Business Idioms (Cont. 2)

(English Idioms & Sayings) Business Idioms (Cont. 2)

pay off

- to succeed, to yield good results
I hope that our plans for the new business will pay off.

pay off a debt/loan

- to finish paying back the money that one has borrowed from a bank/store etc.
The furniture manufacturer was unable to pay off their loan so they went out of business.

piece/slice of the action

- a share in the activity or the profits of something
The inventor wanted a piece of the action from the new computer that he had invented.

plug a product

- to promote a product
The soccer star makes a lot of money when he agrees to plug a product.

preferred customer

- a customer who does much business with you and who you give special discounts to
The man is a preferred customer and he always receives his products soon after he orders them.

put one's nose to the grindstone

- to work diligently/hard
I put my nose to the grindstone and finished the job before the weekend.

put (someone) on hold

- to disconnect someone temporarily from the telephone
I phoned the bank but they put me on hold before someone spoke to me.

put (something) on hold

- to postpone a project
The construction company put the project on hold while they researched the problem with the bridge.

put (someone) through

- to transfer someone to someone else's telephone
I phoned the credit card company and they quickly put me through to a supervisor.

red ink

- debt (the red ink on a financial statement)
The automobile company has much red ink because of the bad economic conditions.

red tape

- rules and regulations that seem unnecessary (often from the government)
There is a lot of red tape when you try to start up a new business.

rule (someone) out of order

- to rule that someone is not following the rules of a meeting
The chairwoman ruled the salesman out of order when he began to speak at the meeting.

run a meeting

- to conduct a meeting
My boss is not able to run a meeting very well.

run an ad

- to place/put an advertisement in a publication
The government decided to run an ad to tell the public about the new gas tax.

run short

- to not have enough of something
They ran short of gasoline at the gas station and had to close early.

saddled with debt

- to be burdened with debt
Our company is saddled with debt and must do something about it quickly.

second a motion

- to agree with a proposal
I seconded the motion where we decided to start one hour early every morning during the summer.

sell like hotcakes

- to sell very quickly
The children's toys were selling like hotcakes at the end of the year.

sell out

- to sell all of a product
Every year our company is able to sell out most of our summer goods.

sell (something) at a loss

- to sell something and lose money
We were forced to sell the computers at a loss.

set up a meeting

- to make arrangements for a meeting
I am trying to set up a meeting with the manager of our department.

strike while the iron is hot

- to take advantage of an opportunity
I decided to strike while the iron was hot and apply for the job as soon as I heard about it.

sweetheart deal

- a deal made between friends/businesses so that both may receive a benefit
We made a sweetheart deal with our landlord to have our rent reduced.

table a discussion

- to postpone a discussion until a later time
We tabled the discussion about the salary issue until the next meeting.

take a nosedive

- to collapse, to decrease in value
The stock market took a nosedive when the earnings of the oil company decreased.

take a pay cut

- to accept a decrease in one's salary
The telephone workers were forced to take a pay cut after the strike.

take minutes

- to write down the proceedings of a meeting
I usually take minutes at the monthly club meetings.

take on (an employee)

- to give a job to someone, to hire someone
The company took on many new workers during the busy holiday season.

take over (something)

- to take control or possession of something, to take charge or responsibility of something
The government decided to take over the bank after it declared bankruptcy.

take (a company) public

- to sell shares of a company to the general public
We decided to take our company public in order to raise money to expand our factory.

take (something) at face value

- to take something that is said on its surface
I took my friend's comments at face value.

take stock

- to count the items of merchandise or supplies in stock, to take inventory
The department store closes for three days every March in order to take stock.

throw cold water on (something)

- to discourage or forbid something
The manager threw cold water on our plan to close the factory for one week in August.

throw money at (something)

- to try to solve a problem by spending money on it
The president of our company is willing to throw much money at a problem to try and solve it.

tight spot

- a difficult situation
The computer company has been in a tight spot since the shortage of computer chips appeared.

turn a profit

- to make a profit
The supermarket has been turning a profit since it opened.

turn over

- to do business to a certain amount of money/product
We turned over most of our stock last month.
The company turns over much money every month.

turnover

- the rate at which a product is sold and replaced
The turnover of drinks is very high in the store.

turnover

- the rate at which employees join and leave a company
The turnover of workers in the new restaurant business is very high.

work out

- to have a specific result
I do not believe that the new plan is going to work out.

work out (a problem)

- to solve a problem, to provide the details of something
I spent the weekend trying to work out the budget estimates for next year.

work overtime

- to work more than one's regular hours
I had to work overtime every Friday last month.

write off (a loan/debt)

- to remove a loan/debt from a business record, to cancel a debt
It was impossible for the bank to collect the money so they were forced to write off the loan.

Learning English through Idioms and Sayings