pay the piper definition | Dictionary.com

pip⋅er

[pahy-per]

–noun

1.	a person who plays on a pipe.

2.	a bagpiper.

—Idiom

pay the piper,

a.	to pay the cost of something.

b.	to bear the unfavorable consequences of one's actions or pleasures: Someday he'll have to pay the piper for all that gambling.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE pīpere. See pipe ¹ , -er ¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pay¹ (pā)

v. paid (pād), pay·ing, pays

v. tr.

To give money to in return for goods or services rendered: pay the cashier.
To give (money) in exchange for goods or services: paid four dollars for a hamburger; paid an hourly wage.
To discharge or settle (a debt or obligation): paying taxes; paid the bill.
1. To give recompense for; requite: a kindness that cannot be paid back.
2. To give recompense to; reward or punish: I'll pay him back for his insults.
To bear (a cost or penalty, for example) in recompense: She paid the price for her unpopular opinions.
To yield as a return: a savings plan that paid six percent interest.
To afford an advantage to; profit: It paid us to be generous.
To give or bestow: paying compliments; paying attention.
To make (a visit or call).
Past tense and past participle paid or payed (pād) To let out (a line or cable) by slackening.

v. intr.

To give money in exchange for goods or services.
To discharge a debt or obligation.
To bear a cost or penalty in recompense: You'll pay for this mischief!
To be profitable or worthwhile: It doesn't pay to get angry.

adj.

Of, relating to, giving, or receiving payments.
Requiring payment to use or operate: a pay toilet.
Yielding valuable metal in mining: a pay streak.

The act of paying or state of being paid.
Money given in return for work done; salary; wages.
1. Recompense or reward: Your thanks are pay enough.
2. Retribution or punishment.
Paid employment: the workers in our pay.
A person considered with regard to his or her credit or reliability in discharging debts.
To pay the full amount on (a debt).
To effect profit: a bet that paid off poorly.
To get revenge for or on; requite.
To pay the wages due to (an employee) upon discharge.
Informal To bribe.
Nautical To turn or cause to turn (a vessel) to leeward.
To give (money) out; spend.
To let out (a line or rope) by slackening.

Phrasal Verb(s):
pay off

To pay the full amount on (a debt).
To effect profit: a bet that paid off poorly.
To get revenge for or on; requite.
To pay the wages due to (an employee) upon discharge.
Informal To bribe.
Nautical To turn or cause to turn (a vessel) to leeward.

pay out

To give (money) out; spend.
To let out (a line or rope) by slackening.

pay upTo give over the full monetary amount demanded.

Idiom(s):
pay (one's) duesTo earn a given right or position through hard work, long-term experience, or suffering: She paid her dues in small-town theaters before being cast in a Broadway play.

Idiom(s):
pay (one's) wayTo contribute one's own share; pay for oneself.

Idiom(s):
pay the piperTo bear the consequences of something.

Idiom(s):
pay through the nose Informal To pay excessively.

[Middle English paien, from Old French paiier, from Late Latin pācāre, to appease, from Latin, to pacify, subdue, from pāx, pāc-, peace; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: Given the unpeaceful feelings one often has in paying bills or income taxes, it is difficult to believe that the word pay ultimately derives from the Latin word pāx, "peace." However, it is not the peace of the one who pays that is involved in this development of meaning. From pāx, meaning "peace" and also "a settlement of hostilities," was derived the word pācāre, "to impose a settlement on peoples or territories." In Late Latin pācāre was extended in sense to mean "to appease." The Old French word paiier that developed from Latin pācāre came to have the specific application "to pacify or satisfy a creditor," a sense that came into Middle English along with the word paien (first recorded around the beginning of the 13th century), the ancestor of our word pay.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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pay the piper

To pay the consequences for self-indulgent behavior: “If you stay up late at night to watch TV, in the morning you will have to pay the piper.”

pay the piper

see under call the tune.

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