mad money
Americannoun
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a small sum of money carried or kept in reserve for minor expenses, emergencies, or impulse purchases.
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a small sum of money carried by a woman on a date to enable her to reach home alone in case she and her escort quarrel and separate.
Etymology
Origin of mad money
First recorded in 1915–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“No, I can do both. I can work at the store and be an architect. I’d make mad money that way,” he said.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2020
Lucky for them, they have a little mad money.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2019
The founder of DreamWorks SKG has also given mad money to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2017
She was talking about the “supersized, contorted, totally out of context” towers, resulting from a cocktail of new technology and mad money, competing for height and attention, from which this city had once proudly abstained.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2013
She hid this from everyone, but now that the court needs to review all of her financial documents, she has to admit that she's got, as Quang-ha says, "crazy mad money."
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
