Idiom: To Pick Up the Tab; used as a verb.
First Example:
“Sam had invited Alice to an expensive restaurant for dinner. Since this was their first date together, Sam had picked up the tabfor the night.”
Meaning: To Pick Up the Tab means to pay for the cost of something, usually a meal. In this example, since Sam had invited Alice out on a date, it is customary in most Western societies for men to pay for the first meal of a date. This idiom can apply to any situation where somebody intends to pay for the full price of a meal. This idiom is used as a verb in this example.
This idiom is from the book "Everyday Idioms for Reference and Practice – Book One," which is used as the primary textbook in LSI’s Intermediate Conversation classes.
For more information, please visit http://idiomstudy.blogspot.com/
