| 释义 |
assets|ˈæsɪts|
[a. late Anglo-Fr. assets (Littleton §714), early AF. asetz (Britton i. xvi. §5), OF. asez enough, cogn. w. Pr. assatz, OSp. asaz, Pg. assaz, assas, It. assai:—late pop. L. ad satis ‘to sufficiency,’ substituted for simple satis ‘enough.’ The origin of the English use is to be found in the Anglo-French law phrase aver assetz ‘to have sufficient,’ viz. to meet certain claims; whence assets passed as a technical term into the vernacular. It was originally singular but was soon (from its final -s, and collective sense) treated as plural, and in modern use has a singular asset.]
1. Law. Originally: Sufficient estate or effects; esp. ‘Goods enough to discharge that burthen, which is cast upon the executor or heir, in satisfying the testator's or ancestor's debts and legacies’ Cowell. Chiefly in phrase to have assets.
1531Dial. Laws of Eng. ii. xlix. (1638) 154 If this man have assets by discent from the ancestor. 1574tr. Littleton's Tenures §714 Vnlesse that he hath Assets by discent in Fee simple. 1671F. Philipps Reg. Necess. 413. 1691 Southerne Sir A. Love iii. i. (1721) 212, I shall fall like an Executor without assets. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 244 This deed, obligation, or covenant, shall be binding upon the heir, so far forth only as he had any estate of inheritance vested in him by descent from that ancestor, sufficient to answer the charge..which sufficient estate is in law called assets. 1876Digby Real Prop. v. §2. 216 The heir of the tenant in tail was not bound by his ancestor's alienation..unless he had assets (lands in fee simple equivalent to those which had been granted away) by descent from his ancestor.
2. By extension applied to: Any property or effects liable to be applied as in sense 1, without regard to its being sufficient. (Still sing. in 17th c., but now a collective plural.)
assets in hand: effects in the hands of executors which are applicable to discharge the testator's debts.
1583Babington Commandm. To Gentl. Glamorg., An advouson in respect of the patron, is accounted no assets..because it is not valuable. 1601Act 43 Eliz. iv. §7 Any of them, havynge Assettes in Law or Equitie, soe farre as the same assettes will extende. 1705Collier Ess. iii. 104 He left not assids enough to bury him. 1870Pinkerton Guide Administr. 39 If there are not sufficient assets in hand to pay all the debts of the Estate.
3. Law and Comm. Effects of an insolvent debtor or bankrupt, applicable to the payment of his debts; and by extension: All the property of a person or company which may be made liable for his or their debts. The Dr. and Cr. sides of a Balance Account contain ‘Assets’ and ‘Liabilities’ respectively. (In this sense always used as pl., with singular asset applied to a single item appearing on the debit side.)
1817Jas. Mill Brit. India I. i. v. 89 The assets or effects of the London Company in India fell short of the debts of that concern. 1855H. Spencer Psychol. (1872) II. vii. viii. 382 Cheques and bills are accepted and passed on without enquiring whether there are assets to meet them. 1868Pall Mall G. 23 July 4 The chances of a dividend depend upon the realization of two assets, one a large debt due by a trustee of the bank, and the other, etc. Mod. The former of these is a very doubtful asset.
4. fig.
1675Wycherley Pl. Dealer ii. (1735) 55, I, that am a relict of known plentiful assets and parts, who understand myself and the law. 1690Dryden Amphitr., No more may be expected from him to Night, when he has no Assets. 1884Daily News 9 June 3/2 The high character which the corps has won for..trustworthiness is in itself a valuable asset.
5. Special Comb. asset card U.S. = debit card s.v. debit n. 3; asset stripping, the practice of selling off the assets of a company (esp. one recently taken over) in order to make a profit, without regard for the company's future; hence asset-stripper.
1975*Asset card [see debit card s.v. debit n. 3]. 1986U.S. Banker Mar. 42/3 The solution..—moving the $2 billion asset card business to..South Dakota—ushered in a new era in interstate banking.
1972Observer 8 Oct. 15/2 The *asset stripper's aim is to find a company rich in assets but down on its luck. 1984Financial Times 21 Jan. 24 ‘We were asset-strippers,’ Mr. Rowland recalls proudly. According to one former plantations stockbroking analyst, ‘Some of his bidding tactics were controversial.’
1972Observer 8 Oct. 15/1 *Asset stripping has become the short cut to great wealth for young men with a burning ambition to make as much money as possible, with as little effort as possible. 1977Guardian Weekly 23 Oct. 21/3 Inquires in detail into Slater Walker's forays into industry but finds little evidence of industrial efficiency but plenty of asset stripping. 1983Listener 18 Aug. 28/2 The financiers Humpage hoodwinks are either patricianly incompetent or else sharkishly bent and intent on making a quick asset-stripping killing.
Add:[5.] asset management orig. U.S., the active management of the financial and other assets of a company, etc., esp. in order to optimize the return on investment.
1974M. Mayer Bankers xiv. 376 This was ‘*asset management’, the investment in highly liquid assets that could be cashed in at will. 1987Christian Science Monitor 20 Feb. b2/3 One of the large mutual fund families..offers not only a variety of funds but an asset management account that would give you a monthly record of all transactions, including reinvestment of dividends.
also asset manager, one employed professionally in this capacity.
1975Business Week 1 Sept. 42/3 There is already a scramble among professional pension managers, from places as far away as London, to take advantage of PBGC's expressed desire to hire three *asset managers and a custodial bank. 1985Investors Chron. 1 Nov. 54/1 Guinness Peat's chief executive..reckons that institutions in the post Big Bang City will take one of three forms—bankers, traders or asset managers. |