Word.ws English Dictionary

held the purse strings

held the purse strings is the simple past and past participle of hold the purse strings.

Meaning of hold the purse strings

Verb

hold the purse strings (third-person singular simple present holds the purse strings, present participle holding the purse strings, simple past and past participle held the purse strings)

  1. (colloquial, idiomatic) To be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility.
    • The other branch was more immediately the representatives of the people, and it was a maxim that the people ought to hold the Purse-strings.1787, James Madison, The writings of James Madison: comprising his public papers and his private correspondence..., page 158

Questions about held the purse strings

What is held the purse strings the simple past and past participle of?
Held the purse strings is the simple past and past participle of hold the purse strings.

Words near held the purse strings in the dictionary

  1. held the book
  2. held the cards
  3. held the floor
  4. held the line
  5. held the phone
  6. held the purse strings
  7. held the reins
  8. held the ring
  9. held the road
  10. held the stage
  11. held tight

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: held the purse strings (page history and authors); hold the purse strings (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “held the purse strings.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/held_the_purse_strings. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.