释义 |
over-the-counter, adv. (a.) [over prep. 12.] a. See counter n.3 4. b. orig. N. Amer. With reference to the selling of stocks and shares: as a direct transaction, (business concluded) outside the system of a recognized stock exchange. c. Hence of purchase and selling generally: (transacted) directly between seller and buyer; openly, legitimately. (Cf. under the counter s.v. counter n.3 4 b.) d. Of pharmaceutical products: obtainable without a doctor's prescription. Also transf. and as adj. phr.
1875,1889[see counter n.3 4]. 1921Mag. of Wall St. 10 Dec. 179/2 There is another field which readers have expressed the desire to see us cover. That is the great field comprising unlisted securities, which are dealt in over-the-counter... In response to this demand, we are inaugurating, beginning with this issue, a new department to appear under the caption, ‘Over-the-Counter’. Ibid., It will be our effort to confine our analysis of over-the-counter stocks to as brief a space as possible. 1925A. M. Sakolski Princ. Investment x. 108 ‘Over-the-counter’ transactions (i.e., those which occur privately, whether consummated directly by negotiation between buyer and seller or through dealers and brokers) generally, in the absence of special agreements, follow the common practices of the exchanges. 1929Willis & Bogen Investment Banking iii. 50 This market is referred to as the unlisted or over-the-counter market, because business is transacted..‘over the counter’ of the individual broker or dealer, rather than at..an exchange. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 27 Apr. 2/3 The committee has heard evidence of extensive manipulation in certain New York bank stocks after their withdrawal from the New York Stock Exchange and while they were being sold ‘over the counter’. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xv. 165 ‘You think this tooth could be sold?’ ‘Over the counter, sir, over the counter.’ 1944Amer. N. & Q. July 64/1 A North Carolinian illustration of this futile neologistic tendency found in high places is ‘over-the-counter salesperson’, for the simple..clerk. 1957Clark & Gottfried University Dict. Business & Finance 253/2 The securities are traded on a face-to-face, or over-the-counter basis. In the actual operation of over-the-counter trading, a trader who specializes in a particular security arranges for all transactions, either by bringing buyers and sellers together, or by buying and selling the security for his own account. 1958Spectator 11 July 58/3 The over-the-counter service of spit-roasted chicken is a development in the catering trade. Ibid. 60/1 The over-the-counter charge for the spit-roasted bird is 12s. 6d. 1959Economist 21 Feb. 722/1 ‘Over the counter’ dealings in TI. 1963Times 23 Apr. 20/3 Sales of bottles to take home (‘Off-Sales’) have increased very considerably, and there has been a reduction of sales by the glass—‘Over the counter’—with a consequent reduction in profit. 1965[see OTC s.v. O 5 d]. 1965McGraw-Hill Dict. Mod. Econ. 367 In addition to common and preferred stocks, almost all U.S. government securities and municipal and corporate bonds are traded over the counter. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. B2/1 An over-the-counter speculative issue that rose from 25 cents a share to $4.50 in the past six months. 1969Times 5 May (Suppl.) p. iv/4 The National Association of Securities Dealers, the self-regulatory organization for the over-the-counter market, is moving to create a national clearance operation for unlisted stocks. 1969Guardian 25 July 6/6 If ‘over the counter’ pregnancy testing is to come to Britain, the tests should be carried out by the pharmacist. 1972Times 16 May (Wall Street Suppl.) p. iv/7 For 25 years he was a broker and then from 1964 to 1967 headed the National Association of Securities Dealers which regulates over-the-counter deals. 1974M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. ii. 20 Nonprescription (over-the-counter, OTC) sleep-facilitating products..have capitalized on the drowsiness induced by methapyrilene. 1974Guardian 22 Mar. 11/5 The retailers wanted to simplify the collection of air fuel surcharges on package holidays by including the sum on the over-the-counter invoice presented to the customer. 1977Addictive Dis. III. 275 Almost all the conditions and diseases that over-the-counter drugs of the past century were purported to relieve are still prevalent today. 1986Daily Tel. 16 Apr. 17/1 This [third tier market] will cover the current over-the-counter shares traded off the stock market which will have prices listed on the Stock Exchange's electronic screens. |