pony up

verb

ponied up; ponying up; ponies up

transitive verb

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

intransitive verb

: pay

Synonyms of pony up

• pay
• pay off
• spring (for)
• meet

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

Let massive companies pony up to pay for their pollution and tell your state representatives to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 14 Apr. 2026

Commercial messages are further limited to a trio of on-air sponsors (IBM, AT&T and Mercedes-Benz), which pony up what amounts to a $25 million greens fee. —Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 10 Apr. 2026

Now in his 70s, Mike recently elected to give up his tickets rather than pony up for a PSL — a fee paid by customers of some NFL franchises to gain the right to purchase season tickets. —Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 7 Apr. 2026

Tech just needs to pony up for any of it to mean much. —Tyler Estep, AJC.com, 25 Mar. 2026

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