two-bit

two-bit

Insignificant. "Two bits" is a term for 25 cents, based on an older division of a dollar into eight "bits." Oh, Frank's just a two-bit criminal—he never could have masterminded an elaborate scheme like this.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

two-bit

mod. cheap; small-time. Max is just a two-bit pusher. I want Mr. Big.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • to bits
  • between two fires
  • in two
  • join together
  • love (someone or something) to bits
  • two bits
  • two-bits
  • in bits and pieces
  • can't be in two places at once
  • One cannot be in two places at once
References in periodicals archive
Far from being a "two-bit" entity, once again Plaid will be in a position to make sensible gains for Wales - notably to get us a fairer share of Westminster funding.
"Plaid is just a two-bit player in this national context and I think people will understand that."
All we are interested in,apparently,are two-bit telly actors,``love rat'' theatre stars and troubled sportsmen.
As far as I can tell, the greatest downside of the computing and communications revolution is that every two-bit, weasely politician and mediocre educational bureaucrat in the world has read Peter Drucker.
("The 'Gate-less Community," July/August) Those good ol' boys--awash in oil, money, graft, and slick bookkeeping--are turning out to be more crooked than the crookedest two-bit Texan card shark.
The answer is deceptively obvious: In the war on terror, the American people don't need the help of two-bit felons.
It looks cheap and boxy, like an in-house magazine from some two-bit business concern.
Even as the Reagan-Bush administration promised to minimize the scope and size of the federal government, it waged a gratuitous, invasive, multi-front campaign against pleasure-seeking: It reinvigorated the War on Drugs, pushing through grotesquely draconian laws that have helped create a national drug-gulag system the envy of every two-bit dictatorship.
In 16 years, ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi grew from a two-bit company to a billion pound global business.
With a bravado that would shame a two-bit con artist, ministers say they have acted to stop the Chinese from dumping cheap imports.
Had he been a two-bit crook, he would almost certainly be behind bars.
STRICTLY Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood says that former EastEnders star Patsy Palmer is just a " scrubber in a Puffa jacket" and that he shouldn't have to defend his decisions to a "two-bit actress from a second-rate soap".
Ray Mallon was criticised for dragging politics into the gutter after calling opponents of a regional assembly "two-bit Conservatives" when he hit the streets of Durham yesterday.
It's an engaging read, though some of the two-bit moralising is a bit intrusive.
Intel's StrataFlash uses a two-bit per cell technology, while Samsung relies on a single bit per cell.