money and fair words en · NOUN
Meanings
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(dated) Conventional reply when asked the cost of something that one has bought.
"Oh, Granny!" I said, when I found my voice, "you can't mean this for me, for I know it cost such a lot of money, didn't it?" "It cost butter and egg money, and fair words," she replied, with a smile, "and it's none too good for my Harry."
1888, Frances Clare, A Store of Stories for Children, page 30: