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IOU

phrase

Etymology

From the pronunciation of "I owe you". Attested since at least 1618.

Definitions

  1. I owe you.

    • Customarily, if you borrow $10 for lunch from a coworker, writing IOU $10 on a yellow sticky note acts as a legal promissory note that you will repay said amount on payday.

  2. An informal promissory note that is not a negotiable instrument.

    • When David couldn’t afford to match the money in the poker pot, he added an IOU for the remaining amount instead.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for IOU. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA