pay a compliment

pay a compliment idiom
Express praise or commendation to someone, as in Meredith wanted to pay Christopher a compliment so she told him she liked his new haircut. This expression uses pay in the sense of “give something that is due.” [c. 1700]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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