on relief

Idioms  

1. Also, on welfare; on the dole. Receiving public financial assistance, as in Half the people in this town are on relief, or Don hated the idea of going on welfare. The first two terms originated in the United States in the 1930s, when government assistance of this kind was first instituted. On the dole, used mainly in Britain but occasionally in America, dates from the 1920s, although the use of dole for a charitable gift dates from about 1200.

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Example Sentences

“We’ve been receiving calls looking for missing persons all night. Many of them kept crying on the phone and couldn’t sleep,” said Cora Ip, a social worker working on relief efforts at one of the front-line shelter centers operated by the nonprofit Hong Kong Jockey Club.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Recording Academy announced that the 67th Grammy Awards, planned for Feb. 2 in Los Angeles, will go forward with a focus on relief efforts.

From Los Angeles Times

“Gaza has become very quickly dependent on relief handouts,” Touma said.

From Seattle Times

In a phone call with Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Biden called the strikes on relief workers and the broader humanitarian crisis in Gaza “unacceptable,” according to a White House statement.

From New York Times

Workers on relief rolls were hired to plant 220 million trees from North Dakota to Texas and got results: The new leafy windbreaks, known as a “shelterbelt,” meaningfully increased localized rainfall and increased yields for struggling farmers.

From New York Times