"licence to print money" meaning in All languages combined

See licence to print money on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: En-au-licence to print money.ogg Forms: licences to print money [plural]
Etymology: Often attributed to Lew Grade, and notably used by Roy Thompson of Scottish Television around 1956. Head templates: {{en-noun|licences to print money}} licence to print money (plural licences to print money)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see licence, to, print, money. Synonyms: license to print money [US] Related terms: print money, laughing all the way to the bank
    Sense id: en-licence_to_print_money-en-noun-UK3QJDY0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 52 48 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 53 47
  2. (colloquial, idiomatic) A means of generating a large income with little effort. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Translations (means of generating large income): Gelddruckmaschine [feminine] (German)
    Sense id: en-licence_to_print_money-en-noun--rgTLLqN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 52 48 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of 'means of generating large income': 9 91

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Often attributed to Lew Grade, and notably used by Roy Thompson of Scottish Television around 1956.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "licences to print money",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "licences to print money"
      },
      "expansion": "licence to print money (plural licences to print money)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see licence, to, print, money."
      ],
      "id": "en-licence_to_print_money-en-noun-UK3QJDY0",
      "links": [
        [
          "licence",
          "licence#English"
        ],
        [
          "to",
          "to#English"
        ],
        [
          "print",
          "print#English"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "80 20",
          "word": "print money"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 20",
          "word": "laughing all the way to the bank"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "80 20",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "license to print money"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953, United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Ordnance, Buford Rowland, William B. Boyd, U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance in World War II:",
          "text": "Owning a machine tool plant, it was said, was almost as good as a license to print money.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1960, Institute of Economic Affairs (Great Britain), Hobart papers:",
          "text": "the rather casual remark of Lord Thomson, referring to his holding in Scottish Television, that the television contract was 'a licence to print money' was much quoted",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 October 1, BBC News, “ITV: From Take Your Pick to Popstars”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):",
          "text": "More competition means ITV's glory days are long gone - and the new company's bosses know they will have to fight hard to regain the old licence to print money.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A means of generating a large income with little effort."
      ],
      "id": "en-licence_to_print_money-en-noun--rgTLLqN",
      "links": [
        [
          "generating",
          "generate"
        ],
        [
          "income",
          "income"
        ],
        [
          "effort",
          "effort"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, idiomatic) A means of generating a large income with little effort."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "means of generating large income",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Gelddruckmaschine"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-licence to print money.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-licence_to_print_money.ogg/En-au-licence_to_print_money.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-licence_to_print_money.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "licence to print money"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with German translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Often attributed to Lew Grade, and notably used by Roy Thompson of Scottish Television around 1956.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "licences to print money",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "licences to print money"
      },
      "expansion": "licence to print money (plural licences to print money)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "print money"
    },
    {
      "word": "laughing all the way to the bank"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see licence, to, print, money."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "licence",
          "licence#English"
        ],
        [
          "to",
          "to#English"
        ],
        [
          "print",
          "print#English"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953, United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Ordnance, Buford Rowland, William B. Boyd, U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance in World War II:",
          "text": "Owning a machine tool plant, it was said, was almost as good as a license to print money.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1960, Institute of Economic Affairs (Great Britain), Hobart papers:",
          "text": "the rather casual remark of Lord Thomson, referring to his holding in Scottish Television, that the television contract was 'a licence to print money' was much quoted",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 October 1, BBC News, “ITV: From Take Your Pick to Popstars”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):",
          "text": "More competition means ITV's glory days are long gone - and the new company's bosses know they will have to fight hard to regain the old licence to print money.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A means of generating a large income with little effort."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "generating",
          "generate"
        ],
        [
          "income",
          "income"
        ],
        [
          "effort",
          "effort"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, idiomatic) A means of generating a large income with little effort."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-licence to print money.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-licence_to_print_money.ogg/En-au-licence_to_print_money.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-licence_to_print_money.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "word": "license to print money"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "means of generating large income",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Gelddruckmaschine"
    }
  ],
  "word": "licence to print money"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.