to skin a flint

9.9

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

idiom

Archaic

: ser tacaño

She's the sort who would skin a flint before parting with a penny.

Examples

My grandfather was known to skin a flint; he would often reuse old items instead of buying new ones.
He is so frugal, he could skin a flint and still complain about waste.
People say you have to skin a flint to survive hard times like these.
Don't skin a flint when it comes to your health!
She always skins a flint at restaurants.
He is so frugal that he could skin a flint just to save a few dollars.
During tough financial times, many people feel they have to skin a flint to make ends meet.

Synonyms

to scrimp

vsto skin a flint

8 7.4

Spend very little money by using only what you need

emphasizes hard economizing but less about deliberate withholding

to penny-pinch

vsto skin a flint

Informal

1 7.7

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

focuses on avoiding small expenses rather than extreme withholding

to skin a flint for a penny

vsto skin a flint

Archaic

9.9

To be very unwilling to spend money, even small amounts

is the same idea but in a shorter form

to play it cheap

vsto skin a flint

Informal

8.2

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

adds sense of poor quality, not just extreme saving

Antonyms

generous

79 1.2

Willing to forgive small mistakes and not be strict

spendthrift

5 8.5

A person who spends money in a careless, wasteful way

How Frugal

to skin a flint

Archaic

9.9

to save

842 1.0

to economize

7 5.0

Surface Forms

skin a flint infinitive

skinned a flint past

skinned a flint past participle

skinning a flint present participle

skins a flint third person singular

Morphology

skin + a + flint

The meaning 'to be extremely frugal' cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'skin' (to remove skin) and 'flint' (a hard rock); there is no compositional or metaphorical link that would lead a learner to 'miserly'. The expression is idiomatic, rare/archaic and not transparently paralleled in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would not predict the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase skin a flint may come from the image of trying to 'skin' a hard stone: you cannot skin a flint, so the idea is impossible. Saying someone would skin a flint shows they are so stingy they would try to get something from a stone, so it means 'to be extremely frugal'.