pony up
verb
ponied up; ponying up; ponies up
: to pay (money) especially in settlement of an account
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
Some of them have placed measures on the ballot asking voters to pony up property-tax money for specific needs.
—
Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 23 Oct. 2025
Gabrielle Smith, age 28, was hit with a $5,000 bond, and Styx Hatch, 19, had to pony up $10,000 out of her trust fund.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Getting people to pony up requires other pieces to fall into place, said Amol Mehra, director of industry programs at Laudes Foundation.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 30 Sep. 2025
One conundrum that lingers in the marketplace is that some indie theatrical distributors are without a pay-one deal/streaming partner, and the subset that’s willing to pony up — sellers cite Hulu, HBO Max and Starz — is quite small and capped in cash.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pony up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 23 Oct. 2025
Gabrielle Smith, age 28, was hit with a $5,000 bond, and Styx Hatch, 19, had to pony up $10,000 out of her trust fund.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Getting people to pony up requires other pieces to fall into place, said Amol Mehra, director of industry programs at Laudes Foundation.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 30 Sep. 2025
One conundrum that lingers in the marketplace is that some indie theatrical distributors are without a pay-one deal/streaming partner, and the subset that’s willing to pony up — sellers cite Hulu, HBO Max and Starz — is quite small and capped in cash.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pony up
Cite this Entry
“Pony up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pony%20up. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share