Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small amount of money.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun idiomatic A sum of money considered to be insignificant.
  • noun idiomatic An amount of remuneration, reward, or other monetary recompense considered to be insultingly small.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a trifling sum of money

Etymologies

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Examples

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Comments

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  • A horrid expression, though that doesn't stop me from observing the spread of the parasite:

    "It all sounds impressive. But is it? Compared to the roughly $900 billion being spent in FY2009 on national defense, homeland security, intelligence, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, $3.5 billion seems like chump change, not a major investment in national service or in Americans. When you consider the problems facing American workers and our country, both McCain and Obama are remarkable in their timidity. Now is surely not the time to tinker with the controls on a ship of state that's listing dangerously to starboard."

    - William Astore, 'Rebuilding America, Remaking Ourselves', 23 Sep 2008.

    September 24, 2008