pony up

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pony up

Where it comes from

Originally often poney. US early 19th century. According to Michael Quinion, probably not from the monetary sense of pony and instead from Latin "Legem pone mihi Domine viam iustificationum tuarum" (“Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes”), a line from Psalm 119, verses of which are traditionally used in prayer in Anglican churches on the 25th of the month, becoming associated particularly with March 25th, a traditional day of debt settlement. This etymology has been accepted by the American Heritage Dictionary.

verb ponies up · ponying up · ponied up

intransitive, slang, transitive To pay (usually a bill, debt or due). Every man, save Silvy, vociferously swore that he had ponied up his "quarter:" whereupon the landlady observed that Silvy the less had not paid his reckoning.
Similar: cough up, pay up, ante up, defray, do the needful, expend, foot the bill, fork out, fork over, imburse, lay out, pay

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MLA

"pony up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pony%20up. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pony up. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pony%20up

Chicago

"pony up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pony%20up.

BibTeX

@misc{pony_up_2026,
  title = {pony up},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pony%20up},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}