Crossword Genius

Pay my debts? Lay off! (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

discharge

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'lay off' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'pay my debts?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pay' could be 'charge' (charging is a kind of paying) and 'charge' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dis' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for discharge that I've seen before include "Performance" , "Dismiss (from a job)" , "Fire (a gun); release from custody" , "unload" , "let go" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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