gearing
n.— «The managers have an incentive to take too much risk in order to deliver the excess return. One method is to borrow from the banks, in the expectation that the return on the new assets will be higher than the rate of interest owed to the banks. The borrowing—or the “gearing” as it is known technically—will then deliver the desired excess return.» —“ Capitalism will always cook up new products” by Tim Congdon Telegraph (United Kingdom) Aug. 29, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A lifeguard in Central Florida is perplexed when his fellow lifeguards indicate they’ve heard a radio transmission by responding with a phrase like Tower Two copies rather than Tower Two, copy. Which is correct? They both are. The word copy in radio...
Roderick in Jacksonville, Florida, says patients in his cardiac electrophysiology practice often look at the tangle of EKG wires on their chests and joke that now they’re wired for sound. What’s the origin of this phrase? Although to wire meaning...