noun
- the payment of a salary, debt, wager, etc.
- the time at which such payment is made.
- the consequence, outcome, or final sequence in a series of events, actions, or circumstances: The payoff was when they fired him.
- Informal. the climax of something, especially a story or joke.
- a settlement or reckoning, as in retribution or reward.
- Informal. a bribe.
adjective
- yielding results, especially rewarding or decisive results: The payoff play was the long pass into the end zone.
n.also pay-off, 1905, “winnings from gambling,” from pay (v.) + off. Meaning “graft, bribes” first attested 1930. Phrase to pay off “be profitable” is first recorded 1937.