from hand to mouth
Idioms-
see hand to mouth.
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With only the bare essentials, existing precariously. For example, After she lost her job she was living from hand to mouth. This expression alludes to eating immediately whatever is at hand. [c. 1500]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"In China, at a kindergarten, the norovirus, which is usually transmitted from hand to mouth or from surfaces, got into the air and infected half of the class."
From BBC • Aug. 31, 2025
Emotionally, financially, her vulnerable heroines live from hand to mouth.
From The Guardian • Jan. 30, 2016
The economy is limping, and many residents are living from hand to mouth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2015
But he lives from hand to mouth and cannot afford water purification tablets; the free supply he got in 2010 ran out long ago.
From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2012
Gollum watched every morsel from hand to mouth, like an expectant dog by a diner’s chair.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
