nickel and dime

Meanings

Adjective

• Small time; operating on a small scale; involving small amounts of money; petty or cheap.

Verb

• To charge, or be charged, several unexpected small amounts of money, often in the form of fees, taxes, or related expenses to a venture, which when taken as a whole add up to a significant unexpected cost.
• To wear down in small increments; to quibble or obsess endlessly with (someone) over trifles.

Noun

• Fifteen years.

Origin

• From the names of two US coins of small value.