watered stock
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If it did pay dividends on watered stock, the public assumed it was being overcharged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Fisk’s flamboyance and Gould’s bribes made the Erie’s watered stock seem obviously crooked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Originally, the term was coined in the robber-baron days of the late1800s and bore connotations of watered stock, rigged markets, stolen company assets.
From Time Magazine Archive
From this practice came the financial term "watered stock."
From Time Magazine Archive
Pretending that the railroads embraced in the consolidation had a great surplus on hand, Vanderbilt, instead of distributing this alleged surplus, apportioned the watered stock among the stockholders as a premium.
From Great Fortunes from Railroads by Myers, Gustavus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
