to skin a flint
Preserved but no longer current.
To be very exacting in making a bargain. The French say, Tondre sur un ceuf. The Latin tana caprina (goat's wool), means something as worthless as the skin of a flint or fleece of an eggshell. Hence a skinflint, a pinch-farthing, a niggard.
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 “to skin a flint” mean?
To be very exacting in making a bargain. The French say, Tondre sur un ceuf. The Latin tana caprina (goat's wool), means something as worthless as the skin of a flint or fleece of an eggshell. Hence a skinflint, a pinch-farthing, a niggard.
Is “to skin a flint” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.