hand in the cookie jar
English
Noun
hand in the cookie jar (plural hands in the cookie jar or hands in cookie jars)
- 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, "Insurance Man Accused in Theft of $400,000," Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec., p. 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, Claudia Deutsch, "Passing Sentence Before A Trial," New York Times, 19 Feb. (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, "The competition was fierce, and the judging a fraught affair," The Times (South Africa), 31 Dec. (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.