pay to play (English, verb)
expansion: pay to play (third-person singular simple present pays to play, present participle paying to play, simple past and past participle paid to play)
Senses:
glosses: To incur a cost to participate in an activity.
tags: broadly
topics: government
politics
glosses: To incur a cost to participate in an activity.
To make a campaign contribution or illegal payment to avail oneself of business or other opportunities controlled by politicians.
tags: US
broadly
especially
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pay, to, play.
Forms:
form: pays to play
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: paying to play
tags: participle
present
form: paid to play
tags: participle
past
form: paid to play
tags: past
form: pay-to-play
tags: alternative