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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

burn a hole in someone's pocket en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, of something valuable) To cause someone to spend money or be tempted to spend money.
    • In frustration, I go to the local Circuit City, my Visa card burning a hole in my pocket. "Here's a grand! Two grand," I shout, "for the salesperson who can bring me a VCR that I can use to record TV shows. 2004, Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, page 60:
    • When I later thought about the fifteen hundred dollars in hundred-dollar bills burning a hole in my pocket, and about how I was prepared to go immediately to the Democratic Party offices and plunk it down to campaign with a manager […] 2004, Dale Bumpers, The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town: A Memoir, page 183:
    • The fortune burned a hole in his pocket, and he could not resist spending several thousand francs on jewelry for Eveline; […] 1972, Noel Bertram Gerson, The Prodigal Genius: The Life and Times of Honoré de Balzac, page 327:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
burns a hole in someone's pocket Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
burned a hole in someone's pocket Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
burned a hole in someone's pocket Tense=Past lexicographic
burning a hole in someone's pocket Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
burnt a hole in someone's pocket Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
burnt a hole in someone's pocket Tense=Past lexicographic

Relateds

shut up and take my money · money to burn