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 faintly envious or mocking. Informal and hyperbolic; often tinged with envy or mockery of extravagance. Regional use: General English (American in origin).
Origin
A hyperbole from late-19th-century American English: wealth so plentiful that one could literally burn banknotes and not miss them. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms dates the expression to the late 1800s, and Jack London's The God of His Fathers (1900) supplies an early literary use, describing Klondike mining kings 'with money to burn' who were leaving for the Outside because they could buy no food. No individual coiner is documented; the phrase looks like a natural exaggeration of the older idea of wealth one does not know what to do with.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- got money to burn
- have money to burn
- with money to burn
Usage Examples
- Nobody in this department has money to burn, so cancel the first-class travel bookings.
- He bought the vintage guitar on impulse, like a man with money to burn.
- With tuition fees rising every year, students certainly do not have money to burn on new textbooks.