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Glite Dictionary
to bleed money

to bleed money

2 7.7
To lose a lot of money over time
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : perder dinero
  • Problem: Overextended and bleeding money

Examples

  • It has been consistently posting profits after years of bleeding money.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Does it bleed money, or is it self-supporting and self-managing?

    Blog text (29)

  • If schools are underwater and bleeding money, they need to be fixed.

    Blog text (27)

  • You're the one who might bleed money, not me.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I think that the HSUS is starting to bleed money.

    Blog text (18)

  • We're bleeding money here.

    This Is the Night (2021)

  • Sears has been bleeding money like this for a couple of years, and if they continue to do so, it will just be a matter of time before Sears is headed for liquidation as well.

    Blog text (30)

  • Both of those women's leagues bled money before folding, so the question the new investors must solve is how to turn interest in women's soccer and a willingness to make a go of it with the financial realities of past failures.

    Blog text (18)

  • Then, a few years ago, when the Capital Improvement Board, the public entity that runs the venue where the Colts play, Lucas Oil Stadium, was bleeding money, the CIB went to Irsay and asked him for $5 million a year back on the ultra-sweetheart deal he got on the stadium, the very deal that made him a billionaire.

    Blog text (11)

  • The company's poor investment decisions are causing them to bleed money rapidly.

Synonyms

to break the bank
vsto bleed money
11 3.8

To cost a lot of money

loses money rapidly over time rather than from a single expense
to lose one's shirt
vsto bleed money
  • Informal
3 7.3

To be left with almost no money after a bad bet or investment

loses large amounts rapidly rather than losing everything
to bleed red ink
vsto bleed money
  • Informal
7.8

To lose a lot of money over a long time

loses money quickly rather than gradually

Antonyms

to earn
780 1.0

To get money for work you do or from a business

to profit
140 3.2

To get an advantage from something

How Costly

to bleed money
  • Informal
2 7.7
loss
695 2.1
at a loss
7 4.3
to break even
27 3.3

Surface Forms

bleed money infinitive
bleeding money present participle
bleeds money third person singular
bled money past
bled money past participle

Morphology

bleed + money

The verb 'bleed' is used metaphorically to mean a continuous loss and combined with 'money' yields a plausible interpretation of sustained financial loss, so the overall sense is partly derivable from the constituents. However, this metaphorical extension (bleeding → losing money) is not a literal or highly conventionalized composition that a B1 learner will reliably infer without exposure, so the phrase is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The phrase bleed money paints a picture of a business with a deep wound that keeps losing blood, but the blood is money. So, bleed money means 'to lose large amounts of money'.