pin money

noun

1. any small sum set aside for nonessential minor expenditures.
2. (formerly) an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures.

pin money

noun

1. an allowance by a husband to his wife for personal expenditure
2. money saved or earned to be used for incidental expenses

Other Words From

• pin-money adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pin money¹

First recorded in 1535–45

Idioms and Phrases

Small amounts of money for incidental expenses, as in Grandma usually gives the children some pin money whenever she visits . This expression originally signified money given by a husband to his wife for small personal expenditures such as pins, which were very costly items in centuries past. A will recorded at York in 1542 listed a bequest: “I give my said daughter Margarett my lease of the parsonage . . . to buy her pins.” [Early 1500s]

Example Sentences

Though I used to write cryptic puzzles for pin money, I don’t think I ever wrote any as tricky and compelling as “The Underlying Chris.”

From New York Times

“The new villain was the woman who worked for ‘pin money’” — extra cash they didn’t need, Collins writes.

From New York Times

Writing for Schoolsweek, former government adviser on education Jonathan Simons said Mr Hammond's announcement was phrased "in the manner of which a 1950s husband may have given his wife some pin money".

From BBC

While Boulogne relied on pin money, Calais relied on needle – or more exactly bobbin – money.

From Time

The lower cost of living there than in, say, California means freelance bughunting can be a sensible career, not just a source of pin money.

From Economist