licence to print money
licence to print money noun: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see licence, to, print, money.
Noun
licence to print money (plural licences to print money)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see licence, to, print, money.
- A means of generating a large income with little effort.
- Owning a machine tool plant, it was said, was almost as good as a license to print money.1953, United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Ordnance, Buford Rowland, William B. Boyd, U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance in World War II
- the rather casual remark of Lord Thomson, referring to his holding in Scottish Television, that the television contract was 'a licence to print money' was much quoted1960, Institute of Economic Affairs (Great Britain), Hobart papers
Forms of licence to print money
| plural | licences to print money |
|---|---|
| alternative form | license to print money |
Origin of licence to print money
Often attributed to Lew Grade, and notably used by Roy Thompson of Scottish Television around 1956.
Questions about licence to print money
- What does licence to print money mean?
- Licence to print money means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see licence, to, print, money.
- What part of speech is licence to print money?
- Licence to print money is a noun.
- What is the plural of licence to print money?
- The plural of licence to print money is licences to print money.
Words near licence to print money in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: licence to print money (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-licence to print money.ogg.
Cite this entry: “licence to print money.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/licence_to_print_money. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.