hire purchase
(UK, Irish, Commonwealth) A method of purchasing an item, where the buyer hires it and takes possession of it and pays regular instalments.
Definitions
(UK, Irish, Commonwealth) A method of purchasing an item, where the buyer hires it and takes possession of it and pays regular instalments. Ownership is only transferred on payment of the final amount. Abbreviated as HP.
Hector Puncheon was a young man with a hearty and healthy digestion. He had heard, of course, of sodium bicarb, and its virtues, but only as a wealthy man hears of hire-purchase.
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Semantically related
- hire car68%
(UK, Austalia) A car that is hired, or available for hire.
- car hire65%
The standard British, Irish, and Commonwealth English term for what Americans call a car rental. When you need wheels for a trip in the UK, you don't rent — you hire. The distinction is purely regional vocabulary: same transaction, same temporary use of a vehicle, just different linguistic traditions. You'll see 'car hire' on every UK travel booking site, airport sign, and travel guide.
- purchase system60%
(UK, historical) The practice, abolished in 1871, of paying money to be made an officer in the cavalry and infantry regiments of the English and later British Army, without having to wait for promotion.
- acquihire59%
(business, _, slang) An acquisition of a company to recruit its employees, rather than for its products or services.
- car hire58%
(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) car rental.