lay out (an amount of money) on (someone or something)

lay out (an amount of money) on (someone or something)

To spend or invest a certain (typically large) amount of money on someone or something. The amount of money can also come before "out." With students or their parents laying out hundreds of thousands of dollars on college tuitions, many have begun to question how necessary those degrees are in the first place. I'm not keen to lay several hundred dollars out on a house we're only renting.

See also: amount, lay, of, on, out

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

lay something out on someone or something

 and lay something out for someone or something

Fig. to spend an amount of money on someone or something. We laid out nearly ten thousand dollars on that car. We laid a fortune out on the children.

See also: lay, on, out

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.