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payola definition

☆ payo·la (pā ō′lə)

noun

  1. the practice of paying bribes or graft for commercial advantage or special favors, as to a disc jockey for unfairly promoting one recording over others
  2. this kind of bribe or graft

Etymology: pay + -ola, as in Pianola (trademark for a player piano) > Tin Pan Alley pianola, slang term for the music business

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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