shell out

verb

shelled out; shelling out; shells out

: pay

Synonyms

• spend
• pay
• lay out

Examples of shell out in a Sentence

we shelled out an obscene amount of money for those concert tickets

Recent Examples on the Web

Both of these should be included when shelling out that kind of cash, in my opinion. —New Atlas, 19 Sep. 2025

Chesnot | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Nvidia has just shelled out over $900 million to hire Enfabrica CEO Rochan Sankar and other employees at the artificial intelligence hardware startup, and to license the company's technology, CNBC has learned. —Lora Kolodny,jordan Novet,kif Leswing, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2025

By contrast, just 70 miles west, expect to shell out $50 to $125 for samples, and good luck getting in without a reservation. —David Dickstein, Oc Register, 17 Sep. 2025

All together the company plans to shell out $2 billion in cash dividends and share repurchases over the three years. —Evan Clark, Footwear News, 16 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1801, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for shell out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout