English

Verb

Jew down ‎(third-person singular simple present Jews down, present participle Jewing down, simple past and past participle Jewed down)

1. (US, offensive) Alternative spelling of jew down
   • 1877, John Habberton, Some folks, K. Grädener, page 104:

     " […] who should come along this mornin' but one of those same holy people, and Jewed me down on pay that the Lord knows is hard enough to live on."

   • 1906, Thomas Beyer, The American Battleship in Commission as Seen by an Enlisted Man: Also Many Man-o'-war Yarns, Army and Navy Register, page 202:

     Incidentally they ask a price much higher than it is worth; they expect to be Jewed down.

   • 2005, Michael Boloker, A Journey West, iUniverse, ISBN 0595357709, page 204:

     " […] I don't want to get Jewed down, you know. I'm sure you'll take care of me?"

Usage notes

• This term is considered offensive; see the usage notes for jew down.

English

Alternative forms

• Jew down

Verb

jew down ‎(third-person singular simple present jews down, present participle jewing down, simple past and past participle jewed down)

1. (offensive) To bargain or haggle with a seller in order to obtain a lower price for a good or service.
   • 1861, George W. Henry, Tell Tale Rag, and Popular Sins of the Day, self-published (1861), page ix:

     […] the popular and fashionable lying, which is so prolific between merchant and customer, as the process of jewing down is going on among all traders of the day.

   • 1906, unnamed university president, quoted in John Maxson Stillman's "Relations of Salary to Title in American Universities", in Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Eighth Annual Conference of the Association of American Universities, Association of American Universities (1907), page 80:

     Equality, too, removes the possibility of bargaining, of jewing up or jewing down a salary, according to the exigencies of the moment.

   • 2005, Cedric Belfrage, Away from It All: An Escapologist's Notebook, Kessinger Publishing (2005), ISBN 1417985194, page 131:

     Millan had already been repeating his loud opinion of all Hindus, before the tailor he had so efficiently jewed down was half out of the room.

Usage notes

• This term is used both intransitively and transitively. In transitive uses, the direct object may refer either to the seller, or to the kind of price (cost, fee, rent, etc., or more generally price). In all cases, the original price may be indicated in a from phrase, and the final price in a to phrase.

See also

• gyp
• welsh