petty cash

noun

1. a cash fund for paying small charges, as for minor office supplies or deliveries.

petty cash

noun

1. a small cash fund kept on a firm's premises for the payment of minor incidental expenses

Word History and Origins

Origin of petty cash¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Living up to his reputation as Cahiers’ brainiac bad boy, he pockets the office’s petty cash to road-trip to the Cannes premiere of Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows.”

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“Our staff keeps petty cash in case one of our clients needs an Uber or a hotel night or bus fare to get back home. The court doesn’t provide that.”

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Yet she was also consistently generous — giving nearly-new clothes and jewelry to friends she thought better suited for them; keeping a petty cash fund just for veterinary bills for loved ones’ ailing pets.

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So Landis and one of the producers, George Folsey Jr., went outside regulations, casting children of mutual acquaintances, keeping their names out of the production’s official paperwork and paying them in petty cash.

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According to the organization’s website, participants “learn everything from walkie-talkies to petty cash reconciliation, from lock-up to Who’s Who on the job, as well as office and on-set practices and protocols.”

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