or skin, subs. (old).—‘A griping, sharping, close-fisted Fellow’ (B. E., (c. 1696, and GROSE). As verb. (or TO SKIN, or FLAY, A FLINT, FLY, STONE, &c.) = to pinch, to screw, to starve: cf. (proverbial) ‘to skin a flea, and bleed a cabbage’; SKINNY = mean, stingy; the SKINFLINTERIES = The Museum of Economic [now Practical] Geology, Jermyn St., W. See FILE, FLAY, FLEA, and FLINT for additional quots.
1761. A. MURPHY, The Citizen, ii. 1. An old, miserly, good-for-nothing SKIN-FLINT.
1789. G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, ‘The Masqueraders.’ The miser, that SKINFLINT old elf.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 212. The SKINFLINT would not trust me for six ells of cloth.
1816. SCOTT, The Antiquary, xi. It would have been long … ere my womankind could have made such a reasonable bargain with that old SKINFLINT. Ibid. (1822), The Fortunes of Nigel, xxxi. ‘Now, plague on ye,’ he muttered, ‘for a cunning auld SKINFLINT!’
1833. MARRYAT, Peter Simple, II. viii. Report says, that she would SKIN A FLINT if she could.
1868. W. D. O’CONNOR, The Carpenter, in Putnam’s Magazine, Jan., 65.
| Old miser Dyzer, SKIN a fly, sir, | |
| Sell the skin, and turn the money in. |
1869. H. J. BYRON, Not Such a Fool as He Looks [FRENCH’S acting edition], 12. Sharp old SKINFLINT, downy old robber as he is.
1889. F. H. SMITH, Captain Joe, in The Century Magazine, xxxix. Dec., 227. He would refer to … his former employer as ‘that SKIN.’
1889. Daily Telegraph, 11 May. It was suggested that the obstructive vehicles should stop in front of the Museum of Economic [sic] Geology—popularly known as THE SKINFLINTERIES.
1890. The Lancet, 2 Aug., 246. As a rule, the whole of the men in a factory would contribute, and ‘SKINNY’ ones were not let off easily.
1898. FERGUS NISBET, Hagar of the Pawn-shop, i. He was … so avaricious that throughout the neighbourhood he was called SKINFLINT.
1900. R. H. SAVAGE, Brought to Bay, vi. This old SKINFLINT is such a character, that you should keep all the working results sealed till he certifies his own to us.
