on the payroll
46
2.8
- idiom
- She is currently on the payroll as a marketing analyst at the company.
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Watch on YouTubeThey are rewarding those employees, employers who kept people on the payroll.
- They are rewarding those employees, employers who kept people on the payroll.
- You say to your talent, make me look good and I'll keep you on the payroll.
- So are most of these barrios are they, is the entire neighborhood on the payroll?
- Or you're arriving from the Middle East, he'll smuggle you in, make sure you're set up and get you on the payroll.
- She was still on the payroll to keep her quiet 'cause she knew a lot about this agent, OK.
Examples
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I am no longer on the payroll.
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So does this mean I'm on the payroll?
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Look, you just got to put her on the payroll.
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So put him on the payroll.
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So consider yourself back on the payroll.
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I think we should put her on the payroll.
Fiction book (1998) -
Half the department's on the payroll.
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I'm not on the payroll anymore, so forget about it.
Fiction book (1999) -
You're on the payroll now.
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Best case scenario, you're back on the payroll for a while.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
142
1.0
Having a paid job
12
3.4
Paid a regular fixed amount of money for work instead of by the hour
1
8.4
Paid regularly for work or service
Antonyms
How Paid
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'employed and receiving a regular salary' follows directly from 'on' (included/located in) + 'payroll' (the company's list of employees and pay amounts): being 'on the payroll' literally means being listed as someone who is paid. This is a common, compositional preposition+noun pattern (and has close parallels in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will very likely infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
On the payroll comes from the simple image of a company list that shows who will get paid—the payroll. If your name is written on that list, you get regular pay, so the phrase now means 'employed and receiving pay'.