掏腰包 tāoyāobāo to pay out of one's own pocket Origin Definitions Defs Strokes Stroke Words Sentences Sents 1 sentence 他自己掏腰包出版了那本书。 tā zìjǐ tāo yāobāo chūbǎn le nà běn shū. He published the book at his own expense. Source: AI Challenger 2017