What is "nickel and dime"

(context US idiomatic colloquial English) small-time; operating on a small scale; involving small amounts of money; petty or cheap. n. (context US slang English) Fifteen years. v

1 (context US idiomatic colloquial English) To charge, or be charged, several unexpected small amounts of money, often in the form of fees, taxes, or related expenses to a venture, which when taken as a whole add up to a significant unexpected cost. 2 (context US idiomatic colloquial figuratively English) To wear down in small increments; to quibble or obsess endlessly with (someone) over trifles.