not a red cent
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
No money at all; "stony- broke." An Americanism; the cent used to be copper, but is now an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “not a red cent” mean?
No money at all; "stony- broke." An Americanism; the cent used to be copper, but is now an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc.
Is “not a red cent” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.