Search Results for money | Strange Phrases

Money to burn

Meaning To have far more money than you need, so that you can spend freely, extravagantly or recklessly; nearly always in the frames 'have money to burn' or 'with money to burn'. Informal and hyperbolic, often…

Also known as got money to burn · have money to burn · with money to burn

Money for old rope

Meaning Money or profit gained with very little effort, or a task that is exceptionally easy. It is chiefly British and informal, usually said of an easy job, fee, or win rather than passive income in general…

Also known as a real money-for-old-rope job · like taking candy from a baby · money for jam

Money down the drain

Meaning Money spent with nothing to show for it, wasted or irretrievably lost; the wider phrase covers any effort, work or opportunity squandered just as completely. It pictures resources vanishing like water carried…

Also known as down the drain · gone down the drain · pour money down the drain · throw money down the drain

Money doesn't grow on trees

Meaning A warning that money is not easily obtained and should not be spent or requested carelessly; said especially to someone, often a child, who treats spending as effortless or assumes the money will simply be…

Also known as it doesn't grow on trees · money does not grow on trees · money don't grow on trees

Money is the root of all evil

Meaning … aimed at greed and corrupting materialism rather than at money itself, and it is usually quoted as a reproach to avarice. Familiar and often sententious or ironic; quoting it verbatim risks pedantic…

Also known as for the love of money is the root of all evil · money is the root of all kinds of evil · the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil

Money talks

Meaning … or merit can; used cynically or resignedly to explain why moneyed interests usually prevail. A fixed proverbial comment rather than a flexible idiom, typically said about lobbying, sport, politics or…

Also known as money talks louder than words · money talks, bullshit walks · money talks, wealth whispers

Pin money

Meaning A small sum of money for incidental personal spending. Historically it meant an allowance a husband gave his wife for her own purchases, a sense now dated and apt to sound condescending; today it usually…

Also known as a little pin money · pocket money · spending money

Hush money

Meaning Money paid to stop someone revealing information, usually about the payer's own misconduct. The payment buys silence rather than any service, so the phrase always implies that something discreditable…

Also known as hush fund · hush payment · pay hush money

Funny money

Meaning … or otherwise illegitimate currency; by extension, any money that is dubious, artificially inflated, or not what it appears, such as foreign notes that look odd, casino chips and play money, or a currency on…

Also known as funny-money (attributive) · paid in funny money · passing funny money

Pocket money

Meaning A small sum of money for minor, day-to-day expenses. In British, Irish, and Commonwealth usage it chiefly means the small regular allowance given to children; the American equivalents are 'allowance' for a…

Also known as a bit of pocket money · spending money · weekly pocket money

Time is money

Meaning … with a cash value, so wasting it is equivalent to wasting money. It is used to justify charging by the hour, to hurry the slow, or to describe an efficiency-driven culture, and is often quoted wearily or…

Also known as remember that time is money · time equals money

Come into money

Meaning To receive or acquire a sum of money without having worked for it, most often through an inheritance, and sometimes through a legacy, windfall, or unexpected payout. Neutral in tone; it frames the money as…

Also known as came into money · come into a fortune · come into an inheritance · come into property

A run for your money

Meaning Most often in 'give someone a run for their money': to push a rival hard and make them earn the win, even if you lose. In 'get or have a run for your money', it means receiving a genuine contest, or fair…

Also known as a real run for my money · get a run for your money · give someone a run for their money · have a run for your money

A fool and his money are soon parted

Meaning An imprudent person quickly loses money through bad judgement or exploitation. Usually judgemental and sometimes victim-blaming. Modern singular they can avoid the gendered his, though the traditional form…

Also known as A fool and his money are easily parted · A fool and his money is soon parted · A fool and their money are soon parted

For love or money

Meaning Under any circumstances or by any inducement, most often used after a negative. Usually appears in a negative clause. Outside that construction it may literally ask whether affection or payment is the motive…

Also known as For love nor money · Not for love nor money · Not for love or money

A licence to print money

Meaning An arrangement so effortlessly and reliably profitable that its holder might as well be legally authorised to manufacture banknotes; almost always resentful or ironic. It is said of monopolies, broadcasting…

Also known as a license to print money · a permit to print money · printing money

Get your money's worth

Meaning To receive full value, benefit, or enjoyment in return for what you paid or the effort you put in. Used of purchases, outings, subscriptions, and experiences; often said when someone extracts every last drop…

Also known as get one's money's worth · have your money's worth · money's worth · worth your money

Slush fund

Meaning A reserve of money kept outside normal accounting, typically used flexibly, secretly, or for improper purposes such as bribery or hiding expenses. It can also mean, more neutrally, any discretionary pool of…

Also known as slush account · slush money

Hand over fist

Meaning Rapidly and in large amounts, almost always describing money being made, gained, or lost. It works as an adverbial phrase, most often in the pattern 'making money hand over fist'. Informal and colloquial; it…

Also known as hand over hand · hand-over-fist (attributive) · making money hand over fist

Strapped for cash

Meaning Short of money; unable to afford what you need or want at the moment. Informal, and usually about a temporary squeeze rather than lasting poverty. Normally used with 'for' followed by cash, money, or funds…

Also known as cash-strapped · strapped · strapped for funds · strapped for money

The root of all evil

Meaning … serious wrongdoing, corruption, or broader trouble grows. The biblical subject is covetousness or love of money, not money by itself. Regional use: Late Middle English biblical translation; now widespread…

Also known as The love of money is the root of all evil

Piggy bank

Meaning A small container, traditionally pig-shaped, with a slot for dropping in coins; by extension, any modest store of personal savings built up bit by bit. The word covers both the physical object children save…

Also known as money pig · pig bank · piggie bank · piggy

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

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