skinflint

American  

[skin-flint] / ˈskɪnˌflɪnt /

noun

1. a mean, stingy person; miser.

   Synonyms:

   Scrooge, pinchpenny, hoarder

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skinflint British  

/ ˈskɪnˌflɪnt /

noun

1. an ungenerous or niggardly person; miser

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Other Word Forms

• skinflintily
  adverb
• skinflintiness
  noun
• skinflinty
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of skinflint

First recorded in 1690–1700; skin + flint

Explanation

A skinflint is someone who only shops at bargain stores, never orders dessert, and in general hates spending money. It's not a nice word, so if you're trying to compliment someone, better to call them "thrifty" or "frugal." A flint is a kind of rock that was used in the olden days to start a fire. If you didn't want to buy a new flint, you'd use an old one over and over again, "skinning" it — that is, wearing it down until it's as thin as skin. So someone who did that would be called a skinflint. It's another way of saying that someone will try to squeeze a penny out of anything.

Example Sentences

Jack argued the matter upon a specie basis, and Skinflint took to "moral suasion."

From The Humors of Falconbridge A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes by Falconbridge

Deacon Skinflint sent her some fresh eggs, too, that were so old you could smell 'em before the shells were broken.

From At the Little Brown House by Brown, Ruth Alberta

Maybe he wants the farm, seeing old Skinflint didn't get it.

From At the Little Brown House by Brown, Ruth Alberta

I want to get some money to buy back that mordige of ours from old Skinflint.

From At the Little Brown House by Brown, Ruth Alberta

He was a Scotch boy, whom old Skinflint Jenkins' folks had adopted from an Orphan Asylum.

From In Orchard Glen by MacGregor, Mary Esther Miller