bailout

or bail-out

[ beyl-out ]

noun

1. the act of parachuting from an aircraft, especially to escape a crash, fire, etc.
2. an instance of coming to the rescue, especially financially:

   a government bailout of a large company.

3. an alternative, additional choice, or the like:

   If the highway is jammed, you have two side roads as bailouts.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or consisting of means for relieving an emergency situation:

   bailout measures for hard-pressed smallbusinesses.

bailout

/ ˈbeɪlaʊt /

noun

1. an act of bailing out, usually by the government, of a failing institution or business

Word History and Origins

Origin of bailout¹

First recorded in 1950–55; noun and adjective use of the verb phrase bail out

Example Sentences

Weeks after a federal bailout helped Metro veer away from a fiscal crisis, the transit agency plans to borrow $360 million through bond sales to expedite construction projects officials say will make the system safer.

From Washington Post

They also say the bucks are expensive bailouts for badly managed Blue States.

From Time

As head of the San Francisco Fed more than a decade ago, she sided with Wells Fargo on a question of whether banks were stable enough to resume paying dividends after the financial crisis and bank bailouts.

From ProPublica

Experts have long feared that the weight of that ever-rising mountain of euros is so great only a Greece-like bailout can keep Italy from exiting the common currency.

From Fortune

The federal bailout was a needed injection for households and several industries, but it didn’t directly provide financial help to local governments served by the Metro system.

From Washington Post

The bailout crybabies of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and all the rest are easy targets—and deserving ones, too.

From The Daily Beast

Ex-AIG CEO Maurice ‘Hank’ Greenberg is in court seeking $40 billion from the government over its massive bailout.

From The Daily Beast

The solution was a bailout—of AIG, and of the financial system as a whole.

From The Daily Beast

In 1998, when the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management blew up, the New York Fed helped organize a $3.65 billion bailout.

From The Daily Beast

Five months later, the New York Fed tried (without success) to organize a bailout of Lehman Brothers.

From The Daily Beast