finders, keepers
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
The person who finds something gets to keep it
Literally: those who find, those who keep
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The kid yelled finders, keepers when he picked up the lost toy
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “finders, keepers” mean?
The person who finds something gets to keep it Literally: those who find, those who keep
Is “finders, keepers” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.