money pit

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

money pit (plural money pits)

1. (idiomatic) A possession or financial commitment, especially a building or vehicle, that creates substantial ongoing expenses, especially one whose costs are considered to be unsustainable.
   • 1989 March 10, Laurence Iliff, “Parents Poll Hits Closing Of Ramona”, in The Press-Courier, USA, retrieved 27 September 2011, page 1:

     [T]he district does not want to hold on to the nearly 50-year old^[sic] school for very much longer, as it has outlived its usefulness and has become a money pit.

   • 1997 February 15, Michael Kimmelman, “An Old Dream For the Arts, A New Chance For the City”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 September 2011:

     Critics lambasted the building's design, the art collection and Mr. Hartford, whose gallery became a money pit. Within a year he was nosing around for a partner or buyer.

   • 2007 June 14, Jeff Kluger, “Is the Space Station a Money Pit?”, in Time:

     Close to two decades past deadline and now carrying a projected $100 billion price tag, it has not returned a lick of good science — nor is it likely to.

Proper noun

money pit

1. (sometimes capitalized) Long-standing nickname of a complicated, seemingly man-made excavation on Oak Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, rumored to contain pirate treasure and which has been repeatedly and unsuccessfully probed at great expense.
   • 1909 May 20, “Is Capt. Kid's Treasure in Chester Basin, N.S.?”, in St. John Sun, Canada, retrieved 27 September 2011:

     In 1896 . . . work was again started with two engines and steam pumps, with the intention of pumping out the "money pit".

   • 1926 June 6, Catherine MacKenzie, “Tide Guards Oak Island's Buried Gold”, in New York Times, page SM11:

     They sank twenty shafts in a ring round the central money pit, and drove tunnels endlessly in the hope of intercepting the underground channel and so draining the treasure shaft.

   • 1947 June 4, “Gigantic Search For Treaure May Move Island”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 27 September 2011, page 29:

     Edward Reichert, a New Yorker, was planning "a gigantic project" . . . to move in power excavation equipment to seek the storied "money pit".

   • 1972 December 5, Tom Tiede, “Diggers Keep Seeking Hole Truth of Island's Pirate Treasure Shaft”, in Milwaukee Journal, USA, retrieved 27 September 2011, page 1:

     The Money Pit shaft rested atop two 500 foot "protection tunnels" which were connected to the bay.

   • 1991 July 15, “Hunting for the Grandddaddy of Pirate Treasures”, in CNNMoney.com, retrieved 27 September 2011:

     But the granddaddy of all hoards could be resting at the bottom of a 200- foot shaft on Oak Island, off Nova Scotia. This so-called Money Pit has exercised a moth-to-flame attractive power over investors since it was discovered in 1795.

Translations

A financial commitment the costs of which are unsustainable

• Finnish: rahareikä (fi)
• French: gouffre (fr) m
• German: Fass ohne Boden (de) n

References

• “money pit”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Oak Island on Wikipedia.Wikipedia