loan shark

American

noun

Informal.

a person who lends money at excessively high rates of interest; usurer.

loan shark British

noun

informal a person who lends funds at illegal or exorbitant rates of interest

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of loan shark

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By charging fees that would make a loan shark blush.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 15, 2025

But this spring, with his wife in intensive care, he borrowed money from a loan shark to pay for taxis to visit the hospital, he said.

From BBC • Nov. 10, 2023

Jillette’s latest novel, “Random,” is about a young man who inherits his father’s crushing debt to a loan shark and turns to dice — and other dangerous measures — to dig himself out.

From New York Times • Oct. 5, 2022

It also doesn’t help that Rahim has a slippery past relationship with the truth: He omitted the fact that his original debt was to a loan shark, not a bank.

From Washington Post • Jan. 5, 2022

So she started loaning out money—a loan shark.

From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023