Be in the red
- (a)To owe money to a bank
- (b)To get money from one's family
- (c)To be in danger of being caught
- (d)To be in favour of needy people
Correct — A, to owe money to a bank. To be in the red is to be overdrawn or in debt. The phrase comes from the old bookkeeping habit of entering losses and negative balances in red ink, and its opposite, 'in the black', means being in profit.
- (b)To get money from one's family — The idiom is about owing money, not receiving it; where the money comes from plays no part in it.
- (c)To be in danger of being caught — That sense belongs to other expressions — 'caught red-handed' or 'in hot water'.
- (d)To be in favour of needy people — Nothing in the phrase concerns charity or sympathy; it is strictly a matter of accounts.
'In the red' means in debt or running a loss, from the red ink once used in ledgers to write negative figures.
Business reporting still uses the pair — a company 'slips into the red' when it makes a loss and 'returns to the black' when it recovers. Keep it apart from the other red expressions: 'red-handed' means caught in the act, 'red tape' means official delay, and 'a red-letter day' is a memorably happy one.
- 'In the black' is the opposite and means in profit.
- The phrase comes from the accounting practice of writing negative amounts in red ink.
- 'Red tape' means official rules that cause delay; 'a red-letter day' is an especially happy or important day.
- Linking 'red' to danger or to being caught.
- Reversing the pair and reading 'in the red' as being in profit.
Asked as an idioms-and-phrases item — choose the option that gives the meaning of the phrase.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'In the black' means:
- (a)in mourning
- (b)making a profit
- (c)in complete darkness
- (d)out of work
Answer(b) making a profit — black ink recorded positive balances, as red ink recorded losses.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'Red tape' means:
- (a)a warning sign
- (b)excessive official rules and delay
- (c)a first-aid item
- (d)a public celebration
Answer(b) excessive official rules and delay — the phrase describes bureaucratic obstruction.