Meaning
A person who is extremely careful with money and reluctant to spend even the smallest sums; the verb form means to economize severely. It implies stinginess or joyless frugality rather than sensible thrift, and is usually mildly critical, though it is often used self-deprecatingly. Informal and mildly judgmental; applied as readily to budget-cutting institutions as to thrifty individuals. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The underlying image, gripping pennies so tightly that none can escape, has a long pedigree in English. 'Pinch-pennies' appears in Arthur Dent's Protestant tract The Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen (1601) - 'We see the world is full of such pinch-pennies' - quoted by Grammarphobia from early OED evidence, so the compound for misers was established by the early 17th century. The specific modern form with 'penny pincher' and 'pinch pennies' is much younger: Merriam-Webster dates the noun penny-pinching, defined as 'frugality, parsimony', to 1935, and the -er noun belongs to the same 20th-century colloquial wave, flourishing especially in American usage during tight times such as the Depression. The history between the 1601 'pinch-penny' and the 1930s compounds was not documented in the sources verified here.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- penny-pinching
- pinch pennies
- pinchpenny
Usage Examples
- My grandfather was such a penny pincher that he walked four streets over to save a few cents on a loaf of bread.
- The council, notorious penny pinchers, had budgeted for the bridge repair three years running before they agreed to spend it.
- She pinches pennies all year so the family can afford one proper holiday.