Tanit  +  286798 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:11 AM Could somebody please help me with the following sentence: Instead of having to 'buy out' rent-seeking strong men as the fledging national regimes in Africa had to do, they could at first command authority and resources to a degree sufficient to protect policy-makers from clients demanding payouts. [NB: the speech marks are in the original text] Intuitively, I'd say that buy out means bribe, but I've looked it up in different dictionaries and didn't find this meaning. (I found: pay sb out = 1. pay sb for their share in a business; 2. pay money so that sb can leave an organization; 3. purchase the entire stock. To me, none of them seems appropriate) What's the the meaning of buy out? Do the inverted commas change it? Thank you in advance! Tanit Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006 Senior Member 3,031 There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery. (Dante) Commas

	Marius Hancu  +  286799 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:12 AM pay off= bribe ---------- buy out    Function:transitive verb 1 : to purchase the share or interest of (as in a partnership) <in spite of the disagreement he would neither buy out his partner nor sell out to him> 2 : to purchase the entire stock in trade and the goodwill of (a business) or the entire holdings in real estate of (a group) 3 : to buy off http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com -------- Marius Hancu Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006 Veteran Member 11,673 Verbs

	Tanit  +  286801 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:19 AM Thank you Marius! So, if I understand correctly, buy out = buy off = bribe. Why do the author use the speech marks? (BTW, it's buy out, not pay off) Tanit

	Marius Hancu  +  286802 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:23 AM  Tanit wrote: So, if I understand correctly, buy out = buy off = bribe. Where did I say that? This is the meaning you're looking after, IMO: buy out 2 : to purchase the entire stock in trade and the goodwill of (a business) or the entire holdings in real estate of (a group) Marius Hancu

	Tanit  +  286806 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:29 AM  Marius Hancu wrote: ---------- buy out    Function: transitive verb ... 3 : to buy off -------- Did I misunderstand? I've found:  buy off = to pay sb money, especially dishonestly, to prevent them from doing sth you do not want them to do (Oxford Advanced Learners) This is a kind of bribe, isn't it? And no, n. 2 doesn't fit. Tanit Verbs

	Marius Hancu  +  286807 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:34 AM 2 fits very well. They paid/bought out the farmers (strong men=landowners) to leave their properties. That's it. That's what the author used and what I would recommend. I never made the logical connection between buy off and bribe. Read again. I am going to stop the discussion here. For me, things are clear. Marius Hancu

	Tanit  +  286808 Sun, 29 Oct 06 12:39 AM I'm pretty sure it's not n.2. Anyway, thank you very much for your help. Tanit