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skinflint

[skin-flint]
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noun
  1. a mean, niggardly person; miser.
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Origin of skinflint

First recorded in 1690–1700; skin + flint
Related formsskin·flint·i·ly, adverbskin·flint·i·ness, nounskin·flint·y, adjective

Synonyms

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hoarder, pinchpenny, niggard, Scrooge.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for skinflint

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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
  1. an ungenerous or niggardly person; miser
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Derived Formsskinflinty, adjective

Word Origin

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

n.

"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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper