Englishbuy something for a song
Meaning: To buy something very cheaply.
Example: “They bought the old farmhouse for a song and fixed it up themselves.”
Equivalents in other languages
Dutch: Iets voor een appel en een ei kopen Literally: To buy something for an apple and an egg
Origin: A song was a real and famously low price. Broadside ballads — single sheets printed with the words of a popular song, often to a named existing tune — were hawked in the streets of English towns from the 1500s onward for a penny or less, making them among the cheapest manufactured objects a person could buy, and the association of songs with negligible cost was strong enough to be proverbial. Shakespeare draws on it in All's Well That Ends Well, where a man is said to have sold a fine estate for a song. The idiom is attested from the 1600s, and it works by contrast: what makes it striking is the mismatch between the substance of the thing bought and the triviality of what was given for it.
More English idioms
- by hook or by crook By one way or another; by any means possible.
- open a can of worms A situation that contains many unexpected and unwanted problems and consequences.
- carry a torch for someone To be in love with someone, usually someone who does not love in return.
- carry the ball To take on work or responsibility in order to keep a project moving forward.
- cast pearls before swine To offer something to someone who cannot appreciate it.
- catch someone red-handed To catch someone in the act of committing some offense.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
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- Iktsuarpok The restless anticipation that makes you keep stepping outside to see if someone is final…
- Meraki Pouring your soul, love, and creativity into whatever you do — cooking, art, anything.
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