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Glite Dictionary
to skin a flint for a penny

to skin a flint for a penny

9.9
To be very unwilling to spend money, even small amounts
  • idiom
  • Archaic
: ser tacaño
  • My uncle is so tight with his money, he'd skin a flint for a penny rather than pay full price for anything.

Examples

  • You have to be careful asking him for help; he'd skin a flint for a penny if it saved him a dime.

  • The company became notorious for cutting costs at every turn, willing to skin a flint for a penny.

  • Don't you dare skin a flint for a penny when it comes to charity!

  • My grandfather always skinned a flint for a penny during his youth.

  • My uncle is so tight with his money that he'd skin a flint for a penny rather than pay full price for anything.

  • She always tries to skin a flint for a penny when shopping, hunting for the best bargains.

  • During the meeting, he insisted on skinning a flint for a penny to save on every small expense.

Synonyms

to scrimp
vsto skin a flint for a penny
8 7.4

Spend very little money by using only what you need

focuses on taking extreme lengths to avoid spending money
to nickel-and-dime
vsto skin a flint for a penny
  • Informal
3 7.9

To manage using only small amounts of money at a time

is broader and stronger, refusing to spend beyond tiny sums
to penny-pinch
vsto skin a flint for a penny
  • Informal
1 7.7

Spend very little money and avoid buying things you do not need

is more extreme, avoiding spending even when small costs occur
to play it cheap
vsto skin a flint for a penny
  • Informal
1 8.2

Spend as little money as possible by buying low-quality things

is stricter, focusing on extreme refusal to spend rather than quality
to skin a flint
vsto skin a flint for a penny
  • Archaic
9.9

To try very hard not to spend money even when you should

is the same saying but adds a short extra coin phrase

Antonyms

to lavish
17 5.3

To give a lot of money, praise, or love to someone freely

How Frugal

to skin a flint for a penny
  • Archaic
9.9
to save
355 1.0
to economize
  • US
7 5.0

Surface Forms

skin a flint for a penny infinitive

Morphology

skin + a + flint + for + a + penny

The literal meanings of 'skin' (to strip skin), 'flint' (a hard stone), and 'penny' (a small coin) do not combine to yield the idiomatic sense 'to be extremely frugal'; the action described is not a predictable composition of the constituents. This is an archaic, culture-specific idiom whose meaning is not recoverable from its parts and would be opaque to a B1 learner even if they knew the individual words.

Etymology

Skin a flint for a penny creates a strong picture: someone so cheap they would try to skin a hard stone called flint to get a single penny. So the image explains why the phrase means 'to be extremely frugal'.