owe

If you owe something you need to pay or give it to someone because of something you have been given. For example, if I ask to borrow five dollars for lunch from a friend, then I will owe that friend five dollars. It could also be something you agree to pay (like a bill) or something you lost gambling.

Example: I owe $50 to the phone company right now.

If you owe a person, there is something you need to pay or give to that person. That is, you owe something to that person.

Example: Thanks for the help! I really owe you for that!

If you owe a lot to someone or something, you have something to thank that person (or thing) for.

Example: We owe as much to good luck as to our own skills.

If something owes to something else, what it owes to is what caused or the reason for doing it.

Example: Much of the success of early rock music owed to the ability of teenagers to buy records.