Itching palm

Origin of: Itching palm

Itching palm

Derives from the superstition that when the palm of one’s hand itches, money is on the way, often illicitly. Shakespeare is sometimes credited with the first citation in Julius Caesar Act IV, Scene III, Brutus accuses Cassius of having an itching palm i.e. of taking bribes. “Let me tell you Cassius, you … have an itching palm.” This was in 1601 but the superstition itself may well have been older.