horsetrade means to negotiate informally, especially when bargaining or reciprocal concessions are included, frequently regarding politics. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 92 out of 100.
Why “horsetrade” is a great word
HORSETRADE — [Verb] To negotiate informally, especially in politics, with shrewd bargaining and reciprocal concessions. From the compound of 'horse' (the animal) and 'trade' (the act of buying and selling), alluding to the hard bargaining characteristic of horse trading. Unlike "negotiate," a neutral and general term for discussion, or "collaborate," which implies working cooperatively toward a shared goal, to horsetrade is to engage in a transactional calculus of quid pro quo between parties with competing interests. It is the late-night swap of a vote for a pet project, the amendment quietly traded for a future favor, and the handshake that seals not an alliance but a temporary, mutually suspicious truce—the essential, grubby grease that keeps the impersonal machinery of governance from seizing up entirely.
Etymology
From horse + trade.
verb
- To negotiate informally, especially when bargaining or reciprocal concessions are included, frequently regarding politics.“Nobody appeared to have told [Woodrow] Wilson that [William F.] McCombs had, in fact, already horsetraded the position to [Thomas R.] Marshall in exchange for Indiana's votes.”