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“money”

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Showing 73–95 of 95 matches

73. Fine words butter no parsnips

    Meaning Polite promises and flattering talk achieve nothing without practical action. Often used to demand evidence, money or action after reassuring talk. Regional use: British English.

    Also known as Fair words butter no parsnips · Fine words butter no fish · Soft words butter no parsnips

74. Posh

    Origin … slang for a dandy in the 1890s, itself from slang for money in 1830, possibly from Romany posh meaning half. The Phrase Finder also notes Murray Posh, 'a swell', in The Diary of a Nobody (1888) and treats a…

    Also known as poshness (noun) · to posh something up (verb)

75. In for a penny, in for a pound

    Meaning … commitment needed to finish it. Often spoken at the moment a small undertaking becomes a larger one. It need not involve money. Regional use: United Kingdom and wider Commonwealth; widely understood elsewhere…

    Also known as If in for a penny, in for a pound · Once in for a penny, in for a pound

76. Put all your eggs in one basket

    Meaning … 'don't put all your eggs in one basket', advising that money, effort, or hopes be spread across several options rather than concentrated in one. Neutral, proverbial register; heard in financial advice…

    Also known as eggs in one basket · have all your eggs in one basket · put all one's eggs in one basket

77. Fat cat

    Origin … the 1920s for the rich donors, also called angels or big-money men, whom party machines depended on. Its classic definition comes from Frank Kent of the Baltimore Sun, whose 1928 essay 'Fat Cats and Free…

    Also known as corporate fat cat · fat cats · fat-cat salaries

78. Laughing all the way to the bank

    Meaning Making money easily or unexpectedly, reveling in profit with smug glee.

79. Cash cow

    Origin … known use to 1972 and records both the portfolio sense and the generalized 'reliable source of money' sense, which now often carries a hint that the owner is exploiting a captive asset rather than earning it…

    Also known as a real cash cow · cash cows · milking the cash cow

80. Shanghai

    Origin … by a seaman shortage, per-head fees nicknamed blood money, and laws that jailed sailors who left a voyage early. It was effectively ended in the United States by the Seamen's Act of 1915, and the extended…

    Also known as shanghai someone into something · shanghaied · shanghaiing

81. Fly-by-night

    Origin … slur. The sense shifted to people who vanish while owing money, which Etymonline dates to 1823, and the 'fly-by-night company' idea of a shady, short-lived business followed during the 19th century. The…

    Also known as fly-by-night company · fly-by-night merchant · fly-by-night operator · fly-by-night outfit

82. Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth

    Meaning … Slightly critical in tone, typically said of people whose money, connections, or education came from their family, and often contrasted with self-made people. Mildly derogatory, implying unearned advantage…

    Also known as born with a silver spoon · born with a silver spoon in the mouth · silver spoon · silver-spooned

83. You can't have your cake and eat it too

    Meaning … also gaining what only giving it up would bring, whether money, freedom, or commitments. Informal and usually teasing or reproachful; American usage keeps the final 'too', while British speakers often drop…

    Also known as Eat your cake and have it too · Have your cake and eat it too · You can't eat your cake and have it too · You can't have your cake and eat it

84. Across the board

    Origin … or show (third) - covering every way the animal could earn money - and, as the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms explains, the board in question was the notice-board on which the races and betting odds…

    Also known as across-the-board cuts · an across-the-board rise · apply across the board

85. Chasing rainbows

    Origin … 'Go to the end of the rainbow, and you'll find a crock of money'. The early texts speak of the rainbow's end and of boys running to catch it; the compact verbal phrase about chasing rainbows, now defined by…

    Also known as chase rainbows · chase the rainbow · chasing the rainbow · go chasing rainbows

86. Tighten your belt

    Origin … image of cinching a belt a notch tighter when food or money is short. The figurative use is recorded from 1887, when the Online Etymology Dictionary dates 'to tighten (one's) belt' in the sense 'endure…

    Also known as belt-tightening · pull in one's belt · tighten one's belt · tighten our belts

87. Like pulling teeth

    Origin … magazine (1836), in which a schoolmaster's pay 'came like pulling so many teeth'. The Phrase Finder also cites Godey's Lady's Book (1855), where money must be extracted from certain debtors in the same way…

    Also known as it's like pulling teeth · like having teeth pulled · like pulling eye teeth · like pulling teeth out

88. Not worth your salt

    Origin … paid in, or given an allowance for, salt, and the 'salt money' gloss of salarium traces to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Latin dictionaries rather than to antiquity; Pliny the Elder offers only a…

    Also known as not worth his salt · worth one's salt · worth their salt · worth your salt

89. Left holding the bag

    Origin … point of view. The precise original scenario, empty money bag versus incriminating goods, is not documented firmly enough to state, so the safest account treats the general abandonment-and-loss image as the…

    Also known as hold the bag · leave somebody holding the bag · left holding the sack · stuck holding the bag

90. Pay through the nose

    Origin … victim led like a haltered beast and so easily cheated of money. The popular story of a Viking 'nose tax', with noses slit of those unable to pay, is folk etymology: no evidence supports such a practice, and…

    Also known as paid through the nose · pay through the nose for something · paying through the nose

91. Thirty pieces of silver

    Origin … over for thirty silver coins, then repent and return the money, which the priests, treating it as blood money, spend on the potter's field. The sum is scripturally loaded: Zechariah 11 has the prophet paid…

    Also known as 30 pieces of silver · his thirty pieces of silver · thirty pieces

92. The world is your oyster

    Origin … with sword will open'. In context Pistol has been refused money and imagines forcibly extracting wealth; it is not a gentle promise that a pearl will simply appear. Later usage softened and generalised the…

    Also known as The world is my oyster · The world is someone's oyster · The world's mine oyster

93. Understood the assignment

    Origin … its life as a set phrase dates from 2021. Texas rapper Tay Money teased the hook of her track 'The Assignment' on TikTok on 16 August 2021 and released the song on 9 September 2021; Know Your Meme, which…

    Also known as really understood the assignment · understand the assignment · understood the brief · we understand the assignment

94. Penny wise and pound foolish

    Origin … false-economy example in his 1607 Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. Penny and pound contrast small and large sums, but the warning readily extends beyond money to misplaced attention and short-sighted economy…

    Also known as Pennie wise and pound foolish · Penny wise, pound foolish

95. Have something up your sleeve

    Origin … clothes rarely included pockets, people genuinely kept money, handkerchiefs and other small valuables in their sleeves. Second, in the era of long, loose sleeves a dishonest card player could hide a winning…

    Also known as have a card up one's sleeve · have a trick up one's sleeve · have an ace up one's sleeve · nothing up my sleeve