take a haircut
v. phr.— «To account for the fact that the shares cannot be sold, FBR uses an accounting technique known as a “liquidity discount,” or, in the jargon of Wall Street, “taking a haircut.” Back to your house, the one with the value that increased to $300,000 from $200,000. If you decide to take out a home equity loan to pay your child’s college tuition, most lenders won’t let you borrow the full $100,000 increase in value. They’ll lend you only 80 percent of the value, which means taking a haircut of 20 percent.» —“Evaluating FBR’s Earnings: ‘Haircut’ or a Close Shave?” by Jerry Knight Washington Post Nov. 20, 2000. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about…eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance for famous figures from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud. Plus...
Responding to our discussion about thin places, those spots where the boundary between this world and other realities seems narrow or permeable, a listener in Kirkland, Washington, sent us some eloquent thoughts about her own experiences of that...