cookie jar

American  

noun

1. a jar or other container for storing cookies.

2. such a container used for storing money.

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idioms

1. have one's hand in the cookie jar, to take or attempt to take advantage of one's position by demanding or accepting favors or bribes.

   They suspected the mayor's assistant had his hand in the cookie jar.

Etymology

Origin of cookie jar

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Example Sentences

“If you’re a kid and no one was looking at the cookie jar and the lid was off, would you take another one?”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

Ran economic blockades and encouraged American companies to treat the region’s riches, and its workers, like a cookie jar.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2026

"Sure enough, Genius caught Google with its hand in the cookie jar: The 'RED HANDED' message soon began to appear in the lyrics in Google's information boxes," Genius told the justices.

From Reuters • Jun. 26, 2023

Chocolate chip cookies exist at this strange intersection of relative ubiquity and intensely personal nostalgia, built from the aroma of grandmothers' houses and the illicit childhood thrill of surreptitiously raiding the countertop cookie jar.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2023

A cookie jar once owned by Andy Warhol is a rare collectible.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner