Lexic.us

Definition of Sell short

1. Verb. Sell securities or commodities or foreign currency that is not actually owned by the seller, who hopes to cover (buy back) the sold items at a lower price and thus to earn a profit.

2. Verb. Underestimate the real value or ability of. "Don't sell your students short--they are just shy and don't show off their knowledge"

Lexicographical Neighbors of Sell Short

sell-outs sell-through sell a bargain sell down sell down the river sell ice to Eskimos sell like hot cakes sell my clothes, I'm going to heaven sell off sell on

sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage sell one's soul sell oneself short sell out sell past the close sell short (current term) sell someone a bill of goods sell someone a pup sell up sell wolf tickets

sella sella turcica sellable sellae sellaite sellar sellas selle selled sellee

Literary usage of Sell short

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded by John Russell Bartlett (1877)
"To sell short. In the sale of stocks, cotton, &c., to sell short is to agree to deliver the article sold, at a future day. Short transactions are a ..."

2. How to Write Moving Picture Plays by William Lewis Gordon (1914)
"WHERE TO SELL Short Stories, Poems, Etc. "Every Aspirant MUST HAVE IT" There are over one hundred publishers today buying short stories, serial stories, ..."

3. Sessional Papers by Ontario Legislative Assembly (1898)
"The tendency is to keep the price up and shove the price up, and then it is the few who have the nerve to sell short when it is almost impossible for the ..."

4. Twenty-eight Years in Wall Street by Henry Clews (1887)
"The Common Council lost a million, and their friends, whom they had advised to sell "short^" lost several millions. ..."

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