pin money
noun
any small sum set aside for nonessential minor expenditures.
(formerly) an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures.
Origin of pin money
First recorded in 1535–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for pin money
Historical Examples of pin money
The point was, whether a wife should or should not have pin-money.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
All that merry-making was the source of the Cabaal's pin-money, for the other seasons of the year.
Mayflower (Flor de mayo)Vicente Blasco Ibez
He must be got rid of before the women had been beguiled into spending all their pin-money.
The DoomsmanVan Tassel Sutphen
She had her own pin-money income, and she loathed the chain of her title.
Lord Ormont and his Aminta, CompleteGeorge Meredith
Even now the allowance which a lady is given for dress is called “pin-money.”
The Heritage of DressWilfred Mark Webb
pin money
noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
pin money
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.