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

"The saddest part is many of them will suffer the indignity and humiliation, lay low for some time, and wait for this to tide over because they have a life to live."

From BBC • May 2, 2025

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

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

From Salon • Oct. 10, 2022

"The rising popularity of this car boot sale market has helped me tide over the most difficult of times," said Wang, who reckons he earns about 1,000 yuan a day.

From Reuters • Aug. 24, 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