money-grub

"Ah," Foma will interrupt rudely -- he is given to rude interruptions -- "if to die and disappear is the end of these money-grubbing years, why money-grub?"

Revolution, and Other Essays Jack London 1896

In his worldly affairs he was well-to-do, having added not a little to the little his father had left him; but he was no lover of money, being open-handed even to his wife, upon whom first your money-grub is sure to exercise his parsimony.

Salted with Fire George MacDonald 1864

Hannah flew into a passion and demanded if her nephew took her for a money-grub; and Reuben quietly assured the young man that his services overpaid his board, which was quite true.

Ishmael In the Depths Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth 1859

The good Henry Fullerton had long walked in darkness; doubts had been presented to him; jibes and sneers had hailed upon him; all sorts of mean detractors had tried to label him as visionary, or crackbrain, or humbug, or even as money-grub: and now the clouds that obscured the wild path along which he had fared with such forlorn courage were all lifted away, and he saw the fulfilment of the visions which had tantalized him on doleful nights, when effort seemed vain and hope dead.

A Dream of the North Sea James Runciman 1871