Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Stingy; tightfisted; cheap.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective same as stingy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective embarrassingly stingy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of chintzy.]

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Examples

  • Aim for 60g per twenty-four hours (I prefer bean curd or soja; it is chinchy, easy to fry - with fat-free Pam spray - and carries beaucoup protein).

    Nine tips to lose weight for lazy human being 2009

  • Sure, Clovis had complained, the chinchy old skinflint would give them that for stove wood; if they did wear themselves out and saw it up nobody could ever split it, he had said.

    The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954

  • She wouldn’t let him go, for even with credit from Joe and the milkman, and being as chinchy as she could, Zedke’s bill must be close to a hundred and fifty dollars now.

    The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954

Comments

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  • See example on near.

    September 5, 2010