jew down

Etymology
From the noun Jew, based on the stereotype of Jews as parsimonious and driving hard bargains + down.

Verb

 * 1)  To bargain or haggle with a seller in order to obtain a lower price for a good or service.
 * 2) * 1906, unnamed university president, quoted in John Maxson Stillman's "Relations of Salary to Title in American Universities", in Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Eighth Annual Conference of the Association of American Universities, Association of American Universities (1907), page 80:
 * Equality, too, removes the possibility of bargaining, of jewing up or jewing down a salary, according to the exigencies of the moment.
 * 1) * 1920, Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of North Dakota, Swan v. Great Northern R. Co., p. 277:
 * "I wanted to get $600 and a light job and they just jewed me down to $375 and a light job."
 * 1) * 1920, Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of North Dakota, Swan v. Great Northern R. Co., p. 277:
 * "I wanted to get $600 and a light job and they just jewed me down to $375 and a light job."

Usage notes

 * This term is used both intransitively and transitively. In transitive uses, the direct object may refer either to the seller, or to the kind of price (cost, fee, rent, etc., or more generally price). In all cases, the original price may be indicated in a from phrase, and the final price in a to phrase.