penny-pinchingadj.n.

1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. J4^v Let wine be plentiful as beere, and beere as water, hang these penny pinching fathers.

1892 Bucks County (Pa.) Gaz. 14 Apr. 3/2 These narrow penny-pinching notions found advocates and supporters.

1920 S. Lewis Main St. xi. 141 The penny-pinching old land-thief.

1953 ‘C. S. Forester’ Hornblower & Atropos xiii. 190 The penny-pinching clerks of a penurious government at home would scrutinize those expenditures in time.

1977 Time 30 May 24/2 Under increasing criticism—from liberals, who regard him as too much of a pennypinching conservative,..Carter took to the hustings again by making a whirlwind, campaign-style tour of California.

2003 Daily Mail (Nexis) 7 Oct. 35 A devoted wife has died only weeks after a pennypinching council stopped her husband making daily taxi visits to her care home.

1895 Massillon (Ohio) Independent 26 Dec. 4/2 The whole business looks like cheese-paring and penny-pinching.

1913 J. L. Heaton Story of Page 4 The ten years of penny-pinching that saved its credit after the Tweed Ring's downfall had left it bare of modern improvements.

1960 Guardian 20 July 6/6 Penny-pinching on new roads is inexcusable.

1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (new ed.) xii. 180 Choose the best that you can afford. Fittings have to last a long time and penny-pinching at the initial stage might prove expensive later.