Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective idiomatic (accounting) Having net losses; in debt.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the standard accounting practice of using red ink to denote negative values, especially a net loss. The first known written use of the phrase is from the "Wise-crack dictionary" (1926) by George H. Maines and Bruce Grant.

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Examples

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