line (one's) (own) pocket(s)
(redirected from you line your own pockets)line (one's) (own) pocket(s)
To make a large amount of money for oneself in a way that is considered greedy or dishonest. The phrase typically implies that one is prioritizing making money above some other, more admirable goal. He doesn't care about creating some digital utopia—he's just trying to line his own pockets. This new contract is going to line our pockets for years.
See also: line
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
line one's own pocket(s)
Fig. to make money for oneself in a greedy or dishonest fashion. They are interested in lining their pockets first and serving the people second. You can't blame them for wanting to line their own pockets.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
line one's pockets
Accept a bribe or other illicit payment, as in The mayor and his cronies found dozens of ways to line their pockets. This expression dates from the mid-1500s, when it was also put as line one's purse.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
line your pockets
COMMON If someone lines their pockets, they make a lot of money in a dishonest or unfair way. He has been lining his pockets for 27 years while his country has been in poverty. Morris lined his own pockets with most of the cash, buying a Mercedes Benz, jewelry and paying off credit card debts as well. Note: You can also say that someone lines another person's pockets. This is a government that ignores the needs of the majority in order to line the pockets of the favoured few.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
line your pocket (or pockets)
make money, usually by dishonest means.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
line your (own)/somebody’s ˈpocket(s)
(informal) make a lot of money dishonestly, especially by stealing it from your employer: He’d been lining his pockets for years before it was discovered.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
line one’s own pocket
verbline one’s own pocket(s)
tv. to make money for oneself in a greedy or dishonest fashion. They are interested in lining their pockets first and serving the people second.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
line (one's) pockets
To make a profit, especially by illegitimate means.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
line one's pockets, to
To accept bribes, or acquire money in some other questionable way. One writer claims that this term originated when a court tailor who wanted the patronage of Beau Brummel gave him a gift of a coat lined with banknotes. However, the term to line one’s purse, meaning to cram it full of gold or money, predates the eighteenth-century dandy by some two hundred years; Shakespeare used it in Othello (1.1), where Iago speaks of dishonest servants who “have lin’d their coats.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer