pocket money

American  

noun

1. money for small, current expenses.

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pocket money British  

noun

1. a small weekly sum of money given to children by parents as an allowance

2. money for day-to-day spending, incidental expenses, etc

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pocket money Idioms  

1. Also, spending money. Cash for incidental or minor expenses, as in They don't believe in giving the children pocket money without asking them to do chores, or Can I borrow a dollar? I'm out of all my spending money. The first term, dating from the early 1600s, alludes to keeping small sums in one's pocket; the second alludes to money that may be spent (as opposed to saved) and dates from the late 1500s.

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Etymology

Origin of pocket money

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pocket money

What was, at first, a way to make some pocket money eventually became a “calling.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Each summer, the teenage Hockney had cycled here from Bradford to earn pocket money on local farms.

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

"What I was earning as a little bit of pocket money suddenly became the be-all-and-end-all… that shift in our relationship probably also marked a shift in his behaviour towards me."

From BBC ● May 19, 2026

Dan Bennette: I was unemployed for a little bit and looking for a little pocket money, so I saw during the first snowstorm that they were doing emergency shovelers and I just signed up online.

From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026

The neighborhood boys kept themselves in pocket money by climbing the poles to replace a washline when it slipped off a pulley.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith