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Glite Dictionary
to bleed red ink

to bleed red ink

7.8
To lose a lot of money over a long time
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : estar en números rojos
  • They filed their 11-day pre-election report, and it's bleeding red ink.

Examples

  • Many companies are struggling and continue to bleed red ink every quarter.

  • The small startup is unable to generate profits and has been bleeding red ink since its launch.

  • Due to high expenses and low revenue, the business is expected to bleed red ink for the foreseeable future.

Synonyms

to bleed money
vsto bleed red ink
  • Informal
2 7.7

To lose a lot of money over time

lose funds steadily and severely over a long period

Antonyms

profit
  • Specialized
∞ 2.0

Money left after you pay all costs and taxes

gain
  • Specialized
559 2.3

An advantage that gives you more money or success

How Costly

to bleed red ink
  • Informal
7.8
loss
695 2.1
at a loss
7 4.3
in the red
7 4.9

Surface Forms

bleed red ink infinitive
bleeding red ink present participle
bleeds red ink third person singular
bled red ink past
bled red ink past participle

Morphology

bleed + red + ink

The verb 'bleed' conveys loss and 'red ink' is an accounting metaphor for being in the red (losing money), so the phrase links metaphorically to financial loss. However, the accounting sense of 'red ink' is jargonistic and not directly derivable from the literal meanings of 'red' and 'ink', so a B1 learner who knows the words but hasn't seen the idiom would likely not fully predict the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase bleed red ink comes from old account books where people wrote losses in red ink. When a company was losing money it looked as if the pages were bleeding red, so the phrase now means 'to lose money'.