buy the big one
A darkly humorous American slang phrase meaning to die — framing death as the ultimate, unavoidable final purchase, the one big transaction from which there's no return or refund.
Definitions
A darkly humorous American slang phrase meaning to die — framing death as the ultimate, unavoidable final purchase, the one big transaction from which there's no return or refund. It belongs to a long tradition of death euphemisms that use commercial or transactional language to soften or joke about mortality. You're most likely to hear it in a wry, resigned context rather than as a serious expression of grief.
He drove like he was in a hurry to buy the big one, but somehow he made it to seventy-five without a scratch.
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(slang) To die.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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- 76%
(slang, euphemism) To die.
- 73%
(slang) To die.
- 71%
Big ones is casual American slang for dollars — specifically hundreds or thousands of them, depending on context. When someone says 'that'll cost you ten big ones,' they mean ten thousand dollars. The phrase has a cinematic, old-school gangster or deal-making energy to it, and it pops up in negotiations, boasts about winnings, and dramatic recounts of big purchases. It's plurale tantum — you always say 'big ones,' never 'a big one' in this sense.
- 66%
(idiom, UK, Australia) A large, regular purchase of groceries; as opposed to ad hoc or impulse purchases.