purse strings
(redirected from pursestrings)purse strings
or purse·strings (pûrs′strĭngz′)pl.n.
Financial support or resources, or control over them: the politicians who control federal purse strings; tightened the corporate purse strings.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
purse strings
pl n
(Banking & Finance) control of finance or expenditure (esp in such phrases as hold or control the purse strings)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
purse′ strings`
n.pl.
the right or power to determine the disposition of financial resources: Who holds the purse strings in your family?
[1450–1500]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.