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hand-to-mouth
[ hand-tuh-mouth ]
adjective
- offering or providing the barest livelihood, sustenance, or support; meager; precarious:
a hand-to-mouth existence.
hand-to-mouth
adjective
- with barely enough money or food to satisfy immediate needs
a hand-to-mouth existence
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Word History and Origins
Origin of hand-to-mouth1
First recorded in 1500–10
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Example Sentences
He has a hand-to-mouth, nomad existence, ending in the inevitable frozen misery of the workhouse.
From Project Gutenberg
And many pioneers in whom the roving instinct was strong went on from year to year in this hand-to-mouth fashion.
From Project Gutenberg
There followed three similar years of a hand-to-mouth existence, the privations of which he endured in silence.
From Project Gutenberg
All around them the diggers were getting gold--not a mere hand-to-mouth living, but gold to spend, to squander.
From Project Gutenberg
I hate the brilliant, disorderly hand-to-mouth sort of Bohemia, Kenny, in which you seem to thrive.
From Project Gutenberg
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