skinflint

[skin-flint]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR skinflint ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a mean, niggardly person; miser.

Origin of skinflint

First recorded in 1690–1700; skin + flint

Related formsskin·flint·i·ly, adverbskin·flint·i·ness, nounskin·flint·y, adjective

Synonyms for skinflint

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR skinflint ON THESAURUS.COM

hoarder, pinchpenny, niggard, Scrooge.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for skinflint

tightwad, Scrooge, miser, hoarder, moneygrubber, penny-pincher, pinchpenny

Examples from the Web for skinflint

Historical Examples of skinflint

He's just as much a born bully as he is a cheat and a skinflint.
The Depot Master
Joseph C. Lincoln
“I always reckoned you was a skinflint,” yelled one of the party.
Chasing an Iron Horse
Edward Robins
I call it getting a bit on account by forcing the hand of a skinflint.
The Scarlet Feather
Houghton Townley
Skinflint, an old and popular simile for a close-fisted, stingy person.
The Slang Dictionary
John Camden Hotten
So all in all, Skinflint Sam can make trouble for the folk that make trouble for him.
Billy Topsail, M.D.
Norman Duncan

British Dictionary definitions for skinflint

skinflint

noun

an ungenerous or niggardly person; miser

Derived Formsskinflinty, adjective

Word Origin for skinflint

C18: referring to a person so avaricious that he would skin (swindle) a flint

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

Word Origin and History for skinflint

"miser, one who makes use of contemptible economy to keep money," 1700, slang; literally "kind of person who would skin a flint to save or gain something," from skin (v.) + flint. Flay-flint in same sense is from 1670s.