Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to act meanly, to renege on a financial agreement.

1989		Compute 11 n.p.: Don't overspend on the big items, but don't cheap out on the small ones.
1992		B. Schwarz Designing public Places 215: In many facilities, they ‘cheap out’ on everything. They ‘cheap out’ on the laundry, they ‘cheap out’ on the food [etc].
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 7: Don’t cheap out on me, you sonofabitch.