war chest

noun

1. money set aside or scheduled for a particular purpose or activity, as for a political campaign or organizational drive.

war chest

noun

1. a fund collected for a specific purpose, such as an election campaign

Word History and Origins

Origin of war chest¹

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

It costs hundreds of thousands to rebuild even a basic home — if you didn’t have a war chest, that’s huge, to find those resources.

From Los Angeles Times

Russia relies on oil and gas exports for roughly a quarter of its budget revenues, which is funding its war chest.

From BBC

The NIL war chest was stocked, resulting in greater recruiting success.

From Los Angeles Times

City Council approved a slew of recommendations to beef up the ordinance even more, arming the city with a war chest of new enforcement tools.

From Los Angeles Times

The governor has an $86 million war chest that he’s used to unseat insufficiently loyal incumbents, part of a larger right-wing push to eviscerate the last vestiges of bipartisanship in the bright-red Legislature.

From Salon

Related Words

• exchequer 
• treasury