A slang phrase referring to the hedge fund tactic of buying large amounts of a particular stock from banks and brokers in an effort to clean out these institutions' inventory in a short period of time.

Traders will do this knowing that these institutions, being market makers, will have to replenish their inventories by buying stock on the open market, which usually drives up the price of the stock. once the price has increased, the traders will sell the stocks at a gain, often back to the same banks and brokers from whom the stocks were originally bought.