old money

English

old money (uncountable)

(idiomatic, often derogatory) Families that have been wealthy for generations or members of such families.
Hypernym: big money
- 1959, Vance Packard, The Status Seekers, Pocket Books, published 1971, →ISBN, page 118:
  They found, for example, a significant difference in emphasis as you moved from the “old money” rich, or true elite, to the “new money” rich, or unseasoned elite. The women of “old money” families tend to be relatively indifferent to swings in fashion; and their taste is oriented more to that of the British upper classes than to the French.
- 2023, underscores (lyrics and music), “Old money bitch”, in Wallsocket:
  That girl's a student athlete but she's never played a sport
  Her parents had a seven-figure wedding and divorce
  She's stolen from the CVS but her daddy's on the board
  It's gotta be 'cause she's an old money bitch
(British, Ireland) The monetary system used in the United Kingdom and Ireland before decimalisation in 1971 and consisting of pounds, shillings, pence and farthings.
(humorous) The imperial system of measurement, as opposed to the metric system.
These scales say I weigh 72 kilograms; what's that in old money?

families that have been wealthy for generations

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