monetize?

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Fri, Mar 21, 2003 at 07:10:17AM -0500, Bethany K. Dumas wrote:
> I had not seen <monetize> before this morning. Ex:
>
> "Upon the closing of the TWE restructuring, we would also expect Comcast
> (CMCSK: news, chart, profile) to monetize its $1.5 billion position in
> AOL."

OED3 has three senses for _monetize_; this one looks to be
sense 1.b., 'To convert (an asset, debt, etc.) into money, to
realize the value of (an asset, debt, etc.) as currency;
spec. to convert (government debt) to a more liquid form, as
by redeeming treasury bills or replacing bonds with
bills. Also: to assess in terms of monetary value.' The first
cite is from 1867.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED