"hold the purse strings" meaning in English

See hold the purse strings in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-hold the purse strings.ogg Forms: holds the purse strings [present, singular, third-person], holding the purse strings [participle, present], held the purse strings [participle, past], held the purse strings [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|hold<,,held> the purse strings}} hold the purse strings (third-person singular simple present holds the purse strings, present participle holding the purse strings, simple past and past participle held the purse strings)
  1. (idiomatic, colloquial) To be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Synonyms: hold the pursestrings, hold the purse-strings Related terms: loosen the purse strings, tighten the purse strings, pull strings (english: shares a theme of control) Translations (to be in control of expenditure): pitää kukkaron nyörit tiukalla (Finnish), tenir les cordons de la bourse (French), tenir la caisse (French), trzymać rękę na kasie [imperfective] (Polish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holds the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holding the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hold<,,held> the purse strings"
      },
      "expansion": "hold the purse strings (third-person singular simple present holds the purse strings, present participle holding the purse strings, simple past and past participle held 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"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1787, James Madison, The writings of James Madison: comprising his public papers and his private correspondence..., page 158:",
          "text": "The other branch was more immediately the representatives of the people, and it was a maxim that the people ought to hold the Purse-strings.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1985, Jerome Hellmuth, Coping with parents, page 62:",
          "text": "The power structure of the family is being shared by wives and husbands, mothers and fathers. Both hold the purse strings.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility."
      ],
      "id": "en-hold_the_purse_strings-en-verb-iYvUjyuE",
      "links": [
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "spending",
          "spending"
        ],
        [
          "financial",
          "financial"
        ],
        [
          "power",
          "power"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) To be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "loosen the purse strings"
        },
        {
          "word": "tighten the purse strings"
        },
        {
          "english": "shares a theme of control",
          "word": "pull strings"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hold the pursestrings"
        },
        {
          "word": "hold the purse-strings"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
          "word": "pitää kukkaron nyörit tiukalla"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
          "word": "tenir les cordons de la bourse"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
          "word": "tenir la caisse"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "trzymać rękę na kasie"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hold the purse strings.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-au-hold_the_purse_strings.ogg/En-au-hold_the_purse_strings.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-au-hold_the_purse_strings.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hold the purse strings"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holds the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holding the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held the purse strings",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hold<,,held> the purse strings"
      },
      "expansion": "hold the purse strings (third-person singular simple present holds the purse strings, present participle holding the purse strings, simple past and past participle held the purse strings)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "loosen the purse strings"
    },
    {
      "word": "tighten the purse strings"
    },
    {
      "english": "shares a theme of control",
      "word": "pull 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 French translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1787, James Madison, The writings of James Madison: comprising his public papers and his private correspondence..., page 158:",
          "text": "The other branch was more immediately the representatives of the people, and it was a maxim that the people ought to hold the Purse-strings.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1985, Jerome Hellmuth, Coping with parents, page 62:",
          "text": "The power structure of the family is being shared by wives and husbands, mothers and fathers. Both hold the purse strings.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "spending",
          "spending"
        ],
        [
          "financial",
          "financial"
        ],
        [
          "power",
          "power"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) To be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hold the purse strings.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-au-hold_the_purse_strings.ogg/En-au-hold_the_purse_strings.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-au-hold_the_purse_strings.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "hold the pursestrings"
    },
    {
      "word": "hold the purse-strings"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
      "word": "pitää kukkaron nyörit tiukalla"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
      "word": "tenir les cordons de la bourse"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
      "word": "tenir la caisse"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to be in control of expenditure",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "trzymać rękę na kasie"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hold the purse strings"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). 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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