The bewitching, besotting nature of Drunkenness : It doth not turn men into Beasts, as some think, for a Beast scorns it : I do n't know that ever I saw a Beast drunk (unless it were a swine) in my life.

Phrase Finder cites the OED's instances of 'your letter, which burnt in my pocket' (from 1740) and 'it burns in their pockets' (from 1768).Ī Google Books search, however, finds examples going back to the late seventeenth century.įrom the preface to A Warning-Piece to All Drunkards and Health-Drinkers (1682): The phrase goes back considerably farther than the Phrase Finder quotation in that answer suggests. Th antecedent to 'burn a hole in pocket' was almost certainly 'burn in pocket,' as user66974's very useful answer points out. 198 How was she to give him the purse? It was burning a hole in her pocket till she could do so.' (Example quoted in the OED, s.v. The more modern version appeared at least as early as the 19th century: '1857 TROLLOPE Three Clerks II. cannot rest till they get rid of their money, or, as we say, it burns in their pockets.' 165 The post brought me your letter, which burnt in my pocket. Two examples cited by the OED are 1740 MRS. In the 18th century it was sometimes expressed as 'burning in one's pocket' or something similar.This can be used of almost anything that a new owner wants to use or spend right away. 'It was only a bit of change, but it was plainly burning a hole in his pocket.' As though it were something hot, he wanted to pull the money out-and get rid of it by spending it.

The Phrase Finder shows very old usages of the idiom, which clearly suggests a sense of urgency to get rid of something because it is supposedly too hot:

Penny in my pocket