cookie jar

American  

noun

1. a jar or other container for storing cookies.

2. such a container used for storing money.

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idioms

1. have one's hand in the cookie jar, to take or attempt to take advantage of one's position by demanding or accepting favors or bribes.

   They suspected the mayor's assistant had his hand in the cookie jar.

Etymology

Origin of cookie jar

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cookie jar

“He especially enjoyed it when we’d have a story about some politician caught with his hand in the cookie jar, or a spicy feature about stuffed shirts behaving badly,” Willse said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026

America’s largest sporting-goods retailer has been around since the 1940s,, when a teenager opened a fishing supply shop in Binghamton, N.Y. with $300 in cash from his grandmother’s cookie jar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026

The Rockville case on Sunday caused a stir on social media and brought to mind the childhood song: Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2023

For markets, this is like stealing the last cookie in the cookie jar, getting caught red handed, and, instead of a good spanking, you get another cookie, with chocolate on.

From Reuters ● Feb. 2, 2023

I recognize it from that time she literally got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass