This week’s theme
Tosspot words

This week’s words
catchall
pinchpenny
scrapegut
rakehell
do-all

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(PINCH-pen-ee)

MEANING:

adjective: Unwilling to spend or give money.
noun: A miserly person.

ETYMOLOGY:

From pinch, from Old French pincier (to pinch) + penny (the smallest denomination of currency). Earliest documented use: 1425.

NOTES:

The word penny-pincher is a synonym of pinchpenny, but you have to admit, it doesn’t have quite the same zing as the tosspot word. Another synonym of today’s word is pinchgut, but catchpenny is something entirely different.

USAGE:

“At the Dollar Market ... Freddy was a steady customer, if a bit of a pinchpenny. He browsed, but never bought.”
Peter Schworm; Town in Tears over Gadabout Gobbler; Boston Globe (Massachusetts); Aug 8, 2009.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: