pay dearly Definition

dear
adj

1. High in price; charging high prices.

Thesaurus: expensive, costly, high-priced, overpriced, pricey; Antonym: cheap.
2. Lovable; attractive.

Thesaurus: beloved, loved, precious, favourite, cherished, darling, treasured, familiar.
3. Used in addressing someone at the start of a letter.
4. Greatly loved by, or very important or precious to, them.

Form: dear to someone (usually)

noun dearies

1. A charming or lovable person.
2. Used especially as a form of address: a person one loves or likes.

exclamation

1. Used as an expression of dismay, etc

Example: Dear, dear!
Example: Dear me!
Form: deary (also)
Form: dearie

Derivative: dearly

Very much.
Thesaurus: very, greatly, extremely, profoundly.

At a high price or cost.

Derivative: dearness
noun

Idiom: cost someone dear

To cause or result in a lot of trouble or suffering.

Idiom: dear knows

colloq
No one knows.

Idiom: pay dearly

To be made to suffer.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon deore.