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nickel and dime

Today it means: Small time; operating on a small scale; involving small amounts of money; petty or cheap. Full definition →

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nickel and dime · adjective, verb¹

From the names of two US coins of small value.

nickel and dime · noun²

From prison or criminal slang.

nickel and dime · noun³

After retail stores where "everything costs a nickel or a dime".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.