sell dearly

English

Verb

sell dearly (third-person singular simple present sells dearly, present participle selling dearly, simple past and past participle sold dearly)

1. (idiomatic, especially military, of a fighting person, unit, or vehicle) To make one's opponent pay a very high price to defeat or obtain (a person, unit, vehicle, or territory).
   • 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 24:24 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 August 2022:

     Realizing he is now boxed in on all sides, Hipper decides the only remaining card he has to play is to sell his ships as dearly as possible. The remaining German ships make a hard turn southeast, and drive headlong at the Grand Fleet. It is a brave gesture, but only eight of the ships emerge from the pall of smoke that roughly marks the original German line of advance. Two more emerge minutes later, but that is all.