Example: Ze proberen de koehandel te bedrijven om betere prijzen te krijgen.
Definition
"De koehandel bedrijven" means to engage in tough or shrewd bargaining, often involving negotiation or haggling to achieve better prices or advantageous deals. It implies a situation where parties exchange concessions to reach mutually beneficial agreements.
The phrase "de koehandel bedrijven" comes from Dutch, literally meaning 'to conduct the cow trade.' Historically, buying and selling cows involved negotiation and bargaining, so the phrase evolved to describe any kind of tough deal-making or bartering. Did you know it humorously evokes farmers trading livestock as a metaphor for negotiation?
Learn to use this expression actively
"De koehandel bedrijven" appears in the Vocaplus list "Dutch - General - Idioms and Proverbs - (C1) - set 1", containing 100 commonly used expressions.
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to horse-trade