Meaning of why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free | Babel Free

Definitions

Do not expect somebody to make a costly commitment if it will give them nothing they do not already have; used especially as a warning against having sexual intercourse before marriage (or conversely, as encouragement against getting married).

Examples

“The whole idea of why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free relates to offering only a very brief sample of your music online. I have intellectual property, and I treat that intellectual property very seriously as an artist.”

“In the past, women who wanted to move in with a boyfriend would get a strict talking-to about a common male mentality: “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?””

“I can get plenty of dames, so why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free...ya know what I mean?”

CEFR level