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To hold the purse strings is to be in control of the money spent.
This idiom has its origins in a time when purses to hold money were usually closed with a draw-string (as in the picture above).
Examples of use:
1. He earns the money, but she holds the purse strings.
2. He held the purse strings in their marriage and she never had any money of her own.
Image by doll damned
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