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 more freely. Neutral register, common in journalism and household budgeting; slightly more common in British sources. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The image is the drawstring purse, which for centuries was a pouch whose neck was cinched shut by strings; whoever held the strings controlled access to the coins inside, which is why 'hold the purse strings' means to control expenditure. The literal compound is recorded in Middle English (the OED's entry covers 1150-1500), and the figurative use is old: Etymonline dates 'purse-strings, figurative for control of money', to the early 15th century, while the OED dates figurative phrases such as 'to hold the purse strings' from about 1530. The specific verb pair tighten and loosen became a fixture of household and budget journalism, and no standard reference publishes a first-citation date for 'tighten' in particular; what is documented is that the metaphor it draws on has been available to English writers for some six hundred years. The anchor's literal drawstring derivation is therefore sound, though the tighten wording itself is a later member of a much older idiom family.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- control the purse strings
- cut the purse strings
- hold the purse strings
- loosen the purse strings
- tighten one's purse strings
Usage Examples
- With two children about to start university, we are tightening the purse strings this year.
- The council tightened the purse strings, and the festival lost its grant overnight.
- Investors welcomed the decision to loosen the company's famously tight purse strings.