See Also:

pay-off (iou)



pay-off noun. E20.
[from pay off s.v. PAY verb1.]
(The paying of) the amount of money that goes to a winner in a gamble. E20.
E. Leonard He liked the sound of quarter-slot payoffs better; it sounded more like real money.
b. A confidence trick in which the victim is encouraged by the secretly arranged success of a small bet, investment, etc., to venture a large sum which will be lost. Criminals' slang. E20.
c. The return on an investment; profit. Also, the point at which an investment begins to become profitable. M20.
A result, a conclusion, an outcome; a recompense, esp. a financial one; a retributory act. E20.
G. F. Newman All the inconvenience and suffering, and this was the pay-off. New Musical Express The ex-manager has reportedly left with a multi-million pound compensation payoff.
b. A climax, a denouement. M20.
A bribe; bribery. colloq. M20.
S. Bellow Even to get to talk to the director, a payoff was necessary.
Comb.: pay-off line the point or punch-line of a story etc.; pay-off man Criminals' slang (a) a confidence trickster; (b) the cashier of a gang of criminals; pay-off matrix, pay-off table Math. in game theory, an array specifying the utilities to the players of all the possible outcomes of a game, conflict, etc.