Dont understand this sentence .
it's a sentence I saw from a movie ,
a used to be famous novelist are in dire needs of help because he has spent all of his money saved up for his entire life and become a poor guy that nobody wants to talk about. In this very moment, his old friend as the novelist's former publisher comes to him and lends him a helping hand, gives him a small check and says the sentence " a little velvet to see you through" , I couldn't find out what the word "velvet" means ? as far as I know about this word is a slick cloth, but what his friend lends to him is a check..
I had never heard velvet referring to money, but that context also made me think it was that.
I am guessing that was an old movie, because I do not think that slang is commonly used now, but here is a reference I found
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/velvet Scroll down to slang definitions.
I do not recommend you use this slang though. I think few people would understand it either.
Well, of course we understand from the context that "velvet" means money. We don't need a dictionary to understand that. We can also guess that this money is welcome (ie. we think of the idea of velvet, or its soft lovely feel).
It turns out that "velvet" has a more specific meaning when referring to money, so please have a look at the informal meanings on this page:
www.thefreedictionary.com/velvet
Perhaps you should try checking several dictionaries?
