What is the origin and meaning of the phrase “sold the farm”?
Buy The Farm could be what you meant. If not I will remove this answer. This phrase, which means to die (usually in battle or in an aircraft accident) is commonly thought to date to World War II. An American G.I., or so the popular etymology would have it, would die and his soldier’s insurance would allow his parents to pay off the mortgage on the family farm. So by dying for his country, he was also “buying the farm” for his parents. A nice sentiment, but it’s probably not the origin of the phrase. There is no evidence to suggest that it is somehow linked to GI insurance. Green says it is an ironic term for those aviators who wanted to buy a farm after the war, but who did not make it. The phrase in this form does date to the World War II era, although it has variants that go back much further. This form is also an Americanism, but the oldest variants are British. The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang dates buy the farm to 1955. Although this reference postdates WWI
