Meaning of pin money | Babel Free

Definitions

1. An allowance of money given by a man to his wife or to other dependents for their personal, discretionary use.
   historical, uncountable
2. A relatively small sum of cash kept in one's personal possession for routine expenses or incidental purchases; an amount of money which is not particularly significant.
   dated, idiomatic, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Meronyms: pocket change⟳, small change⟳, loose change⟳”

“Near-synonym: petty cash”

“Damn you for a Son of a Bitch! Shall you wear⟳ such Things, and I want⟳ Pin-Money?”

“Good gracious! Lord bless me! only think⟳! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have⟳ thought it! And is it really true? Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What pin money, what jewels, what carriages you will have⟳!”

“[H]e practised economy in the matter⟳ of his wife's pin-money.”

“But these sums were but a small part of their income, were merely pin money for their wives and children.”

“Certain it is that out of the lavish pin-money which her father gave her as a free gift from time to time, she only doled out a meagre allowance to her husband, and although she had everything she wanted, M. le Marquis on his side had often less than twenty francs in his pocket.”

“"Money—yes; pin money: a couple of hundred thousand, perhaps. Not more." Washington's eyes blazed. "A couple of hundred thousand dollars! do you call⟳ that pin money?"”

“"When did you leave⟳ Oklahoma? Where is Reddy McGill now? Why are you selling those impossible contraptions on the street?["] […] "A year ago," answered Kansas Bill systematically. "Putting up windmills in Arizona. For pin money to buy⟳ etceteras with.["]”

“Andrew pays all the farm expenses, but the housekeeping accounts fall⟳ to me. I make⟳ a fairish amount of pin money on my poultry and some of my preserves that I send⟳ to Boston, […]”

CEFR level