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Definition

Money, especially if obtained dishonestly.

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Origins

From filthy + lucre, which appears in the Tyndale Bible, and four times in the King James Version of the Bible, as a calque of Ancient Greek αἰσχρόν κέρδος (aiskhrón kérdos) and related terms such as αἰσχροκερδής (aiskhrokerdḗs, “[a person] given to filthy lucre”): see the quotations and Citations:filthy lucre.

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In Context

  • "For there are many diſobedient and talkers off vanitie⸝ and diſceavers off myndes⸝ namly they off the circumciſion⸝ whoſe mouthes muſt be ſtopped⸝ which pervert whole houſes⸝ teachynge thyngꝭ [thynges] which they ought nott⸝ becauſe off filthy lucre."
  • "A Biſhop then muſt be blameleſſe, […] Not giuen to wine, no ſtriker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not couetous; […]"
  • "Both her auditors, brother and sister, assented to this, and declared on their own knowledge that no man lived less addicted to filthy lucre than the warden."
  • "The abomination of filthy lucre has made such inroads among the rulers of the churches, that certain of those who call themselves religious men and women, forgetting the commandments of the Lord have been altogether led astray, and for the sake of money have received those presenting themselves for the sacerdotal order and the monastic life."
  • "The reason why, like pretty much everything these days connected with the current Duke [Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex] and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, comes down to their various money-making gambits. (With a reported $68,000-a-month mortgage to pay and a hen house full of chooks to keep in gluten-free grain, these days the couple need filthy lucre the exact same way that you and I do.)"
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Also Said As

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See Also

  • filthy rich
  • ill-gotten gains
  • mammon
  • Mammon
  • thirty pieces of silver
  • money