English

Alternative forms

• spending-money

Noun

spending money ‎(uncountable)

1. A sum of cash kept in one's personal possession, for routine expenses or incidental purchases.
   • 1819, Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, ch. 33:

     "Touching your brethren, Sir Prior," said Locksley, "they shall have present freedom, it were unjust to detain them; touching your horses and mules, they shall also be restored, with such spending-money as may enable you to reach York."

   • 1876, Horatio Alger, Sam's Chance, ch. 30:

     "My father will see that you are provided with suitable clothes," proceeded Brown; "and you shall have a little spending money also."

   • 1902, Edward Stratemeyer, The Young Bridge-Tender, ch. 6:

     "Percy has lots of spending money, but I doubt if he has twenty dollars at a time."

   • 2011 March 22, Frank Pellegrini, "The Selling of the Tax Cut: First Stop Greenspan," Time:

     [T]he best way to head off a recession . . . is to put some spending money back in the people's pockets.

Synonyms

• pin money, pocket money

Translations

See also

• mad money