Meanings
- obsoleteuncountableAdditional pay given to soldiers for serving against their fellow citizens, for example in quashing civil disorder.
’Tis all the same, He’ll serve instead of riot money, when Our murmuring troops bivouaque in Thebes’ streets; And January winds, after a day Of butchering, will make them relish carrion.
1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts1 more example
He had learned that the great disturbance amongst a portion of the guards was attributed to the failure in issuing a certain rate of allowance which was called riot money. […] Knowing also, that if they were ordered to march for foreign service no such increased rate of allowance was either given or expected, by what rule should it be granted when employed against their fellow-citizens? […] he wished to hear from his majesty’s judge advocate how long it had been the practice of the govenment to issue the increased allowance of riot money.
1820 June 19, T. C. Hansard (publisher), “House of Commons: Military Disturbance” in The Parliamentary Debates, New Series; Commencing with the Accession of George IV, volume 1, page 1147
Cite this entry
riot money. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riot%20money
“riot money.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riot%20money. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “riot money,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riot%20money.
Source: riot money on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.