pretty penny

English

Noun

pretty penny (plural pretty pennies)

(idiomatic) A considerable amount of money; a high price or a high income.
They could charge a pretty penny as they had a captive audience.
- 1850, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis, ch. 75:
  We shall have our branch line—our shares are up, sir—and we buy your three fields along the Brawl, and put a pretty penny into your pocket, Mr. Pendennis.
- 1921, John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga, part 1, ch. 6:
  He expected she was spending a pretty penny on dress.
- 1991, Robert Wyatt and Alfreda Benge, "Shrinkrap" on Dondestan album,
  It costs a pretty penny
  
  Just to stay afloat.
  
  It takes a lot of lolly
  
  Trying to be jolly.
- 2007 April 30, Barbara Kiviat, "Stephen Schwarzman," Time:
  Schwarzman's firm makes a pretty penny in a number of finance fields.

Translations

considerable amount of money

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: pitkä penni, maltaita

German: Sümmchen (de) n, hübsches Sümmchen n, erkleckliches Sümmchen n
Hungarian: borsos ár
Portuguese: nota preta (black bill)

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