finders keepers

8 7.4

A saying people use when someone picks up a lost thing and does not give it back

idiom

Informal

: el que encuentra, se queda

OK, America has full rights to the balloon under the historic doctrine of finders keepers, which of course was later amended to include losers weepers.

Examples

I figured finders keepers.

Ruby Gentry (1952)
Well, Peter Morris, finders keepers.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
-Finders, keepers

Batman Begins (2005)
- Finders, keepers, Kenny.

Money for Nothing (1993)
Finders keepers.

Gretel & Hansel (2020)
If you find a dollar bill on the ground, it's finders keepers!
When I discovered the lost bracelet, I thought, finders keepers.
He picked up the abandoned bicycle, believing in the old saying: finders keepers.

Synonyms

finders keepers; losers weepers

vsfinders keepers

Informal

1 7.4

Says the person who finds something can keep it and the person who lost it cannot complain

is the shorter proverb form expressing the same right to keep found items

Surface Forms

finders keepers main

Morphology

finder + keeper

The meaning 'whoever finds something has the right to keep it' is directly and compositionally derivable from 'finder' (person who discovers) and 'keeper' (one who keeps). Although it is a fixed proverbically phrased saying, the relation is literal and built from frequent words, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Finders keepers comes from a simple rule children use: if you are the finder of a lost toy, you become the keeper. So, the phrase means 'whoever finds something gets to keep it'.