street money
- noun
- Informal
:
dinero informal
- The saloon had long been closed, but Patsy reopened it every year to hear the ward leaders predict the vote they would deliver, and then give them their street money to help it happen.
Examples
-
Many people in the community earn extra income by doing small jobs for street money on the weekends.
-
As Democratic precinct captain, Robinson had power and influence, given his access to "street money" the Daley machine freely handed out at that time in Chicago's South Side.
Blog text (2) -
During the campaign, some volunteers relied on street money to cover their transportation costs.
-
It's common for workers to receive street money for helping with local events outside of their regular jobs.
Synonyms
1
8.6
Small amounts of money
Antonyms
How Much
99
3.5
∞
1.2
- Informal
1
3.7
- Informal
87
1.0
- UK
8
1.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'street money' is partly compositional: combining 'street' (the informal/urban sphere) with 'money' suggests money earned or circulated in street-based, informal activities, so a learner could infer an approximate meaning. However the phrase is ambiguous (it could be misread as money physically found on a street or municipal funds) and depends on sociocultural knowledge of 'street' as shorthand for informal economy, so the sense is not fully predictable.
Etymology
Street money comes from the simple image of cash earned on the street, for example from selling things or doing small jobs for people. So it means 'informal income from small or unregulated work'.