hand-to-mouth en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *handuz Proto-West Germanic *handu Old English hand Middle English hond English hand English to Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *mn̥-tó-s Proto-Germanic *munþaz Proto-West Germanic *munþ Old English mūþ Middle English mouth English mouth English hand-to-mouth From hand + to + mouth.
Meanings
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Involving immediate consumption (especially of food) with no provision for the future; having barely enough to survive, in poverty
She has been a widow these six or eight years, and has lived, I imagine, in rather a hand-to-mouth fashion.
1879, Henry James, Eugene Pickering:The Migrant Fleet has little economic base, operating in a state of perpetual "hand-to-mouth". While quarian ships include light manufacturing and assembly plants, they lack heavy industries such as refining and shipbuilding. The fleet has tankers for water purification and oxygen cracking, but the space-intensive nature of agriculture limits food production. A single disaster could destroy the fragile balance.
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians: Economy Codex entry:
Relateds
eke out · scrape by · subsist · live paycheck to paycheck · get by · threadbare
Translations (12)
et peost suhu elada (Translations) · cs z ruky do huby (Translations) · es al dia (Translations) · lv (dzīvot) no rokas mutē (Translations) · liv pivst sūzõ jellõ (Translations) · pl z dnia na dzień (Translations) · es a salto de mata (Translations) · de von der Hand in den Mund (leben) (Translations) · fr au jour le jour (Translations) · nl van dag tot dag (Translations) · fi (elää) kädestä suuhun (Translations) · ga ón lámh go dtí an béal (Translations)