"loosen the purse strings" meaning in English

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

Verb

Audio: En-au-loosen the purse strings.ogg Forms: loosens the purse strings [present, singular, third-person], loosening the purse strings [participle, present], loosened the purse strings [participle, past], loosened the purse strings [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} loosen the purse strings (third-person singular simple present loosens the purse strings, present participle loosening the purse strings, simple past and past participle loosened the purse strings)
  1. (idiomatic, colloquial) To increase spending or allow increased spending; to relax control of spending. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Synonyms: loosen the pursestrings, loosen the purse-strings Related terms: disburse, hold the purse strings, loosen the apron strings, power of the purse, public purse, reimburse Translations (to increase or allow to increase spending): hellittää kukkaron nyörejä (Finnish), allentare i cordoni della borsa (Italian)
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      "form": "loosens the purse strings",
      "tags": [
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      "form": "loosening the purse strings",
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    {
      "form": "loosened the purse strings",
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "tighten the purse strings"
        }
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, Parliament of Great Britain, “The Parliamentary debates”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 96, page cdlvii:",
          "text": "He thought the effect of this language from the Prime Minister had been to loosen the purse-strings of the Treasury.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, The 9/11 Commission report, final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (authorized edition), National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, page 358:",
          "text": "Proponents of the counterterrorism agenda might respond by being less inclined to loosen the purse strings than they would have been if offered a convincing...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To increase spending or allow increased spending; to relax control of spending."
      ],
      "id": "en-loosen_the_purse_strings-en-verb-FwUoDDQD",
      "links": [
        [
          "spending",
          "spending"
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        [
          "allow",
          "allow"
        ],
        [
          "relax",
          "relax"
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        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) To increase spending or allow increased spending; to relax control of spending."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "disburse"
        },
        {
          "word": "hold the purse strings"
        },
        {
          "word": "loosen the apron strings"
        },
        {
          "word": "power of the purse"
        },
        {
          "word": "public purse"
        },
        {
          "word": "reimburse"
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      ],
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        {
          "word": "loosen the pursestrings"
        },
        {
          "word": "loosen the purse-strings"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to increase or allow to increase spending",
          "word": "hellittää kukkaron nyörejä"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to increase or allow to increase spending",
          "word": "allentare i cordoni della borsa"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/En-au-loosen_the_purse_strings.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "loosen the purse strings"
}
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      "form": "loosens the purse strings",
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        "present",
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    },
    {
      "form": "loosening the purse strings",
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        "participle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "loosened the purse strings",
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    },
    {
      "form": "loosened the purse strings",
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      "word": "disburse"
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    {
      "word": "hold the purse strings"
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    {
      "word": "loosen the apron strings"
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    {
      "word": "power of the purse"
    },
    {
      "word": "public purse"
    },
    {
      "word": "reimburse"
    }
  ],
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    {
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        {
          "word": "tighten the purse strings"
        }
      ],
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        "English lemmas",
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        "English verbs",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, Parliament of Great Britain, “The Parliamentary debates”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 96, page cdlvii:",
          "text": "He thought the effect of this language from the Prime Minister had been to loosen the purse-strings of the Treasury.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, The 9/11 Commission report, final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (authorized edition), National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, page 358:",
          "text": "Proponents of the counterterrorism agenda might respond by being less inclined to loosen the purse strings than they would have been if offered a convincing...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To increase spending or allow increased spending; to relax control of spending."
      ],
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          "spending",
          "spending"
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        [
          "allow",
          "allow"
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        [
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        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) To increase spending or allow increased spending; to relax control of spending."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-loosen the purse strings.ogg",
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "loosen the pursestrings"
    },
    {
      "word": "loosen the purse-strings"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to increase or allow to increase spending",
      "word": "hellittää kukkaron nyörejä"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to increase or allow to increase spending",
      "word": "allentare i cordoni della borsa"
    }
  ],
  "word": "loosen 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 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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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