bulgarian: плащане (bg) n (plaštane)
• Catalan: retribució (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 付清 (zh) (fùqīng), 還清／还清 (zh) (huánqīng),

• Danish: udbytte
• Finnish: maksu (fi)
• French: rétribution (fr) f
• German: Auszahlung (de) f
• Polish: spłata (pl) f
• Portuguese: pagamento (pt) m
• Romanian: plată (ro) f, retribuție (ro) f
• Russian: платёж (ru) m (platjóž), вы́плата (ru) f (výplata), пла́та (ru) f (pláta)
• Spanish: pago (es) m

a reward

• Bulgarian: награда (bg) f (nagrada), възнаграждение (bg) n (vǎznagraždenie)
• Catalan: recompensa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 報酬／报酬 (zh) (bàochóu), 獎勵／奖励 (zh) (jiǎnglì)

• Danish: belønning n
• Dutch: beloning (nl) f
• Finnish: palkkio (fi)
• French: récompense (fr) f
• German: Ausgleichszahlung f
• Icelandic: vinningur (is) m
• Portuguese: recompensa (pt) f
• Romanian: răsplată (ro) f
• Russian: вознагражде́ние (ru) n (voznagraždénije)
• Spanish: recompensa (es) f, retribución (es) f

a bribe

• Bulgarian: подкуп (bg) m (podkup)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 賄賂／贿赂 (zh) (huìlù)

• Danish: bestikkelse
• Esperanto: ŝmirmono (eo)
• Finnish: lahjus (fi)
• French: pot-de-vin (fr) m
• German: Schmiergeld (de) n, Schmiergeldzahlung f, Bestechungsgeld (de) n
• Polish: łapówka (pl) f
• Portuguese: suborno (pt) m
• Romanian: mită (ro) f
• Russian: взя́тка (ru) f (vzjátka)
• Spanish: soborno (es) m