pin money
1
6.1
- noun
- Archaic
:
dinero de bolsillo
- During the summer, she earned pin money by babysitting for neighbors.
- extra pin money
Examples
-
He uses his pin money for small purchases like coffee and snacks.
-
She saved her pin money to buy a new dress for the party.
-
Michelle made a nice little bit of "pin money" doing the same thing for the University of Chicago Hospital.
Blog text (7) -
Some out of necessity, others to get some "pin money" to spend on leisure activities, food, personal items, and such.
Blog text (29) -
What they do buys them a little pin money; that's all.
Fiction book (1992) -
Dwainc explains how, the last time he was in Hollywood, he spent two months in a former firehouse in Venice Beach, building the set for a producer named Dexter Groon, who paid him pin money plus room and board, the rest of his payment deferred pending the sale of the film, which was called Alphabet City.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
19
2.0
Money you keep to buy small things like coffee or snacks
14
1.0
Small coins or money you do not need and carry with you
8
1.5
Parents give children a small amount of money regularly to buy small things
8
2.5
A small amount of money, usually coins, kept for minor expenses
Antonyms
How Much
642
1.3
∞
1.4
26
6.7
97
1.7
- Archaic
1
6.1
- UK
8
1.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
pin + money
The sense 'a small amount of money for minor or personal expenses' is not predictably built from 'pin' (a small sharp object) + 'money' — learners are more likely to interpret it literally (money for pins) or be uncertain. The phrase is historically idiomatic and its meaning is not compositional or cross-linguistically obvious, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably infer the idiomatic sense.
Etymology
Pin money may come from an old practice: women were given a little 'money' to buy small household items like sewing pins. So, pin money now means a small amount of cash for minor or personal expenses.