14 April 2008

Pin Money

Dictionary.com's Word of the Day.

pin money \pin money\, noun:

1. An allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for private and personal
expenditures.
2. Money for incidental expenses.
3. A trivial sum.

Women's groups have contended that jobs that usually go to men pay more because of the old-fashioned idea that a man is supporting a family while a woman is merely working for pin money.
-- Juan Williams, "A Question of Fairness", The Atlantic, February-1987

Many young people take jobs in hotels and pubs as a way of earning a bit of pin money, or to top up the student loans and parental hand-outs that see them through the cash-strapped college years
-- Nick Pandya, "Failed to make the grade? You're still wanted", The Guardian, September 7, 2002

A record-smashing fine sounds tough, but it's pin money for Credit Suisse.
-- Nick Cohen, "Life in a bubble bath", The Observer, December 22, 2002

Pin money originally referred to money given by husbands to their wives for the specific purpose of buying pins.

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