See Also: national debt(dictionary)
National Debt(money)
National debt(finance)
national debt(encyclopedia)
National Debt(law)
Gross National Debt(money)
Original issue discount debt (OID debt)(finance)
Original issue discount debt (OID debt)(money)
Junior debt (subordinate debt)(money)
Junior debt (subordinate debt)(finance)

lank (iou) and National debt (finance)


lank (iou)



lank adjective, noun, & verb.
[Old English hlanc from Germanic base repr. also by Middle & mod. High German lenken bend, turn, Old English (h)lanca hip, loin, Old High German lancha. Cf. FLINCH verb1, LINK noun2.]
A. adjective.
Not filled out or plump; shrunken, spare; tall and lean. OE.
T. C. Wolfe He was a tall lank boy, and his half-fare age might be called to question.
Of grass: long and flaccid. M17.
Chiefly of hair: without curl or wave, straight, flat; dull, lifeless. L17.
K. Vonnegut The Banners hung lank in the windless day. D. Lodge The girls' hair was lank and greasy from neglect.
b. noun.
Leanness, scarcity, thinness. M17-E18.
A lanky or lean person. L19.
C. verb trans. & intrans. Make or become lank. E16.
lankly adverb E17.
lankness noun E17.

National debt (finance)


The total amount of money borrowed by a government and its predecessors, on which it has to pay interest.