skin a flint

== English == === Verb === skin a flint (third-person singular simple present skins a flint, present participle skinning a flint, simple past and past participle skinned a flint) (hyperbolic, figurative) Go to great lengths to save or gain something, particularly money. Fitzpatrick, Kathleen (1937), The Weans at Rowallan, →ISBN, page 54 Deed, it wasn't Jane, for she just hates ye; she always says ye're an ould miser, an' ye'd skin a flint. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see skin,‎ a,‎ flint. Miller, Thomas (1847), The Boy's Spring Book‎[1], page 33 The old women used to say that he would have skinned a flint to have saved a halfpenny, if he had spoilt a sixpenny knife in doing it. ==== Derived terms ==== skinflint