hair on it
v. phr.— «M&T Bank also said the investors who buy the bank’s mortgage debt are taking advantage of contractual clauses to force M&T to buy loans back, sometimes because of payment defaults. The bank set aside $6 million anticipating that more investors will force M&T to repurchase Alt-A loans at a loss.…“Buyers are getting very edgy right now.…Anything that shows any hair on it is going to get put back to the lenders.”» —“Mortgage Woes Spread Up Credit Ladder” by Dan Seymour Fortune Apr. 2, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what’s the flash part of that word about? Also, if you’re a nervous Nellie, you’re skittish and indecisive—both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the...
Sigrin writes from Albany, New York, that she misheard our earlier conversation about the expression shaving yak hair meaning “performing a monotonous, tedious task.” At first she thought we said shaving gnat hair, which she figures is...