the last of the big spenders

the last of the big spenders

An ironic expression used when one is making a small or frugal purchase. Did you just order toast and a water? Wow, the last of the big spenders!
See also: big, last, of, spenders
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

last of the big spenders, the

A tightwad. This term, often used deprecatingly of oneself, originated in the United States during the 1920s, presumably referring at first to the lavish extravagances of the boom preceding the Great Depression. During the Depression it began to be used ironically and self-deprecatingly, as it still is (for example, “I picked it up at a yard sale—I’m the last of the big spenders”). Possibly by design but more probably by coincidence, the term echoes the much older “After great getters come great spenders,” which originated in the sixteenth century, and “Great spenders are bad lenders,” from the seventeenth century, which became proverbial.
See also: big, last, of
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • last of the big spenders, the
  • Here’s mud in your eye
  • here's mud in your eye
  • here's mud in your eye!
  • have (one) on toast
  • have someone on toast
  • big-time spender
  • spenders
  • spare at the spigot and spill at the bung
  • pinch and scrape
References in periodicals archive
Many of the original episodes have been lost, but a 1965 show, entitled The Last of The Big Spenders, was unearthed in 2001 and saw future EastEnders star Wendy Richards playing a character called Lynn.
Whatever happened to the Likely Lads? This classic series was a Christmas comedy gift back in the 1960s. We look back at its early days
Many of the original episodes have been lost, but a 1965 show entitled The Last Of The Big Spenders was unearthed in 2001 and saw future EastEnders star Wendy Richards playing a character called Lynn.
Whatever happened to the Likely Lads? This classic series was a Christmas comedy gift back in the 1960s. We look back at its early days
This 1965 episode is called The Last of the Big Spenders. Inset, Rodney Bewes pictured in 2007 BBC
Likely Lads star Rodney Bewes dies
Qatar-backed PSG may not be the last of the big spenders either, with Dr.
UEFA to probe record ,e1/4222m Neymar transfer
The Last of the Big Spenders was filmed in 1965, but "disappeared" shortly after it was screened - along with more than half the other episodes.
Likely Lads writers are Furst in line for thrillers for the BBC; Entertainment Editor GORDON BARR chats to Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, creators of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, which first aired on the BBC back in 1973
The last of the big spenders. Scotland's failure to recruit England Under-21 star Andy Driver for international duty because he had less than five years schooling north of the border has upset Kenny McGowan, Stirling.
phone in
On returning my change, the assistant, angry at her own mistake, made some comment about me being the last of the big spenders.
I might be 78 - but don't treat me like an idiot
So you might think I am careful with my pennies - but once I get to an airport, hey, I'm the last of the big spenders.
Airports and big spending
It's about time everyone in football got their heads around the fact that the last of the big spenders might just have left town.
Football: We must feed the minnows or the bigger fish will starve
And while the last of the big spenders reckons it needs pounds 650,000 to decorate his official des.
Win a DIY treat from B&Q
Coalition ministers like to pretend that Labour was the last of the big spenders. But in 2007 UK government spending as a proportion of GDP was lower than that in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The reason for these cuts is ideology, not necessity; THURSDAY ESSAY: The last Labour government - responsible for out-of-control spending and borrowing? Nonsense, argues Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, as he hits out at what he sees as the revisionist economic myth-making of the coalition Government
The stranger-than-fiction story of how this former nun turned into the last of the big spenders is told in a neatly-balanced mix of drama and documentary as parents, teachers, students and fraud squad officers all chip in with their accounts of what a nightmare she was.
YourLIFE: WE LOVE TELLY - Text book operation - PICK OF THE DAY THE THIEVING HEADMISTRESS BBC2, 9pm
Until recently, 13 out of 20 episodes of 60s series The Likely Lads were missing, but a team of amateur collectors uncovered an edition called The Last of the Big Spenders.
Likely Lads lost gem found
Hardly the last of the big spenders, but it was nearly midnight and there was only five minutes of bidding left.
YourLIFE: The man of my dreams cost me pounds 11.50
Peter Reid hardly qualifies as the last of the big spenders, but many Wearside critics will be surprised to learn he has actually outspent both Newcastle's Kenny Dalglish and Middlesbrough's Bryan Robson since the turn of the year.
Transfer-mation cheers up Peter Reid