BAILOUT

noun Sometimes written bail-out (Business World) Financial assistance given to a failing business or economy by a government, bank, etc. so as to save it from collapse. Etymology: The noun bailout is derived from the verbal phrase bail out, which has a number of distinct meanings. In this case, it is questionable whether it is a figurative use of the nautical sense 'to throw water out of (a boat) so as to prevent it from sinking' or the legal sense 'to get (a person) released from custody by providing the money needed as security (bail)'. History and Usage: The financial sense of bailout comes originally from the US, where the practice was first written about in the seventies. Bailouts occurred with increasing frequency in other parts of the English-speaking world as the eighties progressed and the economic climate became more difficult even for large businesses; in the UK, though, the Conservative government of the eighties opposed government bailouts. The word bailout is often used attributively, with another noun following, especially in bailout loan and bailout plan. Governments have to avoid protectionism, bailouts that cannot work and subsidies just to keep industries alive. Toronto Star 28 May 1986, section A, p. 16 The executive branch is collaborating with Congress in putting part of the savings and loan bailout 'off-budget', thereby raising...the real cost of it. Washington Post 1 Oct. 1989, section D, p. 7