释义 |
spin-off, n. and a. orig. U.S.|ˈspɪnɒf, -ɔː-| Also spinoff. [f. vbl. phr. to spin off: see spin v. 15.] A. n. 1. Comm. A distribution of stock of a new company to shareholders of a parent company; a company so created.
1951Stanley & Kilcullen Federal Income Tax 182 Sec. 112 (b) (11), added by the 1951 Act, permits the distribution of stock in a spin-off without recognition of gain to the stock-holders, subject to certain restrictions designed to prevent the use of spin-offs to distribute earnings and profits. 1956Sun (Baltimore) 30 May 15/1 The proposed ‘spin-off’ was to be on the basis of three shares of Bestwall Gypsum for each share of Certain-Teed. 1969Daily Tel. 4 June 3 Many had been anticipating a complete spin-off by B P of its United States subsidiary with a United States quotation and a chance of more direct public participation in the group's Alaskan activities. 1974Telegraph (Brisbane) 8 May 46/4 Spea is a subsidiary of the Italstrade Company. Italstrade, in turn, is a subsidiary, or spin-off, of Italstat. 1981Observer 4 Oct. 21/1 A growing phenomenon in British business life: the hive-off, spin-off or demerger—the management buy-out, in fact. 1981Times 28 Oct. 19/5 Even split into four separate companies, the spin-offs would be equal fifteenth in the league table. 2. A by-product, an incidental development, side-effect, or benefit; the production or accrual of side-effects or indirect benefits; spec. (a) a business, organization, etc., developed out of or by (former) members of another larger business, etc.; (b) a show, television programme, etc., developed from an idea or character in another.
1959Wall St. Jrnl. 12 May 1/4 Numerous firms have been organized by M.I.T. scientists who decided to strike out on their own—‘spin-offs from M.I.T.’, one research official terms them. 1961Guardian 10 Oct. 6/6 ‘Technological fall-out’ or ‘technological spin-off’..are the terms used to denote the desirable social byproducts of the plan to send men to the moon. 1963Listener 7 Nov. 735/2 The development out of (or ‘spin off’, as the Americans call it) magazines [sc. magazine programmes] must not be interpreted as any lack of conviction in their continuing role. 1967Technology Week 23 Jan. 75/2 There were to be spin-offs in the form of a series of assist devices for emergency, temporary or permanent assistance to cardiac function. 1967Daily Tel. 15 May 9/8 The close season is also the signal for another series of BBC Comedy Playhouse ‘try-outs’. It produced ‘Steptoe’; and last season, to use the current jargon, the ‘spin-offs’ in series form were ‘The Whitehall Worrier’, [etc.]. 1968Economist 13 Jan. 55/2 It was flatly denied that the huge military and space programmes had been of any advantage, in terms of technological spin-off, to industry. 1968P. McKellar Experience & Behav. xv. 398 In this connexion we encounter the notion of ‘spin off’, the term used for other applications of findings that have emerged from space research. 1969Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 28 Mar. 7/3 A car..is a means of transport with a horrifying spin-off of death and injury. 1975Lady 17 July 97/1 One of the spin-offs of our affluent society is that more people can afford to keep dogs. 1976TV Times (Brisbane) 22 May 7/2 There is a tradition in American TV—if a show is a success, do a spin-off. In other words, take one or two characters from the parent series and build another series around them. 1977Sachs & Jahn Celestial Passengers xxxii. 198 Space spinoffs have resulted in many new products to improve the quality of our recreational activities. Ibid. 193 Probably the best-known space spinoff to health is the cardiac pacemaker. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 626/1 If we can improve our productivity..then there will be all sorts of spin-offs from this in the way of leisure industries and service industries. B. attrib. or as adj. That develops or is created as a spin-off.
1966National Observer (U.S.) 18 July 7 Although the column hasn't been as successful churning up front-page news stories as some editors had hoped, it does develop an occasional ‘spin-off’ story. 1967Boston Globe 18 May 35/6 Shares of the spin-off company will be distributed tax free to United Fruit stockholders. 1969Physics Bull. July 268/2 Many of the successful ‘spin-off’ firms in the United States were based on a transfer of technology by individuals from large and continuing programmes in government and university laboratories. 1974Financial Times 8 Apr. 23/7 Hardly anyone earns less than the proposed new minima, which would therefore raise only a few earnings and so would hit employers' wage bills and eat into Stage Three allowances only through the spin-off effect on holiday and sick pay. 1979Amer. Jrnl. Trop. Med. & Hygiene XXVIII. 1043/2 No attempt was made to document ‘spinoff’ costs, notably losses of tourism revenue. 1980J. Wainwright Man of Law xi. 64 With hindsight..I knew... But honesty demands that I ask spin-off questions. How much did I know? |