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“money”

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Showing 25–48 of 95 matches

25. Where there's muck there's brass

    Meaning Dirty, unpleasant or unglamorous work can produce worthwhile profit or prosperity. Informal and often approving of practical enterprise, though it can also criticize profit made from pollution or squalor…

    Also known as Where there's muck there's luck · Where there's muck there's money

26. Bread and butter

    Meaning A person's or organisation's main source of income or essential means of living, as in 'tourism is the island's bread and butter'; also used attributively for everyday economic concerns, as in…

    Also known as bread-and-butter issues · bread-and-butter money · quarrel with your bread and butter · someone's bread and butter

27. Nest egg

    Meaning A sum of money saved and set aside, especially for retirement, an emergency, or some future purpose. The term often implies a growing reserve that is being protected rather than spent. Neutral, slightly…

    Also known as a little nest egg · egg nest (rare)

28. Girl math

    Meaning … does not really count, anything bought on sale counts as money saved, and cost per wear makes a splurge effectively free. It is tongue-in-cheek rather than sincere, is often applied by spenders of any gender…

    Also known as boy math · girl maths

29. Shell out

    Meaning To pay money, usually reluctantly and typically an amount the payer regards as excessive or unwelcome; used with a stated sum or with for, as in shelling out for repairs, and common in the past tense for…

    Also known as shell out for · shelled out · shelling out

30. War chest

    Meaning A stock of money set aside in advance for a coming struggle, most often an election campaign, a legal battle, or a corporate takeover fight, though the original reference was to financing a literal war. Also…

    Also known as build up a war chest · campaign war chest · election war chest · war-chest (attributive)

31. Flat broke

    Meaning Completely penniless; having no money at all. Informal, with 'flat' intensifying 'broke' in the sense 'utterly, completely'. Usually describes a temporary state rather than chronic poverty, and is standard in…

    Also known as dead broke · stone broke · stony broke

32. Golden calf

    Meaning … or power worshipped in place of what actually matters - money as an end in itself, or a symbol mistaken for the thing it represents. The accusation is always that people have bowed down to something they made…

    Also known as bow down to the golden calf · the calf of gold · worship the golden calf

33. Pork barrel

    Meaning … pork-barrel spending or pork-barrel politics: government money channelled into local projects whose real purpose is to win a politician support in their home district rather than to serve the national…

    Also known as Pork · Pork-barrel legislation · Pork-barrel politics · Pork-barrel spending

34. Chicken feed

    Meaning A trivially small amount of money, far below what something is worth or what a person deserves ('They offered me chicken feed for the car'). Informal and dismissive; originally American and still most at home…

    Also known as mere chicken feed · that is chicken feed

35. Pass the hat

    Meaning To take up a collection of money from a group of people, typically in an informal, spontaneous way for a shared gift, a colleague in difficulty, or performers. Also used more broadly of soliciting donations…

    Also known as pass the hat around · pass the hat for · passing the hat · the hat was passed

36. Pull the plug

    Meaning … by withdrawing whatever was keeping it going - usually money, backing, or broadcast capacity, as when a network cancels a show or a sponsor drops a team. In its medical use it means withdrawing…

    Also known as pull the plug on something · pulled the plug · pulling the plug

37. A pretty penny

    Meaning A considerable amount of money. Usually said of something expensive ('cost a pretty penny') or of a handsome profit or income ('made a pretty penny'), with pretty in its older sense of considerable or sizable…

    Also known as cost a pretty penny · pay a pretty penny · worth a pretty penny

38. The gravy train

    Meaning A source of easy money or benefits that demands little effort, often with the implication that the rewards are excessive, cushy or undeserved. It nearly always appears in patterns like 'ride the gravy train'…

    Also known as board the gravy train · gravy-train (as modifier) · riding the gravy train · the gravy train dries up

39. Bang for your buck

    Meaning Value or impact received in return for money spent; usually heard as 'more bang for the buck', meaning a better result per dollar. The image is literally explosive - buying the loudest bang for your money -…

    Also known as bang for one's buck · bigger bang for a buck · more bang for the buck

40. Tighten the purse strings

    Meaning To cut back spending and control the flow of money more strictly, whether in a household, a company, or a government budget; the paired expression 'loosen the purse strings' means to release funds and spend…

    Also known as control the purse strings · cut the purse strings · hold the purse strings · loosen the purse strings

41. Keep your head above water

    Meaning To manage to survive or keep coping, especially when money, time, or energy is only just sufficient. It implies struggling at the very limit of your resources rather than thriving, and it is used of…

    Also known as get your head above water · hold your head above water · keep one's head above water · keep your head above the water

42. Neither a borrower nor a lender be

    Meaning Do not borrow money and do not lend it: a warning that mixing loans with relationships tends to destroy both the cash and the goodwill. Quoted as standalone, proverb-sounding advice, usually with a hint of…

    Also known as neither a borrower or lender be · neither borrower nor lender be

43. You can't get blood out of a stone

    Meaning … say that it is impossible to obtain something - above all money, payment, sympathy, or information - from a person or source that does not have it or will never yield it. The stone stands for total…

    Also known as blood from a turnip · blood out of a brick · get blood out of a stone · you can't get blood from a stone

44. Milk it

    Meaning … squeezing out every last drop of benefit, sympathy, or money. It usually carries a disapproving tone, suggesting someone is exaggerating or taking unfair advantage rather than simply making good use of…

    Also known as milk it for all it's worth · milk someone dry · milk something for something

45. Fake news

    Meaning … originally spread via social media for advertising money or political effect. In a rival sense that grew from 2017, a political insult aimed at accurate reporting in order to discredit it. The two senses now…

    Also known as fake news media

46. Cap in hand

    Meaning … supplicating manner, especially when asking someone for money, a job or a favour, as in 'go cap in hand to someone'. It is the standard British form; North American English prefers 'hat in hand'. Often…

    Also known as cap-in-hand (adjective) · come cap in hand · go cap in hand to someone · hat in hand (North American)

47. A siren call

    Meaning … names. Usually followed by of - the siren call of easy money, of nationalism; it implies the listener knows better, which is what makes the story tragic rather than merely sad. Regional use: General English…

    Also known as a siren song · siren call of · the siren song of

48. Stag and doe

    Meaning A ticketed party held to raise money for an engaged couple's wedding. Current regional social-custom term Regional use: Canada, predominantly Ontario and especially rural communities.

    Also known as buck and doe · Jack and Jill · stag and doe party · stag-and-doe