pencil out
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From pencil + out (possibly based on or influenced by work out), the idea being that rough calculations are temporarily written in pencil rather than permanently written in pen.
Verb
[edit]pencil out (third-person singular simple present pencils out, present participle (UK) pencilling out or (US) penciling out, simple past and past participle (UK) pencilled out or (US) penciled out)
- (business) Of an investment, to make sense financially or to be expected to generate the desired returns
- (business) To roughly calculate the expected returns of an investment