Lesson 27 Vocabulary
English word English Definition English Example sentence
1 to leave a tip to leave extra money for your waiter or waitress In America, people think you should leave a fifteen percent tip.
2 to tip ~ to give extra money to a waiter or waitress Wealthy people usually tip well.
3 to get the tip as a waiter or waitress, to actually receive the money a diner leaves for you When your boss is greedy, sometimes, as a waitstaff, you won't get the tips left to you by diners.
4 a gratuity a built-in, automatically calculated tip that some restaurants ask for Groups of five or more will be charged a fifteen-percent gratuity.
5 to skip out on giving a tip to not leave a tip for a waiter or waitress If I skip out on giving a tip, I feel so guilty.
6 to be at one’s discretion of a decision, to be decided based on a person's judgement Depending on the service, you can leave a large tip or a small tip; it's at your discretion.
7 to slip ~ some money to give money to someone secretly Whenever I go home for Christmas, my mother always slips me a few twenty dollar bills.
8 to stiff ~ to not give someone the money that they deserve That big group of diners only left me a one-dollar tip; they stiffed me!
9 to bribe ~ to offer someone money in exchange for favorable treatment/special rights Sometimes company presidents try to bribe politicians to bend the law.
10 to dig for ~ to make a really insincere effort to be nice/kind, in order to get more money Our waiter was all smiles and really cheerful; he was digging for tips.
11 to be customary of a system or tradition, to be commonly accepted and widely practiced Tipping at least a little is customary in America.
12 to object to ~ to be opposed to, to be not in favor of Some people object to the idea of giving tips.
13 a tip jar a special jar, usually glass, into which customers drop money for tips Tip jars are always transparent so everyone can see how much money is in them.
14 to be mandatory to be part of the rules, to not be optional Tipping is not mandatory, but it is a very kind thing to do.
15 to charge ~ to ask for a certain amount of money Some restaurants charge you more if you will eat there, rather than taking your food to go.
16 a seating charge the money a restaurant asks you for in exchange for a table If you will be eating your meal here, there will be a seating charge of five dollars.
17 a cover charge the money you must pay simply to enter a place Most bars in Tokushima asked for a 1000 yen cover charge.
18 a service charge the money a customer must pay in order to cover some of the business costs of a shop or restaurant If you use your ATM card to withdraw money at a convenience store, there is usually a small service charge.
19 minimum wage the minimum amount of money a business must pay a worker, by law Most fast food jobs pay minimum wage.
20 a cheapskate a person who doesn't like to spend money That guy is such a cheapskate, he re-uses tea bags ten times before throwing them away.
21 to be stingy to be unwilling to spend money My uncle is so stingy he steals the neighbor's Internet rather than buying his own service.