plow back

Idioms  

1. Reinvest earnings or profits in one's business, as in This company plows back half its profits every year. This term transfers the farming practice of turning the soil from top to bottom to financial enterprises. [First half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plow back

Treasury pressure on corporations to distribute 70% of their profits as dividends, thus encouraging management "to plow back earnings and increase output."

From Time Magazine Archive

Discreetly Krupp will declare no dividend, but Gustav Krupp von Bohlen, preparing to plow back his profits into reserves, felt so flush last week that he handed out bonuses to all employes and executives.

From Time Magazine Archive

Both the nation's biggest business and biggest taxpayer, Pemex last year grossed $286 million, paid $35.6 million in federal taxes, still had $72 million to plow back into development.

From Time Magazine Archive

They plow back the bulk of the profits into the business.

From Time Magazine Archive

Scatter manure in the furrow and plow back the soil so as to raise the center at least 6 inches above the level of the soil.

From Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by L. H. (Liberty Hyde) Bailey