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The golden handshake

Posted by ESC on September 03, 2001

In Reply to: Give him the golden handshake posted by A. Kasmani on September 02, 2001

: : What does it mean to "give someone the golden handshake"?

GOLDEN HANDSHAKE n. Business. the giving or offering of very generous severance pay, as to a business executive, often as an incentive to early retirement; (hence) such payment itself. 1960 in OEDS: There is little public sympathy for the tycoon who retires with a golden handshake to the hobby farm." From the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994.

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