square up

square up idiom
Settle a bill or debt, as in The others went to get the car while he squared up with the waiter. This idiom derives from square in the sense of “set straight.” [Early 1800s]

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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