From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpaybackpay‧back /ˈpeɪbæk/ noun 1 [countable] the money or advantage you gain from a business, project, or something you have done The immediate payback for them is publicity.2 [uncountable] American English informal when you do something to make someone suffer because of something they have done to harm you → revenge I guess it’s payback time.3 → payback period
Examples from the Corpus
payback• I guess you have heard that thing called payback...• Providers get their intellectual payback in the currency of more information.• After ten round-trips the mass payback ratio is around 8: 1.• The mass payback continues to improve with each additional mission.• Now is a good time to invest in mutual funds because the long-term paybacks are potentially large.• First, no account is taken of cash flows arising after the payback date.• In other cases a criterion may be needed, and one frequently used is the payback period.• The table highlights the drawback of the payback method.• Now the Knicks want payback for the beating they received from Chicago a month ago.it’s payback time• For many voters, this election is payback time for the people who raised their taxes.• Now that the carrier is making big profits, they say it's payback time.From Longman Business Dictionarypaybackpay‧back /ˈpeɪbæk/ noun [countable, uncountable]1FINANCE the money or rewards gained from a new business, project etcOne hurdle that often trips new entrepreneurs is the amount of time invested in a start-up before realizing any payback.It is a solid project that will generate hard currency with a fairly shortpayback period (=the period of time needed to get back the cost of an investment).2FINANCELAW an illegal payment by a financial institution to an investor to replace money they have lostExecutives were worried that the credit transfer would look like payback.Thepayback deals might never have come to light had local tax officials not leaked the schemes to the press. 