pin money

American  

noun

1. any small sum set aside for nonessential minor expenditures.

2. (formerly) an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures.

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pin money British  

noun

1. an allowance by a husband to his wife for personal expenditure

2. money saved or earned to be used for incidental expenses

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pin money Idioms  

1. Small amounts of money for incidental expenses, as in Grandma usually gives the children some pin money whenever she visits. This expression originally signified money given by a husband to his wife for small personal expenditures such as pins, which were very costly items in centuries past. A will recorded at York in 1542 listed a bequest: “I give my said daughter Margarett my lease of the parsonage . . . to buy her pins.” [Early 1500s]

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Other Word Forms

• pin-money adjective

Etymology

Origin of pin money

First recorded in 1535–45

Example Sentences

There was a first-rate shirt, a pair of trousers that looked brand-new, knitted socks, and storebought suspenders that must have been bought out of Aunt Pretty’s pin money.

From Literature

In her columns, Fern returned to the theme of a woman’s financial freedom, and her right to more than just pin money.

From The Wall Street Journal

Though I used to write cryptic puzzles for pin money, I don’t think I ever wrote any as tricky and compelling as “The Underlying Chris.”

From New York Times

“The new villain was the woman who worked for ‘pin money’” — extra cash they didn’t need, Collins writes.

From New York Times

While Boulogne relied on pin money, Calais relied on needle – or more exactly bobbin – money.

From Time