to make a ring
Preserved but no longer current.
To combine in order to con- trol the price of a given article. If the chief merchants of any article (say salt flour, . or sugar) combine, they can fix the selling price, and thus secure enormous profits.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to make a ring” mean?
To combine in order to con- trol the price of a given article. If the chief merchants of any article (say salt flour, . or sugar) combine, they can fix the selling price, and thus secure enormous profits.
Is “to make a ring” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.