buy out from under

C1 informal separable transitive

In simple words

Buy something that someone else needed or wanted, so they are left with nothing.

Literal meaning: To buy something out from underneath someone — pulling the floor away from under them.

Meanings

1 C1 idiomatic informal

rare

To purchase property, a business, or an asset that another person was counting on, leaving them dispossessed.

"A large developer bought the building out from under the small business owners who had been renting there for decades."

Grammar: separable

Usage notes

Often used to describe an aggressive or opportunistic business move. Implies the victim had no warning or recourse. More common in American English.

property business land company tenant investor

Base

buy out from under

I/you/we/they

3rd person

buys out from under

he/she/it

Past simple

bought out from under

yesterday

Past participle

bought out from under

have + pp

-ing form

buying out from under

continuous

Try:

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outbid snatch away acquire at someone's expense displace

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