How to Use pick up the tab in a Sentence

pick up the tab

idiom
Definition of pick up the tabnext
  • And if these Croesuses should flee the state, who then will pick up the tab?
    — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 24 Mar. 2021
  • To celebrate the bride and groom, skincare brand Sunday Riley had stepped in to pick up the tab.
    — Mattie Kahn, Town & Country, 7 Aug. 2022
  • Under the new law, for six months, the government will pick up the tab for the full $2,400 a month—both the employee and the employer share.
    — Ashlea Ebeling, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2021
  • But even if the building won’t pick up the tab, this is one expense that might be worth covering on your own.
    — Kalina Newman, Washington Post, 3 Jan. 2023
  • But the Russians fell through on their funds, leaving the U.S. to pick up the tab, or risk dropping the project altogether.
    — Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2016
  • Trump also wants to argue that Carroll should pick up the tab for his legal fees.
    — Victoria Bekiempis, Rolling Stone, 22 Feb. 2022
  • Experts argue that once added to the debt, future taxpayers will be forced to pick up the tab for the handout.
    — Haris Alic, Fox News, 19 Sep. 2022
  • The graduate reaps the benefit of the loan — the degree which will lead to higher earnings — and the taxpayers pick up the tab.
    — Krista Kafer, The Denver Post, 16 Jan. 2020
  • That has helped spur solar adoption as intended, but someone else has had to pick up the tab.
    — Jinjoo Lee, WSJ, 31 Dec. 2021
  • Whatever remains of those past-due bills, all other CPS customers will have to pick up the tab.
    — Diego Mendoza-Moyers, San Antonio Express-News, 25 Oct. 2021
  • And for most uninsured patients in end-stage kidney failure, Medicare would pick up the tab.
    — Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, 11 Feb. 2022
  • Harvey taxpayers will pick up the tab for the legal battle, Harvey 2nd Ward Ald.
    — Lisa Donovan, chicagotribune.com, 9 June 2021
  • Fortunately, Diller has promised that his family foundation will pick up the tab for the next 20 years.
    — New York Times, 20 May 2021
  • The idea is to pick up the tab for shelf-stable but also relatively healthy items that are often the most expensive part of a grocery trip.
    — Caroline Spivack, Curbed, 3 June 2021
  • Cleveland’s agreement with airlines that use the airport is that the airlines pick up the tab that remains after revenues generated by the airport are used up.
    — Robert Higgs, cleveland, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Over the past year, some regional insurers have begun to concur, refusing to pick up the tab for early treatment of prostate cancer.
    — Keith Epstein, Discover Magazine, 27 Aug. 2014
  • But the department, which received a record $600 million from the state this year to boost the Native Hawaiian homesteading program, said the federal government is obligated to pick up the tab and should.
    — Rob Perez, ProPublica, 26 Nov. 2022
  • And so the city might build a signature opera house — philanthropically funded — only to find out later that taxpayers have to pick up the tab for upkeep.
    — Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 11 Dec. 2020
  • Xcel shareholders will pick up the tab for the program, not its ratepayers as the company originally proposed in September.
    — Mike Hughlett, Star Tribune, 11 Mar. 2021
  • Reporter Corey Schaffer tells us that counsel decided to pick up the tab on this after receiving complaints from an employee.
    — Laura Johnston, cleveland, 13 Jan. 2023
  • Musk's request that the Pentagon begin to pick up the tab comes as the Space Force and Pentagon have been looking at how commercial vendors will play a role in national security.
    — CBS News, 14 Oct. 2022
  • Though Larsen said his clients intend to pay cleanup costs, Losado said county process dictates that the landlord would be billed, and that any unpaid balance after 45 days could go to a Board of Supervisors’ vote for taxpayers to pick up the tab.
    — Lauren Hepler, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Feb. 2022
  • Drugmakers generally like the out-of-pocket cap because the federal government will pick up the tab after patients spend the maximum.
    — Jennifer Haberkorn, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2022
  • In her op-ed, Cunningham reiterates the argument that a tax on financial transactions would ultimately flow back to investors, forcing them to pick up the tab.
    — Dom Difurio, Dallas News, 10 Feb. 2021
  • Joseph Sculley, the executive director of the association that represents truckers, predicted that some out-of-state trucks would dodge the tax by simply driving straight through Connecticut, leaving local drivers to pick up the tab.
    — Christopher Keating, courant.com, 23 Mar. 2022
  • The city agreed to pick up the tab for expenses including heat, lighting and power, and to provide some additional operating support, and the institutions made commitments to make their offerings accessible to New Yorkers.
    — New York Times, 6 Apr. 2021
  • Perry, though, the state’s longest-serving chief executive, developed a knack for combining business with pleasure, so that political and economic development entities could pick up the tab.
    — Dallas News, 10 Oct. 2022
  • Blanket forgiveness also effectively subsidizes higher education institutions that can charge high prices with the expectations that someone else will pick up the tab.
    — Samuel Goldman, The Week, 27 Apr. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pick up the tab.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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