"licence to print money" meaning in English

{
  "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"
        }
      ],
      "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"
        }
      ],
      "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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": "10 90",
          "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "licence to print money"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "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"
}