live hand to mouth

To be extremely poor, having only enough money to provide food and shelter each month. I had to live hand to mouth during most of college, since I could only get part-time jobs that paid minimum wage.

live (from) ˌhand to ˈmouth

spend all the money you earn on basic needs such as food, without being able to save any money: There’s no way we can even think about travelling to Europe this year, as we are literally living from hand to mouth. ▶ ˌhand-to-ˈmouth adj.: a hand-to-mouth existence

hand to mouth, exist/live from

Living with a minimum of sustenance or support. This term, which dates from about 1500, implies that one has so little to live on that whatever comes to hand is consumed. “I subsist, as the poor are vulgarly said to do, from hand to mouth,” wrote the poet William Cowper (1790).

See also: exist, hand, live

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References in periodicals archive ?

'We live hand to mouth as there's no opportunity to work.

SC urged to probe Peshawar bus project 'corruption'

Some are so poor they live hand to mouth But they have billions of rupees in their bank account.

Corruption

"We could live hand to mouth and pick teams that are maybe more experienced for a game like tonight.

Three Lions boss has eye on the future; Sport

This put the livelihood of more than 12,000 families at stake and forced them to live hand to mouth. The closure of work has also threatened operations of re-rolling mills in Karachi, Hub and Quetta and the 250,000 to 300,000 workers there have also become prone to be affected by this.

Works demands resumption of Gadani ship-breaking yard

The club may be little and live hand to mouth but it has produced top players, two of whom landed in the North East - Tony Green at Newcastle and Bernie Slaven at Middlesbrough.

Night out at the city's Comedy Club really was game for a laugh

KPMG's Mike Kelly said: "The reality for many is that they are forced to live hand to mouth.

500,000 MORE BELOW LIVING WAGE

Mike Kelly of accountants KPMG which did the research said: "Many are forced to live hand to mouth. There is much more to be done if we are to eradicate in-work poverty.

six million brits earning less than the living wage

Mike Kelly, of KPMG, said: "The squeeze on household finances remains acute, meaning many are forced to live hand to mouth.

One in four INWALEs don't get living wage

Do you really want to live hand to mouth for the rest of your life or will you MAKE a stand against the Blues, Reds and Yellows who have no care for anyone save themselves?

Radical view

Writer-director Meier succinctly conveys the divide between the holidaymakers up the mountain and the impoverished locals at the other end of the cable car, who live hand to mouth and steal to survive.

dvds

He has said that Pakistani Labour is the most hardworking in the world, but unfortunately they earn enough to live hand to mouth. He has shown disappointment that All Pakistan Government Employees Federation (APGEF) protested before parliament for six hours some days earlier, but the government did not give any heed to their demands.

Pakistani Labour is most hardworking in the world: Saifullah

Many families live hand to mouth but they never show it and who could blame them.

One will live in poverty.. why? We are failing 1 in 4 tots

THAT British Airways give not a jot about their staff is perfectly obvious since they choose to pension off pilots early, sack air hostesses deemed to be past their sell-by date and are planning to force shift workers to live hand to mouth, doling out jobs at the airline's convenience.

Sue Carroll Column: British Airways

Thanks to them, 500,000 people using food banks can't even live hand to mouth.

We can make hunger BOGOF

Writer-director Meier succinctly conveys the divide between the holidaymakers and the impoverished locals, who live hand to mouth and steal to survive.

STITCHES (18, 86 mins) Richard [...]; Also Released

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