"tighten the purse strings" meaning in All languages combined

See tighten the purse strings on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-tighten the purse strings.ogg Forms: tightens the purse strings [present, singular, third-person], tightening the purse strings [participle, present], tightened the purse strings [participle, past], tightened the purse strings [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} tighten the purse strings (third-person singular simple present tightens the purse strings, present participle tightening the purse strings, simple past and past participle tightened the purse strings)
  1. (idiomatic, colloquial) To decrease spending or disallow increased spending; to increase control of spending. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Synonyms: tighten the purse-strings, tighten the pursestrings Related terms: hold the purse strings Translations (to decrease or cause to decrease spending): tiukentaa kukkaron nyörejä (Finnish), den Gürtel enger schnallen (German), stringere i cordoni della borsa [literally] (Italian), tirare la cinghia (Italian)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "loosen the purse strings"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tightens the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tightening the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tightened the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tightened the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "tighten the purse strings (third-person singular simple present tightens the purse strings, present participle tightening the purse strings, simple past and past participle tightened the purse strings)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w"
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1894, New Zealand Parliament, Parliamentary debates, page 710:",
          "text": "...would have the opposite effect entirely, and would tighten the purse-strings of capitalists and the employers of...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989 July 24, editorial, “Companies still backing the efforts of net managers”, in Network World, volume 6, number 29, page 28:",
          "text": "It's hard for upper management to tighten the purse strings on a project that promises to save money, boost productivity and enable employees to respond better and faster to changing competitive situations.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To decrease spending or disallow increased spending; to increase control of spending."
      ],
      "id": "en-tighten_the_purse_strings-en-verb-Oi~4O1HQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "spending",
          "spending"
        ],
        [
          "disallow",
          "disallow"
        ],
        [
          "increase",
          "increase"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) To decrease spending or disallow increased spending; to increase control of spending."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "hold the purse strings"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "tighten the purse-strings"
        },
        {
          "word": "tighten the pursestrings"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
          "word": "tiukentaa kukkaron nyörejä"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
          "word": "den Gürtel enger schnallen"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
          "tags": [
            "literally"
          ],
          "word": "stringere i cordoni della borsa"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
          "word": "tirare la cinghia"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tighten the purse strings.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5f/En-au-tighten_the_purse_strings.ogg/En-au-tighten_the_purse_strings.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/En-au-tighten_the_purse_strings.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tighten the purse strings"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "loosen the purse strings"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tightens the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tightening the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tightened the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tightened the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "tighten the purse strings (third-person singular simple present tightens the purse strings, present participle tightening the purse strings, simple past and past participle tightened the purse strings)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "hold the purse strings"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1894, New Zealand Parliament, Parliamentary debates, page 710:",
          "text": "...would have the opposite effect entirely, and would tighten the purse-strings of capitalists and the employers of...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989 July 24, editorial, “Companies still backing the efforts of net managers”, in Network World, volume 6, number 29, page 28:",
          "text": "It's hard for upper management to tighten the purse strings on a project that promises to save money, boost productivity and enable employees to respond better and faster to changing competitive situations.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To decrease spending or disallow increased spending; to increase control of spending."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spending",
          "spending"
        ],
        [
          "disallow",
          "disallow"
        ],
        [
          "increase",
          "increase"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) To decrease spending or disallow increased spending; to increase control of spending."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tighten the purse strings.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5f/En-au-tighten_the_purse_strings.ogg/En-au-tighten_the_purse_strings.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/En-au-tighten_the_purse_strings.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "tighten the purse-strings"
    },
    {
      "word": "tighten the pursestrings"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
      "word": "tiukentaa kukkaron nyörejä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
      "word": "den Gürtel enger schnallen"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
      "tags": [
        "literally"
      ],
      "word": "stringere i cordoni della borsa"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to decrease or cause to decrease spending",
      "word": "tirare la cinghia"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tighten the purse strings"
}

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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 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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.

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