Money Idioms in English

[LauraM]

There are lots of idioms in the English language with money and concepts surrounding money -- wealth, fortune, poverty, etc.  Here are just a few of them.

"Poor as a church mouse"  -- Extremely poor.

"Born with a silver spoon in one`s mouth" -- To be born into wealth and privilege.

"On the money" -- To be exactly right or precise about something as in: "His prediction of a cold winter was right on the money." 

"Pay through the nose" -- To pay too much for something, usually with the implication that it was not worth it.  as in "They paid through the money for front-row seats at the concert and still had a poor view of the stage." 

Let us know some of the idioms you can think of regarding money.

[Baburra]

"Five finger discount" pertains to stolen goods and therefore getting the item "at 100% discount" with the use of the hand a.k.a. five fingers.

"Take it to the bank" is used for when the speaker is so sure of the accuracy of his or her statement that it can be considered legitimate enough to have the same innate value as its face value and therefore is "bankable".

[Gelsemium]

Ahah, poor as a church mouse is a good one lol, sadly we have a lot of church mouses in our world...

I love the expression "Raining cats and dogs" - that basically means to be raining a lot.

[Rosa]

A penny saved is a penny earned- saving money is as important as spending it.

Money does not grow on trees- money is not just available for the taking, you have to work hard to earn it.

Penny wise and pound foolish- to be careful with small amount of money but careless with larger sums.

[Baburra]

I just remembered another one that isn't really said very much anymore these days, or at least not that I'm aware of.

"Money doesn't grow on trees" is something I read and heard a lot in old comic books and various other media, but nowadays I rarely hear it anymore.

[Miya]

"Born with a silver spoon in one`s mouth"

Meaning: Someone who is born into a rich family and has had an easy life.

"Cost an arm and a leg".

Meaning: It costs a lot

[Hemikune]

These two are a combination of color and money idioms.

  One can be 'in the red', but as it means to be in debt, or to owe money for a business expense, I believe you would rather be 'in the black', meaning in profit.

  My thinking is that those are the colors that businesses back in the day used as universal representations of how well, or not, business was going at the time.

[Trellum]

I know a few:

''Money talks'' - This basically means there are many people out there who will do just about anything for money.

''Money is the root of all evil'' - Literally!

''It takes money to make money'' - Ever heard of the rich getting richer?

''A fool and his money are soon parted'' -  It basically means that slow people will always find a way to spend their money on useless things or not so useless, but still.

''Throw good money after bad'' - To waste additional money after wasting money once.

[mmjmaske]

Pay the ferryman - back in the olden days when people believed in Greek mythology, people put coins over the eyes of the dead so they have fare to get into the underworld

Paying your dues - When I graduated college and joined the workforce, the only jobs open to me were entry level, low paying jobs. There was no way around it, I was told that working those jobs was "paying my dues" because I was a student for so long

[sidney]

above par - more than average, above normal, more than the face value of a bond or stock or currency

Example: The currency was selling above par at the small exchange shop.

almighty dollar - money when it is viewed as more important than anything else

Example: The man spent most of his life chasing the almighty dollar.

ante up - to pay money, to produce a necessary amount of money

Example: I had to ante up a lot of money to get my car fixed.

as phony as a 3-dollar bill - phony, not genuine

Example: The man who was asking for donations for the charity was as phony as a three-dollar bill.

[Litnax]

Money idioms that reflects my financial situation nowadays:

1] I need to tighten my belt to be able to pay my bills this month.

2] I wish I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

3] There are times when I feel like I'm living on the breadline.

 ...

Edited October 24, 2015 by Litnax
typo

[linguaholic]

Money idioms that reflects my financial situation nowadays:

1] I need to tighten my belt to be able to pay my bills this month.

2] I wish I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

3] There are times when I feel like I'm living on the breadline.

 ...

Haha. Those come in very handy, indeed :=)

[czarina84]

My mother's favorite phrase when my sister or I wanted something was, "I'm not made of money".  That meant that we didn't have the money for the items.  It was her way of letting us know that money wasn't easy to get because we weren't rich.  And, actually, "above par" is based on golf.  When you par on the golf course, it means that you got your shot in the number that the course was designed for.  Above par means that you did better than average.  It's not just a money term.  If you did something (anything) better than most people, you did "above par".  Example: if little Timmy always gets "A"s on his tests, he performs above par.   

[Amelie]

"Lend your money and lose your friend" - I think this is pretty self-explanatory. I've heard a lot of people say friends and business don't mix. Related to this is the Shakespeare quote, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" .

"Rolling in it" or "Rolling in dough" - to have large amounts of money (or something valuable). Related to this is "Flush with cash".

[jach]

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