foot the bill

verb

To pay for something.

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Meanings

verbfoot the bill (third-person singular simple present foots the bill, present participle footing the bill, simple past and past participle footed the bill)

present singular third person foots the bill · participle present footing the bill · participle past footed the bill · past footed the bill

  1. idiomaticTo pay for something.

    When I spoke to Hitachi, it was very open that it will foot the bill, not taxpayers or farepayers.

    2022 April 20, Philip Haigh, “What caused the cracks in Hitachi's Class 800 trains...”, in RAIL, number 955, page 53
    1 more example

    The cop tried the door. “It's locked, hey,” he said. “Bust it down,” roared Oedipa, “and Hitler Hilarius here will foot the bill.”

    1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 103

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
ante uppaypony up

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 付賬 /付账
  • 付賬 /付账 (fùzhàng)pay for something
Finnish maksaa lasku
  • maksaa laskupay for something
Cite this entry
APA

foot the bill. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foot%20the%20bill

MLA

“foot the bill.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foot%20the%20bill. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foot the bill,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foot%20the%20bill.

Source: foot the bill on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.