The synthetic CDOs that caused the trouble were expensive bespoke instruments that were very profitable for the banks involved – JPMorgan was paid $19m to structure and market the Squared CDO alone before it got stuck with $880m in unanticipated losses
I know the definition is to be or give a sign of; indicate. See synonyms of indicate.
But it doesn't make a lot of sense.
The dictionary gives an interesting meaning of "bespoke":
"custom or custom-made, made to order," of goods, as distinguished from ready-made
So, "bespoke" used this way means "made to order", and the instruments were custom-made. This can be seen by the later phrase:
JPMorgan was paid $19m to structure and market the Squared CDO alone
OP must be American (or at least not British, though I don't know about Australian usage, for example). He's aware of the original (now pretty much archaic) meaning of bespoke, but not the modern meaning of custom-made - which I must admit seems to more UK than US usage.
Bespoke Tailors, for example, would be familiar to most Brits. A bit oxymoronic, perhaps, but it distinguishes them from tailors who only sell 'off-the-peg' suits (with perhaps minor alterations available, such as adjusting trouser length).
You'll also find Bespoke Shoes, Interior Design, and Software, and a few others in the UK, where usage seems to be increasing over recent decades (there was hardly any software to be 'bespoke' before about 1980, and what did exist then was almost always bespoke in any case, so the adjective was redundant). Software notwithstanding, the word does have somewhat 'genteel' archaic connotations.
Note that this UK usage only occurs with the past participle (of bespeak). Neither the tailor nor the customer can bespeak a suit for example.
The 'original' sense (as the past participle of can indeed mean to indicate, as OP says. But only at a stretch, and really just plain old speak of does that anyway. Again, that bespoke usage is archaic/poetic in the UK.
If anyone does use the word in any of the older senses apart from indicate, it's likely to mean something like ask for in advance, as given in my link.
Now I'm not a scholar or even very competent in the English language. But I seem to be reading and hearing it a lot more in the last two years. When I first heard used in a sentence, I could not quite understand what it meant (as used in the sentence not the object it refered to).
As I remembered and understood from my school days, bespoke was a term used to describe something or someone that is very exclusive, expensive and afforded to the royalties and the rich. It was only used sparingly.
I'm still bemused by the frequent usage of this word in "modern" times. Still don't get it. Guess I'm a little "old-fashion". But I'm still confused by certain words used nowadays that were not so common back in the days.
