pay somebody off

Từ điển tiếng Anh - Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary

pay sb off phrasal verb before or after object [ paid sb off paid sb off paid sb off pays sb off paying sb off ]
1. If your employer pays you off, they pay you for the last time and then end your job, because they do not need you or could not pay you in the future.
Thesaurus⁺: ↑Firing staff and being fired
2. informal to give someone money so that they will not do or say something, or so that they will go away
• There were rumours that key witnesses had been paid off to keep quiet.
Thesaurus⁺: ↑Fraud and corruption
Main entry: pay_{phrasal verb}