Miser

A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint, money grubber, tightarse or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities. Old people were commonly portrayed as being miserly but this stereotype is less common since support programs such as Social Security have resulted in less poverty in old age.

Freud attributed the development of miserly behaviour to toilet training in childhood. Some infants would attempt to retain the contents of their bowels and this would result in the development of an anal retentive personality that would attempt to retain their wealth and possessions in later life.

In traditional Chinese Confucianism, those who were concerned with money – landlords and merchants – were thought to be a low order of society, inferior to the peasant farmers who tilled the soil. They were condemned in allegory as misers and officials would punish such behaviour in times of famine.

There are numerous folk sayings about miserly people such as the Cockney, "E's so tight 'is arse squeaks" and the Yorkshire, "He's a snipe-snout; he'll part wi' nowght."