shylock

See also: Shylock

English

WOTD – 24 May 2012

Etymology

From the character Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (1600).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɪlɑk/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɪlɒk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: shy‧lock

Noun

shylock (plural shylocks)

1. (US) A loan shark; a usurer.
   • 2005, Joe Pistone, The Way of the Wiseguy‎^[1], page 45:

     Eventually, their gambling debts grow so big that they are cut off from making any more bets, eliminating the chance that they can make enough money to satisfy their shylocks.

   • 2009, G. T. Harrell, For Members Only: The Story of the Mob's Secret Judge, A True Story‎^[2], page 229:

     If a guy got into hock with several shylocks from different crews and was unable to keep up with his weekly payments, a sit-down would have to be called with all of the shylocks involved and their respective capos.

   • 2013, James Lee Burke, Light of the World‎^[3], page 429:

     After Caspian's father killed his credit lines at all the big casinos, he ran up a six-figure tab with a couple of shylocks in Miami, then couldn't make the vig.

2. (offensive, ethnic slur) A person of Jewish descent.

   Synonyms: (not always pejorative) Yid, heeb, Hymie, kike, sheeny

Translations

loan shark — see loan shark

Verb

shylock (third-person singular simple present shylocks, present participle shylocking, simple past and past participle shylocked)

1. (intransitive, US) To lend money at exorbitant rates of interest.
   • 2004 December 8, Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard), page 4928:

     I wanted to know whether shylocking is a legal business or not, and if it is legal, under which Act does it operate?

   • 2005, Tom Layne, The Assassination of Rush Limbaugh, page 151:

     When you've accumulated a good stash of money, you may want to go into the nightclub business, or shylocking. Shylocking is free. There is no ten percent vig on loan sharking.

   • 2005, Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle‎^[4], published 2010:

     Lori said it sounded outright felonious, but Dad said all he was doing was outsmarting the fat-cat bank owners who shylocked the common man by charging usurious interest rates.

   • 2011, John Nicholas Iannuzzi, Handbook of Cross Examination: The Mosaic Art‎^[5], 3rd edition, page 312:

     Do you recall this question having been put to you—the shylocking business you were involved in continued right up until the time that you were arrested, correct?

Translations

to lend at exorbitant rates

• Dutch: woekerlenen
• Finnish: kiskoa (fi), periä kiskurikorkoa, harjoittaa koronkiskontaa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ågre

  Nynorsk: ågre

• Swedish: ta ockerränta, ockra (sv)

Further reading

• shylock on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Merchant of Venice on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• shlocky