south sea bubble

English - English

Definition of south sea bubble in English English dictionary

a serious financial problem in the UK in 1720, which led to many people losing all their money. The South Sea company made large profits by trading with South America, and this encouraged many people to invest their money in it (=lend the company money, in the hope of making more money) . But the company was very dishonestly run, and in the end it failed and the money people had invested became worthless. (1720) Speculation mania that caused financial ruin for many British investors. Parliament's acceptance of a proposal by the South Sea Co. to take over the British national debt resulted in an immediate rise in its stock. After soaring from 128 1 2 to over 1,000 in nine months, the bubble of overvalued stock burst and the price per share dropped to 124, dragging other stocks down and leaving many investors ruined. An inquiry by the House of Commons found collusion by several government ministers

Hyphenation

south sea bub·ble

Turkish pronunciation

sauth si bʌbıl

Pronunciation

/ˈsouᴛʜ ˈsē ˈbəbəl/ /ˈsaʊθ ˈsiː ˈbʌbəl/