make ends meet

1. To earn enough income to provide for basic needs: “The workers complained that on their present wages they could hardly make ends meet, let alone enjoy any luxuries.”

Idioms and Phrases

Manage so that one's financial means are enough for one's needs, as in On that salary Enid had trouble making ends meet . This expression originated as make both ends meet , a translation from the French joindre les deux bouts (by John Clarke, 1639). The ends , it is assumed, allude to the sum total of income and expenditures. However, naval surgeon and novelist Tobias Smollett had it as “make the two ends of the year meet” ( Roderick Random , 1748), thought to go back to the common practice of splicing rope ends together in order to cut shipboard expenses.

Example Sentences

During what she describes as a “low point,” Banks worked at a strip club in Queens to make ends meet.

From The Daily Beast

Both the general public and economic elites have a lot of sympathy for janitors who are trying to make ends meet.

From The Daily Beast

Budgets are out of control because government executives lack flexibility to shave here and there to make ends meet.

From The Daily Beast

And customers at the lower end of the income skill are struggling to make ends meet, which pinches their discretionary spending.

From The Daily Beast

To make ends meet, physicians have had to increase the number of patients they see.

From The Daily Beast

It never succeeded in making ends meet financially, but it did make ends meet politically.

From Project Gutenberg

He had never returned, and ever since the Widow Geiser had been hard put to make ends meet.

From Project Gutenberg

Father was getting on, but they were poor and had a hard time to make ends meet.

From Project Gutenberg

It's by no means certain that I shall make ends meet this year.'

From Project Gutenberg

Being poor, both parents and children had to work hard and use strict economy to make ends meet.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• collect
• conserve
• keep
• maintain
• manage
• spare
• store