black ink

noun

: a business profit or surplus

While battered rivals … are only now glimpsing black ink, Cisco is racking up record profits.

—Peter Burrows, Business Week, 24 Nov. 2003

: the condition of showing a profit

Corporations … have realized that green behavior can mean black ink …

—Sharon Begley, Newsweek, 24 Apr. 2000

compare red ink

Word History

Etymology

from the use of black ink in financial statements to indicate a profit

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above

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