chase pennies with dollars

t͡ʃeɪs ˈpɛniz wɪð ˈdɑlɚz

1 definition

0—

#1·7h ago

(US) To expend more money or effort in gaining something (especially, a cost reduction or revenue addition) than it is worth.

“I believe we’re being asked to chase pennies with dollars, and it will cost the taxpayers.”

Origin: References the foolhardy nature of spending more money, resources, or time, in order to earn or save lesser amounts. Chiefly used within the United States, in business and finance settings and media. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Was this helpful?

Comments (0)

No comments yet — say something.

Have a better definition?

Add your own interpretation of "chase pennies with dollars".

Add definition

⚡About Tech, Dev & AI slang

The vocabulary of software engineers, AI researchers, and anyone living in a terminal or on GitHub — from LLM to MCP, CORS to vibe coding, agentic to enshittification.

See all Tech, Dev & AI slang on Slangora.