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magic asterisk

noun

Etymology

Coined by Howard Henry Baker Jr., from the Reagan administration's use in 1981 of asterisks as placeholders for cuts yet to be decided in government spending.

Definitions

  1. an unspecified future budget cut, especially an imaginary cut.

    • Howard Baker, then a Senator, had dubbed them the "magic asterisk," for it was blithely assumed that they would be taken care of at a later date.
    • "They have a magic asterisk," Hoyer said. The magic asterisk: The words alone are enough to strike fear into the hearts of grizzled veterans of the budget wars.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for magic asterisk. 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