Idiom
have one's hand in the till
Meaning
To embezzle, to steal from one's place of business.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The manager fired the clerk for having his hand in the till.”
“The audit revealed that the accountant had his hand in the till for several months, stealing thousands of dollars.”
“The company’s reputation collapsed once the public discovered that the trusted treasurer had his hand in the till, siphoning off funds meant for charity.”
Examples
simple
“The manager fired the clerk for having his hand in the till.”
contextual
“The audit revealed that the accountant had his hand in the till for several months, stealing thousands of dollars.”
complex
“The company’s reputation collapsed once the public discovered that the trusted treasurer had his hand in the till, siphoning off funds meant for charity.”
Origin
Derived from the act of a shop assistant removing cash from a business register. The phrase preserves the earlier use of till as the compartment or drawer where money is kept.
Key words
Related idioms
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