pony up

verb

ponied up; ponying up; ponies up

transitive verb

: to pay (money) especially in settlement of an account

intransitive verb

: pay

Synonyms

• ante (up)
• balance
• clear
• discharge
• foot
• liquidate
• meet
• pay
• pay off
• pay up
• quit
• recompense
• settle
• spring (for)
• stand

Examples of pony up in a Sentence

despite having good credit, the couple still had to pony up a large down payment for the house

Recent Examples on the Web

Jerome Hoban, during a community meeting Monday, announced that there would be no racing at the fairgrounds this year, despite previous rumors of a $2 million plan from two independent horse owners who wanted to pony up funds to run races on weekends. —Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2025

Instead of looking to the U.S. and Europe to pony up capital, developing and emerging market countries can work together—providing the goods and finance without the help of their wealthier counterparts. —Justin Worland/bridgetown, TIME, 21 Mar. 2025

That means those who fly the most come out ahead of those who fly less frequently but pony up for more expensive business-class tickets. —Bailey Berg, AFAR Media, 13 Feb. 2025

New York could very easily pony up over $500 million to bring Guerrero to the Bronx for the next 12-15 years. —Matt Robison, Newsweek, 19 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for pony up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup