English

Alternative forms

• for a song and a dance

Adverb

for a song ‎(not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) For a very low price; very cheaply.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 48:

     They remembered then that they could have bought for a song canvases which now were worth large sums.

   • 2009 Dec. 11, "Jet Cemetery: Where Airplanes Go to Die," Businessweek (retrieved 6 April 2015):

     [T]he contents of aircraft that once commanded prices up to $148m are now being sold off for a song after being torn apart in Gloucestershire's aviation charnel house.

   • 2011, Kat Martin, A Song for My Mother, Vanguard Press, ISBN 9781593156565, 200:

     In his senior year, he had run across an old '66 Chevy Super Sport headed for the junkyard, bought it for a song, and overhauled it with his dad's help, turning it into the big red muscle car it was back in its day.

   • 2013 Aug. 16, Robin Finn, "A Former Madoff Penthouse Goes Back on the Market," New York Times (retrieved 6 April 2015):

     He bought it for a song in 1984 compared with what his fellow financiers were spending on tonier Park and Fifth Avenues.

Usage notes

• Frequently preceded by a form of the verb to buy or to sell.

Translations