Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a trivial amount of money, usu. in the phr. not a/one red cent, absolutely nothing.

1839		J.S. Jones People’s Lawyer I i: It would not have cost you a red cent.
1846		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune 133: Cuss me if I care [...] not the fust red cent.
1846		Durivage & Burnham Stray Subjects (1848) 60: I’ve sunk a very pretty sum / In rides and sweetmeats past; / And haven’t now the first red cent; / She drained me of the last.
1852		C.A. Bristed Upper Ten Thousand 144: It was a great catch for Miss Lewison, without a red cent of her own.
c.1865		‘Pike’s Peak’ in Fred Shaw’s Champion Comic Melodist 12: I had got nary a red cent.
1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly I 22: There’s not a dollar left – nary a red cent.
1887		Lantern (N.O.) 28 May 4: Not a red cent has been given.
1891		C. Roberts Adrift in America 211: ‘My luck again,’ said I [...] ‘and not a red cent to buy any more.’.
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 19: Not a red cent on the old man himself.
1916		‘A-No. 1’ Snare of the Road 130: ‘How much will it cost to settle this affair out of court [...]?’ asked Mr. Davis, addressing the chief of police. ‘Not a red cent, sir!’.
1920		F.S. Fitzgerald ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair’ in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald V (1963) 89: I hear they’ve been mooning a round for years without a red penny.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 93: I’m flat [...] Ain’t got a red cent.
1928		A.C. Inman 25 Oct. diary in Aaron (1985) 386: An’ me without a red copper.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Romance in the Roaring Forties’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 28: They do not have a white quarter to their name.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 829: I lost everything, I lost every red copper in this vale of tears.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 278: Me three brothers up country never s’much as gave a red cent towards it.
1944		G. Fowler Good Night, Sweet Prince 131: ‘Won’t Collier advance it to you?’ Stevens asked. ‘Not one red cent,’ Jack replied.
1944		C. Himes ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 46: Aint got one white quarter not even a blip.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 208: I do not return with a white quarter.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 283: Just started on that overtime slave deal again, pinchin’ them little red pennies.
1949		I. Bolton Christmas Tree in N.Y. Mosaic (1999) 290: Had he money for a taxi? No, he hadn’t a red cent.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 129: ‘Did he owe you any money?’ ‘No, not one red cent.’.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 81: I ain’t got a white quarter to my name.
1953		J. Thompson Criminal (1993) 107: My services will not cost you one red penny.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 92: You see if you don’t thank us till your dying day even if you don’t get a red sou for it.
1959		Mad mag. Jan. 10: I don’t have to pay back one red cent.
1961		V.S. Naipaul A House For Mr Biswas 244: ‘I suppose you use up every cent you had?’ ‘Every red cent,’ Mr Biswas said.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 156: When Dutch Schultz was rubbed out, every sport in Harlem who had two white quarters to rub together opened a policy house.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 57: Here was a hardened ex-whore who [...] wasn’t laying a red penny on me.
1986		S. King It (1987) 129: She didn’t have a dime; not so much as a red penny.
1992		R. Price Clockers 339: I ain’t payin’ you one red dime no more!
1993		S. King Dolores Claiborne 15: You better believe me when I say I earned every red cent of it.
1999		www.matriots.com (S.Afr.) 🌐 We agree that Tony shouldn’t pay his image builders a blue cent till they have removed every offending poster and made a public apology to the electorate.
2000		M. Collins Keepers of Truth 264: We never owed anybody a red cent out here.
2001		Daily Dispatch (S.Afr.) 4 Jan. 🌐 If you haven’t saved every little blue cent that comes your way, if you are not prepared to persevere when job hunting, then your prospects are not good.
2011		E. Beetner ‘Zed’s Dead, Baby’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] Why anyone would load a red cent to these degenerates is beyond me.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 267: [E]very red cent a police officer earns is taxed.