buy someone off—bribe a person to persuade him do smth.:
- It is impossible to open a big gambling operation without buying off public officials.
buy someone out—
1. buy smb.’s share of property:
- He borrowed a large sum of money in order to buy out his partner.
2. buy all of smth. that a person has:
- He didn’t have much ice-cream, and he wouldn’t let us buy him out.
3. gain smb.’s freedom by paying money:
- Bill’s parents paid a lot of money to buy him out of the army.