It's a little late in the game to buy out now
Hello.

In an American movie, the boss of a law firm is going to kill his subordinate, Eddie, who's not a partner at the firm: "You gotta pay your own way, Eddie. A little late in the game to buy out now."

Obviously, he uses "late in the game to buy out" metaphorically, but could you tell me what it means literally? Especially, the phrasal verb "buy out", it just doesn't make much to me here.

Thank you.

Question

It's a little late in the game to buy out now
Hello.

In an American movie, the boss of a law firm is going to kill his subordinate, Eddie, who's not a partner at the firm: "You gotta pay your own way, Eddie. A little late in the game to buy out now."

Obviously, he uses "late in the game to buy out" metaphorically, but could you tell me what it means literally? Especially, the phrasal verb "buy out", it just doesn't make much to me here.

Thank you.

Answer

"Late in the game" - think about a game, for example football, that is played for a specified period of time. At some point in the game it, may be too late to try certain plays with the hope of improving the probability of winning winning the game.

"Buy out" - means pay money (or something else of value) to solve a problem or accomplish an objective. For example you may pay money to "buy out" of a contract or other type of obligation.

In your movie, the sentence "You gotta pay your own way, Eddie. A little late in the game to buy out now." means - "Eddie, if you wanted to get out, you should have done so earlier when you had the chance. Now it is too late to get out. You are stuck and must accept the consequences."