underwater
adj.— «Employee and investor attitudes changed profoundly after 2001, as the tech bust rendered millions of stock option grants worthless—”underwater” in valley parlance.» —“Stigma emerges, glitter fades for stock options” by Scott Duke Harris Mercury News (San Jose, California) July 23, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...