| Definitions | | buy the farm |
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verb
- (context, idiom, US) To die.
- That cat must have been twenty years old when he finally bought the farm.
Etymology: While precise origins are unconfirmed, death benefits paid to the families of soldiers killed in the line of duty were often enough to pay off the mortgage on the family home, or farm.<ref>http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/farm.htm Urban Legends, Snopes.com: Language (Buy the Farm)</ref> Today, it comes from the common practice of using the proceeds from a life insurance policy to pay off the mortgage on a family farm (for example, when an elderly family member dies).
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