below the breadline

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below the breadline

Said of one who is impoverished. The "breadline" is a line of people awaiting the distribution of food from a charity. Yeah, I'm still looking for work, but at least I'm not below the breadline.

below the breadline

Extremely poor.

See also: below, breadline

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in periodicals archive ?

A CHILDREN'S charity today launches a bid to put the voices of young people living below the bread-line at the heart of the debate over ending child poverty.

Charity aims to give children living in poverty a voice in decisions that affect them

Campaigners are calling for urgent action to tackle pensioner poverty after a report found nearly a third of British over-65s are living below the bread-line.

UK pensioners among poorest in Europe

More than 25% of the population was living below the bread-line. About 10% of people were very poor, unable to afford nourishing food.

CAUGHT IN A POVERTY TRAP; EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: QUARTER OF KIDS BELOW THE BREADLINE

The latest figures show that 150,000 Welsh children still live below the bread-line, and for the last 10 years Wales has had higher rates of child poverty than the UK average.