chump change

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See also: chump-change

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)

Noun[edit]

chump change (uncountable)

  1. (chiefly US, idiomatic) A sum of money considered to be insignificant.
    He spent $300,000 for his new car, but that's chump change for a billionaire like him.
  2. (chiefly US, idiomatic) An amount of remuneration, reward, or other monetary recompense considered to be insultingly small.
    If you sell one of those cars, your commission will be chump change.
    I don't work for chump change. I quit!
    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 76:
      It was hard to get two dollars out of either of them, and whatever chump change they gave Mere'maw they expected her to squeeze it until it hollered.
    • 2009, Breaking Bad (season 2), 'Breakage' (Episode 5 of Season 2) at 22 minutes. Jesse Pinkman to Walter White in the RV, making drugs, discussing Pinkman selling them direct rather than go through a dealer:
      "First of all, there's no we. You're talking me, solo, busting my hump slinging shards. I got profile now. Don't you get that? DEA's up my ass. No, I'm not exposing myself to that level of risk for chump change. No way."

Related terms[edit]