Meaning
To pay for something, especially a large, shared, or otherwise notable expense.
It’s often used when one person or group ends up covering costs that could reasonably have been split, so there’s frequently a mild note of imbalance or obligation attached.
Origin
The word “foot” here means the bottom or end of something — the same sense used in “foot of a page” — and comes from the accounting practice of totaling a column of figures and writing the sum at its foot, or bottom. “To foot up” meant simply to calculate a total, as an 1867 “Times” article illustrates in describing colonial debts that “foot up something like £50,000,” and since totaling an account naturally happened at the moment someone was about to settle it, the phrase drifted naturally from meaning “calculate the total” to meaning “pay the total.” The earliest documented use of the fixed phrase is recorded in an 1819 American travel account, “Evans’s Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles.”
Examples
The company agreed to foot the bill for the entire conference.
His parents footed the bill for his college education.
Who’s going to foot the bill for the repairs?
A: “The wedding cost a fortune.” B: “Yeah, her uncle footed the bill.”
Frequently asked questions
What does 'Foot the bill' mean?
To pay for something, especially a large, shared, or otherwise notable expense.
It’s often used when one person or group ends up covering costs that could reasonably have been split, so there’s frequently a mild note of imbalance or obligation attached.