take a haircut
v. phr.— «D’Amico “did one dastardly deed, and now he is missing in action and won’t talk to anybody,” the major-label financial executive says. “There hasn’t even been an ‘ask’ yet.” By that, he means Tower has not requested an extension to make payments or for suppliers to “take a haircut”—music-industry parlance for partially forgiving money owed.» —“Tower Headed For Chapter 11″ by Ed Christman Book Standard Aug. 11, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
While reading Great Expectations (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens, a listener in Arlington, Texas, is surprised when one of the characters inherits some money, which Dickens describes as a cool four thousand. Were they really using cool that way...