hand in the cookie jar

English

Etymology

After small children disobediently taking cookies to snack on, hoping their parents won't hear.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

hand in the cookie jar (plural hands in the cookie jar or hands in cookie jars)

1. Used metaphorically to indicate some act of stealing

   Synonym: fingers in the cookie jar

   She had her hand in the cookie jar throughout her term of office.

   He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and eventually found guilty of embezzlement.

   • 1969 December 13, “Insurance Man Accused in Theft of $400,000”, in Los Angeles Times, page A10:

     A Long Beach insurance broker, who admittedly got caught with his "hand in the cookie jar", has been accused of the theft of $400,000 from the Bank of America.

   • 1989 February 19, Claudia Deutsch, “Passing Sentence Before A Trial”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 May 2009:

     Any crisis, whether it is a plant explosion or an executive caught with his hand in the cookie jar, takes on a life of its own.

   • 1995, James W. McElhaney, McElhaney's Litigation, volume 1, page 49:

     There are chief executives of some companies who know their hands were in the cookie jar, but who are convinced that no mere lawyer could ever pin it on them.

   • 2007 December 31, “The competition was fierce, and the judging a fraught affair”, in The Times, South Africa, retrieved 24 May 2009:

     Frankenmanto was, in fact, a certified kleptomaniac who had to carry a doctor’s letter on her to explain the embarrassing little moments when she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.