cookie jar

noun

plural cookie jars

1

: a lidded usually ceramic or glass container used to store cookies

2

a

: a household container used to store money

—often used figuratively to refer to a source of money, power, or other thing of value that one does not rightfully have access to

… we tend to proclaim our righteousness most loudly at the very moment when the hand that isn't crossing our heart and body may well be in the cookie jar.

—Robert Penn Warren

A young hacker who gets caught with his hand in the virtual cookie jar often finds he has grabbed something very hard to let go of.

—Jean Guisnel

b

: a fund of money set aside : rainy day fund

The biggest issue is an apparently big understatement of [the company's] past earnings. … In the worst case, there could have been a "cookie jar" of profits that could be used to hide big losses in the future. —David Henry

—usually used before another noun

Davis doesn't pay much attention to net income, which managers can manipulate with amortization schedules, charge-offs and cookie jar accounts.

—David K. Randall

Word History

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined at sense 1