repo

¹

[ree-poh]

noun

plural

repos 

1. a repurchase agreement.

repo

²

[ree-poh]

noun

plural

repos 

1. a repossessed property, especially a financed dwelling repossessed by the bank or other financing institution for delinquency of payment and offered for resale.

   We bought this trailer as a repo and have lived in it for 12 years, but now with kids we’re running out of room.

adjective

1. engaged in or relating to the business of repossessing or taking back high-priced merchandise, such as motor vehicles or machinery, from buyers who have failed to pay.

   I’m told that a repo company can just go to an address, find the car parked, and grab it.

verb (used with object)

1. to repossess or take back (merchandise) from buyers who have failed to pay.

   When their dry cleaning business really began to struggle, the bank repoed all their equipment.

repo

³

[ree-poh]

noun

Computers Informal.

plural

repos 

1. repository.

repo

/ ˈriːpəʊ /

noun

1. repurchase agreement

2. 1. repossession of property

   2. ( as modifier )

      a repo car

Word History and Origins

Origin of repo¹

First recorded in 1960–65; rep(urchase) + -o

Origin of repo²

By shortening of repossess; -o

Origin of repo³

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

“I just picked up this VHS called ‘Repo Jake’ that I’m really excited about watching,” he says of the 1990 film starring Dan Haggerty of “Grizzly Adams” fame.

From Los Angeles Times

He dictates his demands and desires to the world via Truth Social, ending each edition of his personal newsletter with “Thank you for your attention to this matter,” as if he’s a bill collector or a repo man.

From Salon

He dictates his demands and desires to the world via Truth Social, ending each edition of his personal newsletter with “Thank you for your attention to this matter,” as if he’s a bill collector or a repo man.

From Salon

These songs swing, they shout, they rock; “Repo Man” is Springsteen at his televangelist shouter best, “Detail Man” is a rollicking number about booty calls — “You want the job done right any time of day or night/Call your detail man” — that features a righteous harmonica, and just when you think this is all about a good time, “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone” is a tears-in-your-beer ballad with beautifully heartbreaking pedal steel courtesy of Marty Rifkin.

From Salon

The repo rate is the level at which the central bank lends to commercial banks, influencing borrowing costs.

From BBC