Meanings
present singular third person burns a hole in someone's pocket · participle present burning a hole in someone's pocket · participle past burned a hole in someone's pocket · past burned a hole in someone's pocket · participle past burnt a hole in someone's pocket · past burnt a hole in someone's pocket
- idiomaticTo cause someone to spend money or be tempted to spend money.
The fortune burned a hole in his pocket, and he could not resist spending several thousand francs on jewelry for Eveline; […]
1972, Noel Bertram Gerson, The Prodigal Genius: The Life and Times of Honoré de Balzac, page 3272 more examples
In frustration, I go to the local Circuit City, my Visa card burning a hole in my pocket. "Here's a grand! Two grand," I shout, "for the salesperson who can bring me a VCR that I can use to record TV shows.
2004, Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, page 60When I later thought about the fifteen hundred dollars in hundred-dollar bills burning a hole in my pocket, and about how I was prepared to go immediately to the Democratic Party offices and plunk it down to campaign with a manager […]
2004, Dale Bumpers, The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town: A Memoir, page 183
Cite this entry
burn a hole in someone's pocket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burn%20a%20hole%20in%20someone's%20pocket
“burn a hole in someone's pocket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burn%20a%20hole%20in%20someone's%20pocket. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “burn a hole in someone's pocket,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burn%20a%20hole%20in%20someone's%20pocket.
Source: burn a hole in someone's pocket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.