tide over

British  

verb

1. (tr) to help to get through (a period of difficulty, distress, etc)

   the money tided him over until he got a job

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tide over Idioms  

1. Support through a difficult period, as in I asked my brother for $100 to tide me over until payday. This expression alludes to the way the tide carries something. [Early 1800s]

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Example Sentences

A lower rupee could well help bump up India's exports competitiveness and in comparison to past crises, Delhi's comfortable forex cover gives it adequate cushion to tide over the crisis, experts say.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026

The walkout roiled family schedules, as thousands of parents sought day care, missed work and lined up at city centers for grab-and-go food packs of six meals to tide over their school-age children through Thursday.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2023

Walgreens, which had been relying on gains from administering COVID-19 vaccines to tide over losses from low prescription volumes due to the pandemic, has seen demand for the shots fall in recent quarters.

From Reuters • Jan. 5, 2023

In our love story, the thickly buttered bread was a tide over to get us through a rough patch.

From Salon • Oct. 10, 2022

Horsemen, riding very swiftly, had indeed been sighted: still far behind but gaining on the Orcs, gaining on them like a tide over the flats on folk straying in a quicksand.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien