Word.ws English Dictionary

hold the purse strings

hold the purse strings verb: to be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility.

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
    • The power structure of the family is being shared by wives and husbands, mothers and fathers. Both hold the purse strings.1985, Jerome Hellmuth, Coping with parents, page 62

hold the purse strings meaning in Kannada

hold the purse strings in Kannada

ಖರ್ಚನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿತದಲ್ಲಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡಿರು

Forms of hold the purse strings

third-person singular presentholds the purse strings
present participleholding the purse strings
past participleheld the purse strings
pastheld the purse strings
alternative formhold the pursestrings
alternative formhold the purse-strings

Questions about hold the purse strings

What does hold the purse strings mean?
Hold the purse strings means to be in control of spending; to have financial power and responsibility.
What is hold the purse strings in Kannada?
Hold the purse strings in Kannada is ಖರ್ಚನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿತದಲ್ಲಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡಿರು. See Hold the purse strings meaning in Kannada.
What part of speech is hold the purse strings?
Hold the purse strings is a verb.
What is the past tense of hold the purse strings?
The past tense of hold the purse strings is held the purse strings.

Words near hold the purse strings in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hold the purse strings (page history and authors); hold the purse strings (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-hold the purse strings.ogg.

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