loan shark
a moneylender
TRANSLATION
loan shark = Kreditwucherer, Kredithai --- GOOGLE INDEX 740,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
LOAN SHARK fear amid payday lending crackdown. Borrowers are at risk of falling into the hands of illegal lenders because of "severe restrictions" on payday lending, a trade body argues.
BBC News
BBC News
Did you
know?
loan shark
idiom
- A moneylender who charges extremely high rates of interest, typically under illegal conditions
(Oxford Dictionary)
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Upon hearing the word "shark", most of us think of large fish with sharp teeth. However, the word probably comes from the 16th-century word "sharke" to refer to a dishonest person, swindler, or cheat. This seems all the more likely when you consider the German word Schurke.
Since the early 1900s, the term loan shark has been used for talking about dishonest money lenders. Here are a few more types of shark.
- land shark = greedy property investor (The best beachfront property in Florida was bought up by land sharks)
- card shark = someone who cleverly wins at card games, possibly through dishonest means (Never play poker with John! He's a card shark)
- pool shark = someone who is very good at billiards (Marissa is a pool shark. I'll bet that you lose in the first round of billiards tonight)
These may be variations of the noun "sharp", an expert.
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SYNONYMS
usurer, shylock, moneylender
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO A CONVERSATION TODAY
say something like:
"Did you know that government research estimates that over 200,000 people are indebted to loan sharks in the United Kingdom?"
idiom
- A moneylender who charges extremely high rates of interest, typically under illegal conditions
(Oxford Dictionary)
---
Upon hearing the word "shark", most of us think of large fish with sharp teeth. However, the word probably comes from the 16th-century word "sharke" to refer to a dishonest person, swindler, or cheat. This seems all the more likely when you consider the German word Schurke.
Since the early 1900s, the term loan shark has been used for talking about dishonest money lenders. Here are a few more types of shark.
- land shark = greedy property investor (The best beachfront property in Florida was bought up by land sharks)
- card shark = someone who cleverly wins at card games, possibly through dishonest means (Never play poker with John! He's a card shark)
- pool shark = someone who is very good at billiards (Marissa is a pool shark. I'll bet that you lose in the first round of billiards tonight)
These may be variations of the noun "sharp", an expert.
---
SYNONYMS
usurer, shylock, moneylender
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO A CONVERSATION TODAY
say something like:
"Did you know that government research estimates that over 200,000 people are indebted to loan sharks in the United Kingdom?"
