Home » Idioms »

Money idioms

Idioms used in English that involve money.

To cost a lot of money

to break the bank: "I can't afford a skiing holiday this winter – it would break the bank."

to cost an arm and a leg: "It costs an arm and a leg to buy all these Christmas presents."

to pay through the nose: "They had to pay through the nose to get their son insured to drive."

to splash out on something = to pay a lot for an important event: "They're splashing out on their anniversary this year."

To be rich

to be loaded: "He works in the City and he's loaded!"

to be sitting on a small fortune / goldmine: "She will inherit everything. She's sitting on a goldmine!"

to have money to burn: "I've just received a bonus and I have money to burn!"

To be poor

to not have a bean to rub together: "Those two don't earn enough money. They don't have a bean to rub together."

to be as poor as church mice: "His family have always been as poor as church mice."

to be skint = British slang that means having no money: "Can you lend me some money until next Friday? I'm skint!"

to be broke: "She's always broke at the end of the month."

to scrimp and save = to make as many economies as you can to save money: "His parents scrimped and saved to send him to university."

To not want to spend money

a scrooge = Scrooge was a Dickens character, famous for being mean: "Why don't you want to buy her a leaving present? You're such a scrooge."

a skinflint = someone who doesn't want to spend money: "She reuses tea bags – she's such a skinflint!"

tight-fisted: "One reason he has so much money is that he's so tight-fisted!"

Other idioms

to have more money than sense = to have a lot of money which you waste rather than spend carefully: "He just bought another camera – he has more money than sense."

to burn a hole in your pocket = to not be able to stop spending money: "He can't just go out window-shopping. Money burns a hole in his pocket."

Money for old rope = an easy source of income: "He sells bunches of flowers he has grown himself. It's money for old rope."

make a fast buck = to make money quickly and sometimes dishonestly: "He made a fast buck selling those shares. I wonder if he had insider knowledge."

Ten a penny = very common: "These scarves are ten a penny in the markets here."

Share with a friend who's learning English:




More English reading articles on Rich Reads


How to use the Present Perfect Continuous in English
Irregular Past Participle Verbs Quiz
Learn Informal English

Hundreds of English reading articles on our sister site Rich Reads

3 comments on “Money idioms”

elaina

What does cost a pretty penny mean

Clare

elaina ยป It means that it costs a lot.

Bobi

Great!
I've learned a lot from here:D

Got a comment?

* To prevent junk / spam, comments are moderated and are published after a short delay.

Name


Email (required, but will not be published)


Comment